Turkish FM Çavuşoğlu calls Lavrov-Kuleba meeting "civil" despite all difficulties

The meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers in Turkey on Thursday was civil despite all the difficulties and the most important outcome of the talks was establishing contact, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said.

Speaking at a news conference after the meeting between Dmytro Kuleba and Sergei Lavrov, which Çavuşoğlu also attended, he said there was a need for both a humanitarian corridor from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol and for a sustainable ceasefire.

Russia and Ukraine are having talks to sign a "comprehensive peace agreement," the Turkish foreign minister said on Thursday after a three-way meeting amid the Russia-Ukraine war.

"There are a lot of topics which Russia and Ukraine are discussing, including neutrality, and the signing of a comprehensive peace treaty is also on the table," Çavuşoğlu told a news conference in Antalya on Turkey's Mediterranean coast following a meeting with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts.

He said the meeting was not held in an "easy environment" and "a miracle should not be expected from such meetings."

During the talks, Turkey stressed that humanitarian corridors in Ukraine should be kept open without any obstacles, Çavuşoğlu said.

He pointed out that Russia and Ukraine have met for the first time at the ministerial level since the war started on Feb. 24.

The top diplomats also discussed a possible meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Çavuşoğlu said in a statement.