Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in Sochi, after brokering a grain shipment deal between Moscow and Kyiv. Erdogan is the first leader of a NATO country to visit his Russian counterpart since the start of the war in Ukraine, the BTA reports. The two leaders are expected to discuss a wide range of topics, including the war in Ukraine, Syria, international issues, as well as bilateral relations and cooperation. The two leaders are also expected to discuss military and technical cooperation.

On Thursday night, Russian forces shelled the Ukrainian cities of Mykolaiev, Nikopol and Zaporizhzhya.

Ukrainian forces were accused by Amnesty International of endangering civilians by creating bases and deploying weapons in residential areas, including schools and hospitals, sparking a strong reaction from Kyiv. “Today, we saw an Amnesty International report that attempts to amnesty a terrorist state and shift responsibility from the aggressor to its victim”, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenzsky said.