Turkey's foreign minister speaks over phone with counterparts from Russia, Ukraine

Photo: AA

Turkey's foreign minister spoke separately by phone with his counterparts from Russia and Ukraine about the ongoing war between the two countries, the ministry stated yesterday (March 6).

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu held discussions with Sergey Lavrov and Dmytro Kuleba about a ceasefire and a political solution, according to the ministry.

A day before, Çavuşoğlu visited Azerbaijan's capital city of Baku to meet his counterpart, Jeyhun Bayramov.

Speaking at a joint news conference, Çavuşoğlu said Turkey is monitoring the developments in Ukraine with concern.

"We want this unjust and unlawful attack to end as soon as possible. We continue to increase our efforts in this regard," he said.

"We also work together to deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine," he added.

Bayramov, for his part, said, a total of 9,500 Azerbaijani citizens have left Ukraine so far, with the evacuation process still underway.

He also said Azerbaijan sent medical supplies worth €5.5 million ($6 million) to Ukraine.

Turkey has evacuated over 11,000 citizens from Ukraine

Turkey has evacuated 11,496 citizens from Ukraine since Russia invaded its neighbor, Çavuşoğlu said on Twitter on Saturday.

A further 273 citizens left Ukraine on Saturday, according to the minister.

"Works for the safe evacuation of our citizens continue," he wrote.

At least 351 civilians have been killed and 707 injured in Ukraine since the beginning of the war on Feb. 24, according to UN figures.

More than 1.3 million people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries, the latest data by the UN Refugee Agency showed.

Russia's war on Ukraine has led to international outrage, with the EU, US, UK, and others implementing tough financial sanctions on Moscow. The West is also supplying Kyiv with weapons and humanitarian aid. (VK)