Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he plans to call his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts and discuss the holding of peace talks at the leadership level in Turkiye, according to Anadolu Agency.

Talking to reporters in Istanbul, Erdogan said the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine yielded “positive” results so far, but not exactly as it should have been.

Noting that the negotiation process will get better, he said: “We are not hopeless.”

Talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul on March 29 were seen as a breakthrough in the push to halt hostilities that, according to the UN figures, have claimed the lives of at least 2,345 civilians and left 2,919 more injured since Feb. 24.

After the Istanbul meeting, a Ukrainian negotiator said Kyiv wants Turkiye among the countries that will be guarantors in any deal with Moscow.

In March, Turkiye also brought together the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers in its southern resort city of Antalya, the first meeting of senior government officials from the two sides since the start of the war.

Regarding Turkiye’s latest anti-terror operation in northern Iraq, he said security forces have neutralized 45 PKK terrorists in Operation Claw-Lock, inflicting agonizing pain upon the terror group.

Source: Azerbaijan State News Agency