Erdoğan backs Ukraine’s NATO bid, says Putin will visit Turkey ‘next month’

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said early on Saturday his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin would visit Turkey next month and stressed his enthusiasm for peace talks in which Ankara could play a decisive role.

He made the remarks during a visit to Istanbul by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whom he greeted as his "dear friend."

After more than two hours of talks at the Vahdettin mansion in Istanbul, Erdoğan also backed Kyiv's membership of NATO and offered a robust defense of Ukraine's independence, declaring Russia's seizure of Ukrainian territory to have contravened international law.