UKRAINE INVASION

Turkey welcomes Russia's 'temporary ceasefire'

Turkey will continue to work to ensure a permanent ceasefire, the presidential spokesperson has said.

İstanbul

Photo: AA

Turkey welcomes the cease-fire announced by Russia for the evacuation of civilians in several cities in Ukraine, Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın has said.

In a Twitter post, Kalın said last night (March 7) that Turkey will continue to work to ensure a permanent ceasefire and a positive result from the negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow.

Earlier in the day, Russia announced a "temporary" cease-fire in the cities of Kyiv, Mariupol, Kharkiv, and Sumy from 10 a.m. local time to ensure evacuations of civilians.

Turkey's high-level officials continued discussing Russia's invasion of Ukraine with their opposite numbers from the countries in the region.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan yesterday spoke over the phone with his counterpart from Moldova, Maia Sandu, according to a statement by the Presidency Communications Directorate.

Erdoğan stressed that the meeting of foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine set to be held on Thursday on the eve of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, with the participation of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, will help to cross an important threshold on the road to peace, according to the statement.

The foreign ministers of Turkey and Iran also discussed over the phone the latest developments in the invasion.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Earlier on February 24, explosions were reported in several Ukrainian provinces, including the capital Kyiv, after Russia's President Vladimir Putin announced a 'special military operation' in the Donbas region.

Tensions had started escalating late last year when Ukraine, the US and its allies accused Russia of amassing tens of thousands of troops on the border with Ukraine. They claimed Russia was preparing to invade its western neighbor, which was consistently rejected by Moscow.

Defying threats of sanctions by the West, Moscow officially recognized Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states in late February, followed by the start of a military operation in Ukraine on February 24.

President Vladimir Putin said the operation aims to protect people "subjected to genocide" by Kyiv and to "demilitarize and de-Nazify" Ukraine, while calling on the Ukrainian army to lay down its arms.

In the face of this invasion, protest demonstrations are held both on the streets and in front of the embassies of Russia in several countries such as the US, Mexico, Chile, Italy, Britain, Georgia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Spain, Germany, Lebanon, the Netherlands and Greece.

As reported by Novaya, 1,816 people were taken into custody during the anti-war protests in several cities in Russia a day after the invasion.

Russia's war on Ukraine has also been met with outrage from the international community, with the European Union (EU), UK, and US implementing a range of economic sanctions against Russia.

Russia has been further isolated, as its planes have been barred from flying in European and Canadian airspace, and a number of its banks have been kicked out of the SWIFT international banking system.

At least 364 civilians have been killed and 759 others injured in Ukraine since Russia launched a war against the Eastern European country on February 24, according to UN figures, with the real toll feared to be higher.

More than 1.7 million people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries, according to the UN refugee agency.

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