In a phone chat with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, President Vladimir Putin criticised Kiev’s ‘destructive’ tactics and the expansion of Western weaponry shipments to Ukraine, the Kremlin reported.
According to the Kremlin, President Putin claimed that Kyiv was taking ‘a destructive approach’ and had ‘bet on the intensification of hostilities with the help of Western supporters, who are ramping up supply of weaponry and military equipment.’
Additionally, he said that Kyiv had turned down his request to halt hostilities on Christmas Day, which is observed on January 7 in both Russia and Ukraine. At the time, Ukraine regarded the stoppage as a Russian ruse to buy time for its troops to reorganise.
Following requests from Kiev, Britain offered 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine over the weekend, making it the first Western nation to provide heavy tanks.
Meanwhile, in response to Kyiv’s pleas, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated this past weekend that Ukraine may anticipate receiving more heavy weapons.
President Erdogan reaffirmed that Turkey is prepared to facilitate and mediate the development of a permanent peace between Russia and Ukraine, informed the Turkish presidency.
Putin and Erdogan, also talked about exchanging wounded soldiers who are Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war.
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