Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on March 12 during a visit to Ankara that he urged Turkey to play a key role in any peace process for Ukraine.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held talks with Tusk—who on March 7 demonstrated his growing apprehension over the future of Polish and European security by telling the Polish parliament that Warsaw will strive to enlarge its armed forces to 500,000 servicemen and work to obtain nuclear weapons.

"I have given President Erdogan a clear proposal for Turkey to take on the greatest possible co-responsibility for the peace process, guaranteeing stability and security in our entire region," Tusk, who like Erdogan, leads a Nato-member country, told a joint news conference with the Turkish leader, as reported by Reuters.

"We know well what we want for Ukraine, what we want for the region, what we want for Europe," he added.

Erdogan said that Ukraine's decision to support a 30-day ceasefire proposal following its talks this week in Saudi Arabia with US officials was positive.

"We expect Russia to reciprocate this positive step in the same way," Erdogan was cited as saying.

"If the latest development leads to Russia and Ukraine returning to the [negotiating] table, we are ready to provide all forms of contribution, including hosting [talks]," he added.

Tusk’s visit to Ankara might also be taken as offering firm backing to Turkey as it pushes for an expanded role in the defence and security of Europe. Turkey is making its case with the EU and non-EU powers in Europe, such as the UK, having decided that the time has come to devise a new European security and defence architecture and massively rearm given the threat that a hostile Kremlin could pose in coming years and US President Donald Trump’s deprioritising of European security in his foreign policy.

On March 11, reports emerged that Nato’s secretary-general Mark Rutte has privately urged the EU and Turkey to improve their relations in light of the stance of Trump and worries over Russia’s future intentions.

EU membership remains a strategic objective for Turkey despite almost zero progress on that front in recent years given differences between Ankara an Brussels on matters such as rule of law, human rights and aspects of foreign policy such as the Cyprus question.