Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has welcomed an offer from visiting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to mediate in Kyiv's standoff with Moscow.
Speaking during a visit to Kyiv on February 3, Erdogan said Turkey was "prepared to undertake its part in order to end the crisis between two friendly nations that are its neighbors in the Black Sea.”
Erdogan, who has close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said he would be “happy to host a summit at the level of leaders in Turkey or talks at the technical level."
Zelenskiy thanked Erdogan for his initiative and welcomed Turkey’s plans to expand its diplomatic missions in Ukraine and a deal enabling Ukrainian factories to produce Turkish drones.
Turkey and Ukraine signed a series of agreements during the meeting including a free trade deal that Kyiv says will boost bilateral annual commerce to about $10 billion over five years from $7 billion now.
Erdogan is the latest leader of a NATO country to visit Kyiv after the premiers of the Netherlands, Poland, and Britain amid heightened diplomacy to ease tensions over Russia’s military buildup near its border with Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by phone separately with Putin and Zelenskiy on February 3 to try defuse tensions.
The calls were part of Macron’s efforts to “pursue dialogue to identify elements that could lead to de-escalation,” according to his office. They discussed the efforts to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine and “conditions for strategic balance in Europe, which should allow for the reduction of risks on the ground and guarantee security on the continent.”
Earlier on February 3, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg accused Moscow of amassing some 30,000 combat troops and modern weapons in Belarus ahead of planned joint military drills later this month. Stoltenberg called Russia's deployment the biggest to Belarus since the end of the Cold War.
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Stoltenberg's announcement came after Washington said it would send thousands of troops to Europe to bolster NATO allies amid a continued standoff prompted by a massive Russian troop buildup near the Ukrainian border that the West suspects could be the prelude to an invasion.
The Kremlin said on February 3 that the U.S. move was further ramping up the crisis instead of de-escalating it.
Russia and Belarus have announced joint military drills to take place from February 10 to 20.
Stoltenberg, speaking to reporters in Brussels on February 3, said the Russian deployment to Belarus included Spetsnaz special operations forces, SU-35 fighter jets, dual-capable Iskander missiles, and S-400 air-defense systems.
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"All this will be combined with Russia's annual nuclear forces' exercise," Stoltenberg added. The term "dual-capable," which Stoltenberg used for the Iskander missiles, refers to weapons meant for both conventional and nuclear warfare.
The NATO chief called on Russia to take action to "de-escalate" the situation and repeated warnings that "any further Russian aggression would have severe consequences and carry a heavy price."
On February 2, the Pentagon announced it will send about 3,000 troops to Poland, Romania, and Germany this week, a decision that U.S. President Joe Biden said was consistent with what he has told Russian President Vladimir Putin and represents "a sacred obligation" under Article 5 of NATO's founding treaty -- the key mutual-defense clause.
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Moscow has not disclosed the size of the troop contingent it has sent into Belarus, but Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who arrived in Belarus on February 3 ahead of the joint drills, has said the number of soldiers involved is below the 13,000-troop maximum agreed in 2011 under Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) rules as set out in the Vienna Document.
When that level is breached, Russia is obligated to invite observers from the OSCE to the area.
The joint drills are scheduled to last for 10 days, from February 10 to 20.
Russia, which denies it is planning to invade Ukraine, has claimed the United States and NATO are the instigators, citing the Western response as evidence.
"We are constantly urging our American partners to stop escalating tensions on the European continent," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"Unfortunately, the Americans continue to do it," he said, adding that the most recent deployment of U.S. troops to bolster NATO forces in Europe had exacerbated tensions.
Therefore, he added, Russia's concerns over NATO's eastward expansion and U.S. troop deployment were "absolutely clear, absolutely justified."
"Any measures taken by Russia to ensure its own security and interests are also within reason," Peskov added.