Erdogan Calls For Unilateral Ukraine Ceasefire In Call w/Russia's Putin

The Turkish presidency has released the readout of a call between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. In the call, Erdogan calls on Putin to implement a 'unilateral' ceasefire in Ukraine and encourage a 'vision for a fair solution' to assist with peace efforts.

• The two men also discussed energy supplies and the situation with the Black Sea grain corridor.
• Erdogan also reinforced view to Putin that 'concrete steps' are needed to clear Kurdish militants from the Syrian border region. This comes hours after Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar stated that there is the possibility that Russia and Turkey could engage in joint patrols in the region in order to maintain control.
• If this were to come to fruition it would cause significant concern in NATO capitals, given that Turkey remains a NATO member and key interlocutor between Moscow and Kyiv. Any signal that Ankara is shifting closer to Russia could see backlash from Washington, D.C., in terms of future military supplies to Turkey.