Erdoğan calls for end to "worrying" developments in eastern Ukraine, offers support

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday called for the "worrying" developments in eastern Ukraine's Donbass region to come to an end after meeting his Ukrainian counterpart in Istanbul, adding Turkey was ready to provide any necessary support.

Erdoğan and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held talks in Istanbul on Saturday amid tensions between Kyiv and Moscow over the long-running conflict in Donbass.

Speaking at a news conference alongside Zelenskiy, Erdoğan said he hoped the conflict would be resolved peacefully, through dialogue based on diplomatic customs, in line with international laws and Ukraine's territorial integrity.

"Our main goal is that the Black Sea continues to be a sea of peace, tranquility and cooperation," Erdoğan said at a news conference.

Erdoğan reaffirmed Turkey's principled stance of not recognizing the annexation of Crimea.

Zelensky, for his part, praised Turkey's "extremely important" support for Ukraine's territorial integrity.

He said that the defense industry was the driving force behind the Turkish-Ukrainian strategic partnership.

Earlier, a meeting between Erdoğan and Zelensky at the Huber Mansion started at 3:45 p.m. local time (1245GMT) and lasted for three hours.

The meeting came as the US said Russia is amassing its forces on Ukraine's eastern border at a level unseen since 2014 when it seized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and annexed it in violation of international law.