Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Tuesday that any steps that could exacerbate the war in Ukraine and potentially extend the conflict to NATO should be avoided, adding that he will host Russian President Vladimir Putin after the elections scheduled later this month.

Turkey, a NATO member, supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

However, it also maintains friendly relations with Russia and regularly talks to both sides of the conflict. It has provided military and political support to Ukraine but also opposes imposing sanctions on Moscow.

Erdoğan said, during a Ramadan dinner with foreign ambassadors in Ankara, that Ankara will continue working to revive the defunct Black Sea grain deal mediated by Moscow and Kyiv with the United Nations.

He added, "While we have expressed our support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, we have already said that peace plans that exclude Russia will not yield any results," referring to the planned Ukrainian peace summit to be held in Switzerland later this year, which Russia will not attend.

He continued, "We are working to re-establish maritime safety in the Black Sea and ensure the safe conduct of grain trade. We believe that steps that would exacerbate conflicts in the region and could extend to NATO should be avoided as well."

French President Emmanuel Macron said last month that Western allies should not rule out deploying troops in Ukraine. However, most allies and the NATO Secretary General have distanced themselves from the idea.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Istanbul last week, and Erdoğan offered to host a peace summit between Ukraine and Russia. On Tuesday, he said Putin would visit Turkey after the elections scheduled for March without going into details.

The Kremlin had earlier said that Putin's visit to Turkey would be after the Russian elections scheduled for March 15 and 17. Turks will also head to the polls on March 31 to hold nationwide municipal elections.

Turkey hosted peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in 2022 but has since complained about the lack of diplomatic steps to advance these talks. It has repeatedly offered to host further talks, saying a summit of leaders is needed.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said both sides should start studying a ceasefire, but this should not mean recognizing the Russian occupation.