Russia and Ukraine foreign ministers to meet in Turkey, say Moscow and Ankara

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba are set to meet Thursday in Turkey, Moscow and Ankara said.

It would be the first Cabinet-level meeting between the two countries since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said the meeting would take place in Antalya, which was later confirmed by the Russian foreign affairs ministry. “We hope it will lead to peace and stability,” Cavusoğlu tweeted.

There was no immediate confirmation of the meeting from Kyiv. Kuleba has previously said he was open to talks with Lavrov but only if they were “meaningful.”

The meeting comes after Turkey pitched itself as a possible mediator between Russia and Ukraine, given it has historically enjoyed good relations with both Kyiv and Moscow. Ankara has called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “unacceptable” and announced it would partially block Russian warships from accessing the Black Sea, but has so far refused to enforce sanctions.

The meeting will come exactly two weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, a conflict which so far has claimed at least hundreds of civilian lives and forced more than 1.5 million Ukrainians to flee the country.