Erdogan condoles Kyiv helicopter crash, offers help to Zelenskyy for Russia-Ukraine peace

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has offered to mediate between Russia and Ukraine in order to bring an end to the ongoing war between the two countries, as per a report from National news. In a phone call with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Erdogan stated that Turkey was ready to provide diplomatic support to ensure permanent peace between Russia and Ukraine. This comes just a few days after Erdogan offered to establish a "permanent peace" between the two nations during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He further expressed his deep condolences over the helicopter crash in Brovary, Kyiv region, killing people, including the top management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. 

Erdogan has previously facilitated meetings between Ukrainian and Russian officials, although no peace talks have yet taken place. The Turkish leader's offer to mediate comes amid increased tensions between Russia and Ukraine, with Russia recently claiming to have captured a village in eastern Ukraine as part of its push towards the city of Bakhmut. Ukraine is seeking battle tanks from western allies to defend itself against Russian attack but Germany in particular is hesitant to provide Ukraine with battle tanks. On Friday, Germany failed to reach deal with its key Western allies on sending Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. The meeting of defence ministers from NATO members and other countries was called to try and co-ordinate the West's support for Ukraine.

UKraine warns of the deteriorating situation at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia NPP

Despite this, military analysts have stated that battle tanks provided by Western allies would not provide "a magic wand" to end the 11-month war. Furthermore, Ukraine's Energy Minister German Galushchenko warned of the deteriorating situation at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in south-eastern Ukraine. He stated that the situation was worsening not only due to the mental state of the remaining Ukrainian specialists, but also because of the condition of the equipment.

The power station has been repeatedly shelled, raising fears of a nuclear disaster, with each side blaming the other for the attacks. The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency is currently trying to set up a safe zone around the facility. According to a statement from the Ukrainian government, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "thanked his counterpart for organizing the meeting of the ombudsmen of Ukraine, Türkiye, and Russia in Ankara. The head of the Ukrainian state expressed hope for the assistance of the Republic of Turkey in the return to Ukraine of political prisoners of the Kremlin, civilian hostages, and prisoners of war, as well as children who were deported from the temporarily occupied territories of our country".