ISTANBUL, Feb 17, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky will 
visit Turkey on Tuesday for talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the 
capital Ankara, the presidency said on Monday.

The pair will discuss steps to "further strengthen cooperation between the 
two countries," Erdogan's chief press aide Fahrettin Altun wrote on X.

The Ukrainian president will fly to Ankara from the United Arab Emirates 
(UAE), where he landed on Sunday for talks on economic cooperation.

On Wednesday, he is due to travel to Saudi Arabia.

It will be Zelensky's third visit to Turkey since Russian troops invaded 
Ukraine nearly three years ago. He last visited in March 2024.

NATO member Turkey has sought to maintain good relations with its warring 
Black Sea neighbours, with Erdogan pitching himself as a key go-between and 
possible peace-maker between the two.

Ankara has provided drones for Ukraine but shied away from Western-led 
sanctions on Moscow.

Zelensky's visit to Turkey comes on the same day that Russia's Foreign 
Minister Sergei Lavrov meets US officials in Riyadh as part of what the 
Kremlin says are efforts to repair ties with Washington.

US and Russian officials are preparing for a summit between their two 
leaders, with Europe and Kyiv worried they will try to end the war in Ukraine 
without them.