Live updates: Turkish President Erdogan talks with Zelenskyy

ISTANBUL – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy by telephone, discussing the situation in Ukraine and negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv, Erdogan’s office said late Friday.

Erdogan told his counterpart that he had raised Turkey’s support for Ukrainian territorial integrity at a recent NATO summit, where he had relayed the diplomatic efforts made by Turkey in one-one-one meetings with other leaders, according to a statement from the Turkish presidency.

Ankara, which has close ties with both Russia and Ukraine, has positioned itself as a neutral party, seeking to facilitate negotiations between the warring sides.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

— The Associated Press has independently documented at least 34 assaults on Ukrainian medical facilities by Russian forces

— U.S. President Joe Biden visits American troops in Poland, a complex ally at Ukraine’s doorstep

— Russian President Vladimir Putin faces stark choices in Ukraine invasion as armed forces stall

— Ukraine says 300 dead in airstrike on theater in Mariupol; hunger stalking besieged areas

— Some prominent Russians quit jobs, refuse to support the war on Ukraine

— EU, US announce partnership to undercut Russian energy

— A vast apparatus is being built to gather and preserve evidence of potential violations of international laws of war for possible prosecutions

Go to https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine for more coverage

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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

Russian forces in Ukraine appear to have shifted their focus from a ground offensive aimed at Kyiv to instead prioritizing what Moscow calls the liberation of the contested Donbas region, suggesting a new phase of the...