Ukraine's Zelenskyy to visit Turkey as Erdogan seeks to extend grain deal

ANKARA — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to travel to Turkey this week and meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s public broadcaster TRT reported on Thursday.

Zelenskyy and Erdogan are set to hold a joint presser in Istanbul on Friday following one-to-one and delegation-level talks over the Ukrainian war, grain deal and bilateral ties between Ankara and Kyiv, TRT said.

Extension of the Black Sea grain deal, which allows Ukrainian grain and other products to reach world markets, is expected to be high on the agenda of the talks in Istanbul. Defying international calls, Russia has been dragging its feet to extend the deal, which will expire on July 17.

Russia and Ukraine signed separate agreements with Turkey and the United Nations to allow their various products to reach world markets via Black Sea. However, Moscow argues that obstacles before Russian exports stemming from international sanctions remain intact despite the deal. Earlier this week, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said there were no grounds for extending the deal, which has already been extended several times since it was struck last July.

The visit by Zelenskyy, who will be the third foreign leader to visit Ankara after Erdogan’s reelection victory in May, comes only a week before NATO’s annual summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on July 11-12 amid a fresh push by Kyiv to become a NATO member after the war ends. Zelenskyy is also seeking to increase Ukraine's military aid from Western governments.

During a visit to Bulgaria on Thursday, the Ukrainian president said Sofia and Kyiv agreed “to significantly intensify cooperation” in the defense sector, according to local Bulgarian reports. During his visit, the Bulgarian Parliament passed a declaration of support for the Ukrainian bid to join NATO once the war is over.

Turkey’s balancing act between Moscow and Kyiv since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has drawn ambivalence from the West.

Ankara, which has not joined Western sanctions against Russia, came under fire from Washington and other Western capitals for allowing Russian businesses to operate in the country.

However, Turkey has also turned to be one of the pillars of Ukrainian defense strategy through Bayraktar armed drones it has supplied to Kyiv. Baykar, the company that manufactures the famous drones — and is owned by the family of Erdogan’s younger son-in-law — said last month that they received the necessary licensing permits for the full-scale production of unmanned aerial vehicles in Ukraine. Turkey also sealed off the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits to Russia's warships in accordance with a founding treaty of the Turkish Republic that allows it to do so to maintain its neutrality in international conflicts.

The visit also reflects Erdogan’s efforts to raise his country’s profile in international conflicts as an intermediary. Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin became the first foreign leaders Erdogan spoke to after his reelection. Ankara also hosted two rounds of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine last year. The March 10 meeting between Russia and Ukraine's top diplomats in Turkey marked the first high-level contact between the two warring countries since the invasion began.