Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Dmytro Kuleba said that his country will welcome Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan this week.

According to diplomatic sources, Erdoğan will pay a visit to Kyiv on Thursday to take part in a high-level meeting of the Strategic Council.

Erdoğan and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are set to sign the free trade agreement during the visit.

Turkey and Ukraine have experienced closer relations since 2015 as a result of both countries' increasingly strained relationship with Russia.

Erdoğan repeatedly emphasized that Turkey would not recognize the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea; calling it “Crimea's occupation”. (ILKHA)