ANKARA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan thanked his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda for “providing support to his journey to Ukraine” on Thursday. 

Erdogan traveled to Lviv, a city in western Ukraine near the Polish border, for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and UN chief Antonio Guterres.

With Ukrainian airspace closed due to the ongoing war, the Turkish president’s trip was “partially via Poland,” according to Türkiye’s Communications Directorate.

In a phone call with Duba after meeting the Ukrainian and UN leaders, Erdogan said the trio “held talks which would hopefully contribute to the peace process in Ukraine.”

Duda congratulated Erdogan for his “constructive role and efforts aimed at solving the Russia-Ukraine crisis, and for his contributions to the grain export deal,” read a directorate statement.

Duda also invited Erdogan to Poland for talks, the statement added.