Turkish, Ukrainian foreign ministers discuss latest developments

The Turkish foreign minister discussed the latest developments on the Ukrainian-Russian border late Saturday with his Ukrainian counterpart as tensions rise with a Russian military build-up.

Mevlut Cavusoglu and Dmytro Kuleba spoke via telephone, according to diplomatic sources without providing additional details.

Kuleba said on Twitter that the meeting addressed "the security crisis created by Russia, threats in Black and Azov seas, diplomatic ways to reduce tensions."

"I welcome Ankara’s efforts. Discussed development of Ukrainian-Turkish military-technical cooperation," he added.

Ukraine has been plagued by conflict in its eastern regions since March 2014, following Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea, which Turkiye and the UN General Assembly have condemned as illegal.

Moscow recently amassed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine, prompting fears that the Kremlin could be planning another military offensive against its ex-Soviet neighbor.

Russia has denied it is preparing to invade and accused Western countries of undermining its security by NATO’s expansion toward its borders.

The Kremlin also issued a list of security demands to the West, including a rollback of troop deployments from some ex-Soviet states and guarantees that Ukraine and Georgia would not join NATO.