Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticized Russia's recognition of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine, underscoring Turkey’s support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

However, unlike Britain or Germany, Erdogan kept quiet on any possible punitive action against Moscow, which supplies nearly half of Turkey’s natural gas and two-thirds of its wheat imports. Instead, he expressed support for a proposal by Ukraine’s beleaguered President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to put together a summit of the UN Security Council's permanent members and Turkey, Germany and Ukraine. Erdogan will also attend the online NATO leaders summit Wednesday. Earlier this month, Turkey offered to act as a peace broker between Ukraine and Russia, suggesting a top-level trilateral meeting in Turkey.

In one of his sharpest ever statements toward Moscow, Erdogan called the Russian move "unacceptable." “We repeat our call for common sense and respect for international law by all sides," Erdogan told reporters accompanying him during his four-day Africa visit, which he cut short to attend the online NATO summit. In January, the Turkish leader warned Russia against invading Ukraine — a move he said was unlikely — and criticized the West for its failure to deal with the crisis.

A Monday statement from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs also expressed support for Ukraine's territorial integrity. “The decision of the Russian Federation to recognize the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk Republics, in addition to contradicting the Minsk Agreements [a 2015 blueprint to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict over Donbas], constitutes a clear violation of Ukraine's political unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the ministry statement said. “The Russian Federation’s decision is unacceptable, and we reject it.”