Sun agreement grain supplies from Ukraine would resume peacefully for the first time since the start of the war in February. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held separate talks with Russian and Ukrainian officials presidents on Monday to make progress toward a deal.
Turkey has tried to mediate since the start of the conflict, organizing peace talks in March, which were unsuccessful.
However, Erdogan’s phone call with both leaders will raise hopes of a breakthrough in brokering a deal over grain shipments.
A Turkish readout of his conversation with the Russian president said: “President Erdogan noted that it was time for the United Nations to act on the plan regarding the creation of safe corridors through the Black Sea for grain exports.”
Russia has been blocking Ukraine since the beginning of what the Kremlin calls its “special operation” in the country.
Ukraine is an important agricultural producing country often referred to as the “breadbasket of Europe”.
Much of the grain produced in Ukraine goes to import-dependent countries such as Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria.
However, as a result of the war, millions of tons of grain are trapped in storage facilities.
It is feared that failure to do so could worsen the already difficult position many countries dependent on Ukrainian exports find themselves in.
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This seemed to indicate that the Russian president might be ready for face-to-face talks with his Turkish counterpart.
The statement said that “an exchange of views on the situation around Ukraine continued, including in the context of coordinating efforts to ensure the safety of shipping in the Black Sea and grain exports to world markets”.
Mr Erdogan discussed the possibility of safe corridors at sea with Mr Zelensky.
He said Turkey “continues to work on the UN plan to ensure Ukraine’s grains reach world markets”.
Zelensky wrote on Twitter that the two leaders “discussed the importance of unblocking”. [Ukrainian] ports and resumption of grain exports.”
He added that Ankara and Kiev must work together to “prevent Russia from taking our grain from us”. [the temporarily occupied territories]†