After meeting with Erdogan, Zelensky vows greater security cooperation with Turkey

By Reuters 4 April 2026, 8:09 pm

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This handout photograph taken and released by the Turkish presidential press service on April 4, 2026, shows Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) welcoming and shaking hands Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) upon arrival for a bilateral meeting on security at Dolmabahce Presidential Office, in Istanbul. (TURKISH PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP)

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky announces greater security cooperation with Turkey after meeting his counterpart Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul today, as Kyiv seeks to leverage its wartime know-how on the international stage.

Zelensky says that he had agreed “new steps” in security cooperation with the Turkish president, and that teams would finalize the details shortly.

“This applies above all to the areas in which we can support Turkey: expertise, technology and experience,” he writes on Telegram.

Erdogan told Zelensky that Turkey would continue to support negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to end their war, the Turkish presidency says.

Zelensky says that the two leaders discussed cooperation opportunities in joint gas infrastructure projects and joint gas field development.