Turkey Says Lavrov-Kuleba Meeting Was Civil despite All Difficulties

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a news conference after meeting with his counterparts Ukrainian Dmytro Kuleba and Turkish Mevlut Cavusoglu, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Antalya, Turkey March 10, 2022. REUTERS/Stringer
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a news conference after meeting with his counterparts Ukrainian Dmytro Kuleba and Turkish Mevlut Cavusoglu, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Antalya, Turkey March 10, 2022. REUTERS/Stringer
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Turkey Says Lavrov-Kuleba Meeting Was Civil despite All Difficulties

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a news conference after meeting with his counterparts Ukrainian Dmytro Kuleba and Turkish Mevlut Cavusoglu, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Antalya, Turkey March 10, 2022. REUTERS/Stringer
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a news conference after meeting with his counterparts Ukrainian Dmytro Kuleba and Turkish Mevlut Cavusoglu, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Antalya, Turkey March 10, 2022. REUTERS/Stringer

The meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers in Turkey on Thursday was civil despite all the difficulties and the most important outcome of the talks was establishing contact, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

Speaking at a news conference after the meeting between Dmytro Kuleba and Sergei Lavrov, which Cavusoglu also attended, he said there was a need for both a humanitarian corridor from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol and for a sustainable ceasefire, according to Reuters.

The meeting was the first high-level contact between the two sides since Moscow invaded its ex-Soviet neighbor.

Officials from Kyiv and Moscow have held several rounds of discussions in Belarus, but the meeting in the southern city of Antalya was the first time Russia has sent a minister for talks on the crisis, AFP said.

Dialogue between Kyiv and Moscow has so far yielded several local ceasefires and humanitarian corridors to evacuate residents, but Russia has been accused of breaching those agreements.

Earlier, Kuleba confirmed in a Facebook video that he would travel to Turkey for the talks but said his expectations were "limited", as Russia continues its brutal bombing campaign and siege of major cities.

He said the success of the talks would depend on "what instructions and directives Lavrov is under" from the Kremlin.

"I am not pinning any great hopes on them, but we will try and get the most out of" the talks with effective preparation, he said.

The sit-down comes as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pushed for Ankara to play a mediation role.

"We are working to stop this crisis from transforming into a tragedy," Erdogan said Wednesday. 

"I hope the meeting between the ministers will open the way to a permanent ceasefire."



Pro-Palestinian Activists Due to Appear Court after Damaging Planes at RAF Base

Demonstrators look on during a protest after British lawmakers voted to ban pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, outside Downing Street in London, Britain, July 2, 2025. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett
Demonstrators look on during a protest after British lawmakers voted to ban pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, outside Downing Street in London, Britain, July 2, 2025. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett
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Pro-Palestinian Activists Due to Appear Court after Damaging Planes at RAF Base

Demonstrators look on during a protest after British lawmakers voted to ban pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, outside Downing Street in London, Britain, July 2, 2025. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett
Demonstrators look on during a protest after British lawmakers voted to ban pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, outside Downing Street in London, Britain, July 2, 2025. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett

Four people are set to appear in a London courtroom on Thursday over charges connected with an incident in which pro-Palestinian protesters damaged two Royal Air Force planes with red paint and crowbars.

The charges come after the group Palestine Action said two of its members entered RAF Brize Norton on June 20 and used electric scooters to approach two Voyager jets used for air-to-air refueling. The protesters used repurposed fire extinguishers to spray paint into the planes’ jet engines and caused further damage with crowbars, according to the group, which released video footage of the incident, The Associated Press said.

The four, all between the ages of 22 and 35, are charged with conspiracy to commit criminal damage and conspiracy to enter a prohibited place for purposes prejudicial to the interests of the UK, counter-terror police said in a statement. The Crown Prosecution Service will argue that that the offenses have a “terrorist connection,” police said.

Palestine Action has claimed responsibility for a series of incidents targeting Israeli defense contractors in the UK and other sites linked to the war in Gaza. Following the incident at RAF Brize Norton, the government introduced legislation to ban Palestine Action as a terrorist organization. The measure means it will be a criminal offense to belong to or support the group, with a maximum of 14 years in prison.

Palestine Action rejects that assertion, saying its protests are designed to end international support for Israel’s war in Gaza.

Planes from Brize Norton, 70 miles (112 kilometers) northwest of London, regularly fly to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, Britain’s main air base for operations in the Middle East.