Anadolu Agency is here with a rundown of the latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic and other news in Turkiye and around the world.
‘Turkiye against every move that would target Ukraine’s territorial integrity’
Ankara is against every move that would target Ukraine’s territorial integrity, Turkiye’s president told his Ukrainian counterpart in a phone call Tuesday.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed Russia’s recent decision to recognize Ukraine’s breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, which Turkiye has called “unacceptable.”
Zelenskyy expressed gratitude to Erdogan for backing Ukraine “on the latest provocative decisions” of Russia, he said on Twitter about the meeting.
Meanwhile, Turkiye’s Communications Directorate said in a statement that Erdogan will attend the NATO leaders’ summit via video conference.
Erdogan’s visit to Guinea-Bissau, the third stop of his African tour, was postponed to a later date.
The Turkish president is in Senegal for the second stop of his official visit to Africa.
On Tuesday, Turkiye reported 86,070 new coronavirus cases.
According to a chart shared by the Health Ministry, 271 people lost their lives and 94,402 others recovered from the disease over the past day, while 463,335 virus tests were conducted nationwide in the past 24 hours.
Other developments worldwide
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that a meeting planned for Thursday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Geneva has been canceled following Moscow’s recognition of two breakaway regions in Ukraine.
“Now that we see the invasion is beginning and Russia has made clear its wholesale rejection of diplomacy, it does not make sense to go forward with that meeting at this time,” Blinken said during a joint press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba at the State Department.
Blinken said he sent Lavrov a letter informing him about the cancelation.
EU foreign ministers reached an agreement Tuesday to impose sanctions on Russia over it violating the territorial integrity of neighboring Ukraine.
“Today, we have agreed that the 351 members of the Russian State Duma who voted for these violations of international law and the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine will be listed in our sanctions list,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told a news conference following an extraordinary meeting of EU foreign ministers.
The bloc will also impose sanctions on 27 people and entities that are responsible for undermining or threatening Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence, he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that the Minsk Agreements on the Ukrainian settlement ceased to exist when Russia recognized Ukraine’s breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states.
Speaking at a news conference in Moscow, Putin said Russia had struggled for eight years for the implementation of the accord while the Ukrainian authorities had stalled them.
In Ukraine, despite fresh tensions that climbed dramatically in its eastern Donbas region since last week, people cling to life in the town of Schastye in the Luhansk region as shelling incidents continue every other moment.
Tatyana, 70, a resident of the government-held town, told Anadolu Agency that lots of people have left.
“They either left or died. It’s terrible! The town is empty,” she said.
Source: Anadolu Agency