KYIV (Reuters) -President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expects a framework for security guarantees for Ukraine to be set out as soon as next week, as Kyiv continues talks with allies to get a robust support mechanism to prevent further Russian aggression.
On Thursday, Zelenskiy said he had “extensively” discussed the topic with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan in a call after a massive Russian strike killed at least 19 people in Kyiv overnight.
“National security advisors are now working on every specific component, and the entire framework will be set out on paper next week,” he said after the call.
A Turkish enterprise was hit in the overnight strike, he added.
Zelenskiy said the Turkish defence minister would be involved in the discussions “to explore” Turkey’s potential involvement in ensuring security, particularly in the Black Sea.
The head of Ukraine’s national security and defence council, Rustem Umerov was visiting Turkey on Thursday to discuss the topic, as well as bilateral defence cooperation, Umerov said on Facebook.
Turkey has welcomed the discussions on security guarantees and said that it would contribute to any initiative to ensure lasting peace in Ukraine.
It has previously said it could consider joining peace initiatives on the ground if a concrete modality and framework is set, but has not committed to anything openly.
(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa, Writing by Pavel Polityuk; addditional reporting Tuvan GumrukcuEditing by Alison Williams, Kirsten Donovan)
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