Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke in a televised interview with CNN on Wednesday about the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. After a NATO foreign ministers meeting, Cavusoglu alleged that some countries implied they may want to prolong the war.
“There are countries within NATO who want the war to continue. They want Russia to become weaker,” Cavusoglu said. No country was directly named in the interview.
Meanwhile, Ukraine ordered security assurances for its country during peace talks. At the same time, Russia allegedly agreed to reduce military actions toward the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv, according to MEHR News.
Western nations who support Ukraine have agreed to respect the country’s decision regarding any settlement it makes to end the war with Russia. However, amid concerns about global security, some NATO countries may limit how many compromises they will support to capture the peace.
The U.S. and its allies suggest that Ukraine should not be pushed to make compromises or fight longer than it is willing.
“We believe that our job is to support the Ukrainians,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said. “They will set the military objectives. They will set the objectives at the bargaining table. And I am quite certain they are going to set those objectives at success, and we are going to give them every tool we can to help them achieve that success. But we are not going to define the outcome of this for the Ukrainians.”
If Ukraine and Russia agree to a peace settlement, the U.S. and the EU will have to decide whether to offer sanctions relief to the Kremlin.
“I don’t see any indication that we’re anywhere close to a negotiated solution on this,” said Andrew Weiss.
The former top White House advisor on Russia continued, “The Russians are prepared to continue doing horrible things in Ukraine with the goal of getting the Ukrainians to surrender and the West to back off, and the Ukrainians are prepared to fight. I don’t see the conditions for a settlement in place.”
The U.S. and other allied countries may have exerted their most effective influence indirectly, in choosing which weapons they will or will not supply to Ukraine. Those decisions impacted the battlefield and the Ukrainian’s path to peace talks.
Turkey could potentially host a meeting between the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Cavusoglu stated Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan maintains consistent contact with both.
“President Erdogan will speak to the leaders again in the coming days,” Covusoglu stated. “In principle, they both say positive things about getting together when the conditions are suitable.”
