Ukraine's Zelensky thanks Erdogan for Turkey's unconfirmed Black Sea warship ban

Shafaq News/ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked Turkey to block Russian warships from traversing the Dardanelles or Bosphorus straits, which link the Mediterranean to the Black Sea.

"I thank my friend [President Recep Tayyip Erdogan] and the people of [Turkey] for their strong support. The ban on the passage of [Russian] warships to the Black Sea and significant military and humanitarian support for [Ukraine] are extremely important today. The people of [Ukraine] will never forget that!" Zelensky wrote on Twitter.

Turkey, which controls the Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits, has not publicly announced any ban on Russian warships using the straits despite Ukraine's urgent requests that it do so.

Russia has received no official notification from Turkey on the closure of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits to Russian warships, the Interfax news agency quoted the Russian embassy in Turkey as saying.

On Friday, Turkey's foreign minister said that under the 1936 convention covering the matter, Ankara could not bar warships returning to a home base in the Black Sea from passing through the straits.

The Kremlin, which has a major naval base in the Black Sea, has recently held large naval drills in the Mediterranean and Gulf of Oman.