{"id":16410,"date":"2023-07-10T09:56:30","date_gmt":"2023-07-10T06:56:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/?p=16410"},"modified":"2023-07-10T09:56:33","modified_gmt":"2023-07-10T06:56:33","slug":"zelenskyy-brings-home-five-ukrainian-commanders-from-turkey-russia-blames-ankara-for-violating-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/zelenskyy-brings-home-five-ukrainian-commanders-from-turkey-russia-blames-ankara-for-violating-agreement\/","title":{"rendered":"Zelenskyy brings home five Ukrainian commanders from Turkey, Russia blames Ankara for violating agreement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Istanbul, Turkiye, to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The talks in Istanbul addressed Kyiv\u2019s bid to join the NATO alliance. Zelensky returned home with five commanders of Ukraine\u2019s former garrison in Mariupol.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an attempt to secure more weapons, support, and a possible fast-track membership into the alliance, the Ukrainian President is visiting NATO member European countries ahead of the alliance\u2019s annual summit in Lithuania this week. Zelenskyy arrived in Istanbul to meet with Erdogan on his first trip to Turkey since the Russian invasion of Ukraine started in February 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two leaders held a bilateral meeting and joint a press conference in Istanbul. \u201cWithout a doubt, Ukraine deserves to be in NATO,\u201d Erdogan said during the joint press conference. Zelensky said he was \u201chappy to hear\u201d that Turkey supports Ukraine\u2019s bid to join during a joint press conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NATO has an open-door policy for any country if it expresses interest to join the alliance if it is willing to uphold the principles of the treaty. Joining NATO requires unanimous approval from all existing member states. All the NATO member states support Ukraine in its war against Russia. Some allies, especially those who are in Eastern Europe, support Kyiv\u2019s accession into the alliance, while the Western European and North American NATO member states do not support Ukraine\u2019s bid to join NATO fearing the escalation in the ongoing conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul, Turkiye, on July 8, 2023. (Image Credit: Twitter\/@ZelenskyyUa)<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The talks between Turkish and Ukrainian leaders also focused on the expiring deal for Ukrainian grain exports across the Black Sea. Ankara played an important role as a mediator between Moscow and Kyiv to broker the grain deal that allowed Ukraine to export its grains from the Black Sea despite the Russian blockade. With Ukraine\u2019s counteroffensive in actions and the duration of the grain deal coming to an end, the extension of the deal faces an uncertain future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erdogan told Zelenskyy that Russian President Vladimir Putin was expected to visit Turkey in August. He said that he would try to extend the grain deal for longer intervals. \u201cOur hope is that it will be extended at least once every three months, not every two months,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will make an effort in this regard and try to increase the duration of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Release of Ukrainian commanders<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After concluding his trip to Turkey, the Ukrainian President returned home with five former Azov commanders who had fought in the battle over Mariupol. Without providing many details about the release of the Ukrainian commanders, Zelenskyy posted a picture on social media along with the released soldiers posing inside a private jet saying that \u201cUkrainian soldiers Denys Prokopenko, Svyatoslav Palamar, Serhiy Volynsky, Oleh Khomenko, and Denys Shleha\u201d will finally be with their relatives.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are returning home from Turkey and bringing our heroes home,\u201d Zelenskyy said. The five commanders, celebrated as heroes in Ukraine, led last year\u2019s defense of the southern port of Mariupol, the biggest city Russia has captured during the invasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May 2022, the five commanders along with 2500 Ukrainian servicemen were taken captive after they surrendered to the Russian forces after a two-month-long battle at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (C) and other officials pose for a picture with commanders of defenders of the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol inside a plane as they return to Ukraine from Istanbul, Turkey, on July 8, 2023 (Image Credit: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service)<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In a prisoner swap deal brokered by Turkey, Ukraine managed to get back 215 of its servicemen while Russia got 55 of its own soldiers, officers, and pilots, as well as Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, once considered a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.\u00a0The commanders had been in Turkey since the prisoner swap deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moscow\u2019s reaction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moscow reacted to the release of the Ukrainian commanders claiming that Turkey has violated the terms of the prisoner swap deal. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia had not been informed about the release of the commanders and that Turkey had promised to keep the former prisoners on its home soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe return of the leaders of the Azovites from Turkey to Ukraine is nothing more than a direct violation of the terms of the existing agreements. Moreover, in this case, the terms were violated by both the Ukrainian side and the Turkish side.\u201d Peskov said. He went on to claim that NATO pressured Turkey into violating the agreement to demonstrate solidarity with the alliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Zelenskyy\u2019s trip to the Czech Republic and Bulgaria<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before arriving the Istanbul, the Ukrainian President also visited Bulgaria and the Czech Republic to bolster Kyiv\u2019s bid to join NATO. During his visit to Prague Zelenskyy said that \u201cwithout long-range weapons, it is not only difficult to carry out offensive missions but also, to be honest, defensive operations.\u201d Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said he would send combat helicopters to Ukraine and train U.S.-made F-16 fighter pilots.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While in Sofia, Zelenskyy held talks with Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov and President Rumen Radev. The Bulgarian administration has been accused of opposing providing Ukraine with large-scale defense assistance and having a pro-Moscow stance. However, Bulgarian Defense Minister Todor Tagarev announced that his country would send a new military aid package to Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Istanbul, Turkey, to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The talks in Istanbul addressed Kyiv\u2019s bid to join the NATO alliance. Zelensky returned home with five commanders of Ukraine\u2019s former garrison in Mariupol.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[62,1],"tags":[57,75,162,59,20,82,540,22,128],"class_list":["post-16410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-news","tag-bulgaria","tag-conflict","tag-czech-republic","tag-nato","tag-russia","tag-turkey","tag-turkiye","tag-ukraine","tag-war"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Ukraine-Zelenskyy-with-Turkish-President-Erdogan.jpg?fit=690%2C370&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jJWb-4gG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16410"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16425,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16410\/revisions\/16425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}