ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey is ready to host negotiations for a ceasefire and permanent peace between Russia and Ukraine, President Tayyip Erdogan told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in a phone call on Sunday, Erdogan's office said.

The president said he's optimistic about Thursday's expected talks between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky in Istanbul.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan has probably never held more global sway: he will host the first direct Russia-Ukraine peace talks in three years on Thursday, days after his country's militant nemesis,

ANKARA (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan told Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Ankara on Thursday that Turkey was ready to host him and Russia's Vladimir Putin for peace talks "when they are ready", his office said.

Turkey's President Recep Erdogan will be a "great host" for the talks ... 30-day ceasefire starting May 12, with peace talks and a possible "reassurance force" of European peacekeepers.