Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmitry Kuleba in the presence of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglou in Antalya, southern Turkey, Moscow announced and a Turkish diplomat confirmed.

“The meeting has begun”, said Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, who also released photos showing the Ukrainian delegation sitting across from the Russian delegation.

This is the first meeting of this level between Russia and Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24. Kuleba and Lavrov were previously hosted by Cavusoglou, who also had separate bilateral meetings with Ukrainian and Russian diplomats.

According to the Turkish Foreign Minister in his tweet, before the crucial tripartite meeting that is currently gaining global interest, bilateral meetings were held between him, Kuleba and Lavrov separately.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has stepped up mediation efforts since the crisis erupted, assured Wednesday that Turkey “can talk to both Ukraine and Russia”. “We are working to prevent this crisis from turning into a tragedy”, he added.

The Turkish president will talk to his American counterpart Joe Biden around 17:00 (Greek time), the White House announced last night.

Ukraine and Russia agreed on Wednesday to declare another 12-hour ceasefire in a series of so-called humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians.