Turkey, Ukraine cooperation vital for Black Sea security, says minister

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Mevlut Cavusoglu (R) and Minister of National Defense of Turkey, Hulusi Akar (L) meet with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Kiev, Ukraine on December 17, 2020 [Fatih Aktaş – Anadolu Agency]

The security of the Black Sea region can only happen with cooperation between Turkey and Ukraine, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister said on Thursday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

“Ukraine and Turkey are developing a clear vision for the future security of the Black Sea region,” Kuleba wrote in an article for Atlantic Council, an American think tank.

“It is time for NATO to begin viewing this Ukrainian-Turkish partnership as a valuable supplementary force that can help provide security and stability in the region,” he stressed.

Ukraine has been using Turkish unmanned aerial vehicles called ‘Bayraktar’.

Ukraine destroyed the artillery of pro-Russian separatists in the country’s east in its first combat deployment of a Turkish drone, the Ukrainian military announced on Tuesday.

The Kremlin said Wednesday that Turkey’s supply of drones to Ukraine risks destabilizing the eastern Ukraine conflict, despite Moscow’s “special” relations with Ankara.

READ: Turkey and Ukraine could each be the foreign policy saviour of the other

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