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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Ankara is ready to arrange a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky as well as facilitate the Moscow-Kiev negotiating process, Sputnik reports.

In an address to the delegations of Russia and Ukraine before their meeting at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul, Erdogan stressed that the conflict in Ukraine is "very upsetting" for Turkey, who has made "sincere efforts at all levels and tried to fulfill the requirements of friendship, good neighbourliness, and laws since the beginning of the crisis".

Erdogan expressed hope that if there is progress at the meeting in Istanbul, negotiations between Russia and Ukraine could reach the next stage.

"The progress that you will achieve in these negotiations will also allow you to move on to the next stage - contact at the level of leaders. We are also ready to hold such a meeting," he underscored.

Erdogan also emphasised that "everyone is interested in a ceasefire [in Ukraine] being established as soon as possible".