Defense chiefs of Turkey, Ukraine discuss latest developments

Turkey's top defense official spoke to the Ukrainian minister of defense on Friday to discuss the latest developments after Russia launched a military intervention into Ukraine.

During his phone call with Ukraine's Oleksii Reznikov, National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Turkey is "ready to provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine and will continue to do its part to ensure peace and tranquility," the Turkish ministry said in a statement.

Earlier, Akar had held a phone call with his British counterpart Ben Wallace to discuss developments in Ukraine, as well as bilateral and regional defense and security issues.

DONBAS CRISIS AND RUSSIA'S MILITARY INTERVENTION

The February 2014 "Maidan revolution" in Ukraine led to former President Viktor Yanukovych fleeing the country and a pro-Western government coming to power.

This was followed by Russia illegally annexing the Crimea region and separatists declaring independence in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Donbas in eastern Ukraine, both of which have large ethnic Russian populations.

As clashes erupted between Russian-backed separatist forces and the Ukrainian army, the 2014 and 2015 Minsk agreements were signed in Moscow after the intervention of Western powers.

The conflict, however, simmered for years with persistent cease-fire violations. As of February 2022, some 14,000 people have been killed in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Tensions 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, claims consistently rejected by Moscow.

Defying threats of sanctions by the West, Moscow earlier this week officially recognized Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states, followed by the start of a military operation in Ukraine on Thursday.