Hulusi Akar comments on situation in Ukraine

'We continue contacts with both Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and my Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov. These contacts will continue in the future," said Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, Report informs.

"During our contacts, we exchange views on the establishment of diplomacy and the end of the crisis. We wish for positive progress," he stressed.

The Minister also spoke about the evacuation of Turkish citizens in Ukraine: "Some of our citizens were evacuated. Turkiye has expressed its demands to Russia and Ukraine regarding the safety of its citizens who are being evacuated and have not yet been evacuated. We expect some progress in this area in the coming days.

"President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also exchange views on these issues with their counterparts. We wish for a normalization of the situation and a ceasefire in the near future. At the same time, we are doing our best to evacuate our citizens and making every effort to reduce the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. Like other countries, Turkiye is trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Ukraine."