Turkey wants to achieve a “localized end to the conflict” in Ukraine, as it does not hope for a more comprehensive peace agreement at this stage, a close adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ibrahim Kalin, said on Saturday, AFP quoted.

Neither Russia nor Ukraine is “capable of winning militarily,” he said, expressing confidence that “eventually they will have to negotiate to reach an acceptable outcome” for both sides.

“Nobody wants to stop fighting yet, but we have to keep pushing them to do so. If we cannot reach a comprehensive peace agreement, we will seek a local, limited cessation of hostilities, a local de-escalation,” the adviser said.

Since the conflict began on February 24, Turkey, which maintains good relations with the two capitals, has offered to mediate an end to the war, “the worst international problem since World War II,” Kalin told reporters from several foreign countries. Media including AFP.

“We have already achieved certain successes,” he said, referring to the agreement signed last summer on the export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea and the Bosphorus and the promotion of the exchange of prisoners of war.

“But it’s not enough (…), just a small part of a much bigger puzzle,” Kalin said, adding that any peace deal must be “bigger” than two countries (Russia and Ukraine) and provide “security guarantees for both sides”.

“Russia wants to be respected as an important actor and to receive security guarantees, especially that NATO will not end up in its backyard” and that “Ukraine will not join NATO, but will receive security guarantees on its borders,” Kalin said. .