Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met this month in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. The composition of Erdogan’s accompanying delegation offered an idea about what he was planning to achieve in Ukraine. It included defense and trade ministers, as well as the chairman of the defense industry, among others. Several issues were debated during this meeting. The most important one was the threat directed at Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant, which is located in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. There are conflicting reports about the risks that the Russian-occupied power plant is exposed to. Russia has reportedly considered disconnecting the plant from the Ukrainian power grid and connecting it to its own. If this were to happen, the Ukrainian grid would be exposed to more frequent power cuts in the forthcoming winter. The Russian military presence in and around the power plant may have three effects. The first is that the Ukrainian technicians will be prevented from performing their duties. They were in charge of maintaining and running this plant according to the safety standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The interruption of their tasks exposes the power plant to risks. A group of 42 countries, plus the EU, issued a statement drawing attention to the negative consequences of the Russian military presence in and around the power plant. The second is the explosives placed in and around the plant. Any minor negligence could cause a new catastrophe like the one that happened in Chernobyl. An accident that took place in Chernobyl in 1986 affected half a million people and caused losses of billions of dollars. The third effect of the Russian presence in the power plant is the threat to the fact that Zaporizhzhia belongs to Ukraine. It was built and owned by Ukraine. Guterres said: “The electricity generated at the Russian-held nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia belongs to Ukraine. The plant has to be demilitarized.” The second important agenda item in Lviv was the bilateral talks held between Erdogan and Zelensky. They discussed all aspects of Turkish-Ukrainian relations. After the meeting, Erdogan said that he reconfirmed Turkey’s support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. This was not surprising, as Ankara had to act together with the other NATO countries. But he did not stop there. About a week after the Lviv summit, Erdogan repeated that Turkey does not recognize Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and that the peninsula has to be returned to Ukraine. Last Thursday, he went a step further when, in response to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s comment that a Turkish military operation in Syria would be “unacceptable,” he said: “We do not pay attention to those who make threatening remarks for Turkey. We will continue our operations.” Let us see how Russia reacts to such a remark. Turkey plays a delicate role in the conflict by maintaining solid relations with both Moscow and Kyiv. Yasar Yakis Coinciding with the Lviv summit, Iran came up with strong support in favor of Russia in the Ukrainian crisis. Tehran believes — perhaps for good reasons — that it “must back Russia in Ukraine because Russia is fighting a common enemy: The Western alliance.” This makes Turkey’s sensitive role even more important. Despite Turkey’s declared position that Russia’s Ukraine invasion is illegal, it plays a delicate role by maintaining solid relations with both Moscow and Kyiv. The grain deal was another subject debated in the Lviv meeting. Turkey played an important role in making this deal possible. It opened the way for the export of Ukrainian grain and many countries around the world benefited from it. Through this scheme, 25 cargo ships have carried 625,000 tons of grains all over the world, offering relief in the markets. The wheat price in the US fell by 5 percent and reached its lowest point since February. This deal opened up breathing space from the Black Sea to the world. Erdogan is also interested in another subject that concerns both Russia and Ukraine. At their meeting, Zelensky raised the issue of an exchange of prisoners of war. Erdogan promised to raise this subject with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This could be a new role for Turkey to play between Russia and Ukraine, and Ankara could easily assume such a role. Meanwhile, the Turkish trade minister and the Ukrainian infrastructure minister signed in Lviv a memorandum of understanding. The document provides for cooperation between the two countries over the removal of the debris of destruction caused by the war and for reconstruction in the country once the conflict ends. Turkish businessmen seem to be prepared to start work as soon as the political decision is made by the Ukrainian authorities. With 42 companies doing business internationally, Turkey’s construction industry ranks second in the world after China and ahead of the US. All these initiatives indicate that Erdogan is eager to assume new roles in terms of Russian-Ukrainian relations. • Yasar Yakis is a former foreign minister of Turkey and founding member of the ruling AK Party. Twitter: @yakis_yasar Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News" point of view