On Saturday, a short time after President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine posted on Twitter indicating that Turkey had banned the Russia passage of warships through the Black Sea, Turkey denied there had been any measures taken.Ī Turkish official close to Erdogan who asked to remain anonymous as he is not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said that Mr. “It shouldn’t join the war after crossing the strait saying that it would go to its base.”
Cavusoglu mentioned in his remarks Sunday that both countries still have the right to move vessels to home bases in the Black Sea. Ukraine has been appealing to Turkey to stop Russian warships from passing through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, which fall under the 1936 Montreux Convention. Erdogan had earlier called the invasion a “military operation” of Russia that violated international law. Turkey on Sunday described the Russian invasion of Ukraine as “war,” with consecutive tweets and statements from top officials of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “To be honest, we have reached the conclusion that this now turned into war,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a televised interview on the CNN Turk news network. In response to the invasion, a growing number of European countries said they would ban Russian aircraft from their airspace, and Germany’s chancellor announced a significant increase in military spending, reversing a longstanding policy. officials said that most of the more than 150,000 Russian troops who had massed around Ukraine were now engaged in the fighting. The footage showed Ukrainians firing rockets toward Russian troops, as well as some Russian military vehicles burning and others being ransacked by Ukrainian troops.Īs Ukraine’s armed forces targeted Russian supply lines, the Kremlin’s offensive seemed likely to intensify, as U.S. He gave the order in a televised meeting with his defense minister and top military commander.įighting drew closer to the center of Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine, according to videos and photographs analyzed by The New York Times. Putin has ordered his military to place Russia’s nuclear forces on alert.
Zelensky had rejected the Kremlin’s offer to hold talks in Belarus, saying the country was not neutral territory because Russia had carried out part of its invasion from there. The government of Belarus said the two sides would hold talks at the Belarus-Ukraine border. Zelensky’s faction, David Arakhamia, said Ukraine “has agreed to meet Russia with no conditions” for talks on the conflict, but there were no immediate details on who would meet, or where. Ukrainian forces take aim at Russian supply lines as battles rage in multiple cities.Īs Russian forces pressed into Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Ukraine’s defense forces and civilian volunteers battled to hold off Russia’s invasion for a fourth day on Sunday as President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said his country’s fighters had “successfully repelled enemy attacks.” Here are the latest developments:Ī lawmaker from Mr.