Ukrainian Prez holds talks with French, Turkish leaders

Kiev: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that he had separate conversations with French President Emmanuel Macron and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Zelensky tweeted on Sunday that he discussed with Macron “the implementation of our ten-step peace formula, cooperation on defense and energy stability” of Ukraine, Xinhua news agency reported.

In the conversation with Erdogan over the phone, Zelensky thanked Turkey for “sheltering Ukrainian children and providing hundreds of generators for our cities”.

Zelensky and Erdogan also discussed the “Grain from Ukraine” programme and the possible expansion of the Black Sea Grain export deal.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky that Turkey continued to work towards meeting the humanitarian needs of the Ukrainian people in the “difficult winter months”.

“The grain corridor could be expanded to include different food products and other commodities,” said Erdogan.

He also expressed hope for “approaching a solution” to the issue of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine.

Turkey has been evaluating the contributions that can be made for the implementation of the peace plan announced by Zelensky at the G20 Summit, the Turkish President told his Ukrainian counterpart.

Turkish first lady Emine Erdogan was closely involved with the group of 1,033 people consisting of Ukrainian orphan children and their companions hosted in the Turkish capital Ankara, he added.