Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara supports Ukraine's struggle "to protect the territorial integrity." The speech of the Turkish leader at the reception of the delegation of the International Union of Democrats is broadcast on his Twitter page.

Erdogan stressed that Turkey supports Ukraine's struggle to protect territorial integrity, as he said in a conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on February 24.

“We sincerely regret that Russia and Ukraine, which we consider to be friendly countries and with which we have close political, economic and social relations, collided in this way,” Erdogan said.

He called on Russia and Ukraine to resolve all contradictions through dialogue within the framework of the Minsk agreements, but noted that he considers Russia's actions towards Ukraine unacceptable. Erdogan also called the decision of the Russian Federation on the special operation in Donbass contrary to international law.

Earlier, Erdogan said that Ankara does not agree with Russia's decision to recognize the independence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics. According to him, this step of Russia contradicts the Minsk agreements. At the same time, he said that Turkey would not abandon relations with Russia or Ukraine because of the conflict between these countries.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the start of a special operation to protect Donbass.

bbabo.Net