Erdogan says Ukraine 'deserves NATO membership'

ISTANBUL — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Turkey on Friday to hold talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on supporting Ukraine's bid to join the EU. 'North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Black Sea Extension Aid Grains Agreement.

At a televised press conference early Saturday morning after a meeting between the leaders, Mr Erdogan said that "Ukraine undoubtedly deserves NATO membership".

Mr. Zelensky has also visited several other NATO countries in the final days ahead of the alliance's two-day summit next week where Ukraine's president hopes to get clarification on his membership bid.

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The Kyiv government sees NATO membership as the ultimate guarantee of its security; his September request to join the alliance was made against the backdrop of the full-scale invasion of Russia.

President Biden, who is due to attend the summit during a trip to Europe next week, said in a CNN interview to be aired on Sunday that Ukraine's NATO membership would most likely have to wait until after the war.

"I don't know think there is unanimity within NATO on whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family now, right now , in the midst of a war,” Biden said, according to an excerpt published by CNN.

Because of the alliance's fundamental commitment to of mutual defence, he said, if Ukraine were admitted to NATO now, the allies would be drawn into war. "If the war continues, then we are all at war", he said. he declared."We are at war with Russia, if that were the case."

Mr. Zelensky was also in Istanbul to talk about the Black Sea Grains Agreement, which once again faces an uncertain future. Mr Erdogan said Russian President Vladimir V. Putin was due to visit Turkey in August and was working to try to extend the grain deal for longer intervals.

"Our hope is that it will be extended at least once every three months, not every two months," he said. "We will make an effort in this regard and try to increase the duration."

Turkey and the United Nations negotiated the agreement last year to allow Ukrainian grain to be exported through the Russian blockade in the Black Sea. Moscow has repeatedly threatened to scrap the deal, saying it is hampering Russia's own exports, but last-minute extensions have so far kept the deal alive. An extension agreed in May expires on July 17.

To give Mr Zelensky a boost, a provisional agreement was reached on Friday by the European Parliament and the States members to spend 500 million euros, or almost 550 million dollars, to boost the production of ammunition and missiles. The deal is part of a plan presented in March, and the bloc hopes to pass it by the end of the month.

Mr. Zelensky led a diplomatic offensive this week with NATO members. He traveled to Bulgaria and the Czech Republic on Thursday. On Friday, before heading to Istanbul, Mr. Zelensky stopped in Slovakia and met with President Zuzana Caputova and praised the cooperation between their countries.

Cassandra Vinograd and Anushka Patil contributed reporting.