Ukraine crisis: Zelensky welcomes offers to moderate talks with Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is welcoming efforts to open talks with Russia.

In a video message Saturday, Zelensky said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev offered to help organize talks and that “we can only welcome that.”

Diplomatic efforts to end the bloodshed have so far faltered.

Zelensky offered Friday to negotiate a key Russian demand: that Ukraine declare itself neutral and abandon its ambition of joining NATO. But movement to actually advance any diplomacy has appeared to sputter.