Turkey can mediate in a standoff over Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant which is occupied by Moscow's troops, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in a phone call on September 3.
"President Erdogan stated that Turkey can play a facilitator role in the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, as they did in the grain deal," Erdogan’s office said in a statement, referring to a grain export agreement signed in July by Russia and Ukraine with the United Nations and Turkey as guarantors.
Last month, Erdogan warned of the danger of a nuclear disaster when he visited Ukraine for talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
"We are worried. We do not want another Chernobyl," Erdogan had said.
The situation at the Zaporizhzhya plant -- Europe's largest nuclear power station -- continues to be a source of major concern for the international community. Russian and Ukrainian forces have accused each other of shelling the plant, raising concerns about a possible nuclear disaster.
Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency who visited the sprawling plant in southern Ukraine this week, expressed concern over the facility's “physical integrity.”
Turkey has maintained friendly ties with both Russia and Ukraine. It has supplied Kyiv with drones and refused to join Western sanctions against Moscow over its unprovoked war in Ukraine.
Before meeting with Zelenskiy, Erdogan met with Putin in Sochi to discuss bilateral economic cooperation.
During the September 3 phone call, Erdogan and Putin agreed to talk further in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit on September 15-16, the Turkish presidency said.