Ukraine's top negotiator said enough progress had been made at talks Tuesday in Turkey to resolve the conflict with Russia to enable a meeting between the presidents of the two countries.
"The results of today's meeting are sufficient for a meeting at the leaders' level," Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said, raising the possibility of a meeting between Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin that Russia had shot down as recently as Monday as being "counterproductive".
A Russian negotiator welcomed "meaningful" progress with Ukrainian representatives at peace talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul, over a month after Russia invaded its neighbour.
The discussions are focussing on the humanitarian situation in war-scarred Ukrainian regions as well as Russia's demand that Ukraine become a neutral state, among other issues.
Meanwhile, Ukraine called for an international agreement under which other countries would guarantee its security.
Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia told reporters the guarantee should resemble NATO's Article 5 which commits alliance members to defend each other.
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