ANKARA, September 2. /TASS/. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he had discussed the Ukraine conflict with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in China, and he believes it is necessary to gradually upgrade the level of talks on Ukraine.

"At our meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, we discussed what could be done to end the Ukraine-Russia war with a fair peace. Turkey has from the very beginning held the stance that hostilities should be stopped through talks. The Istanbul talks are striking evidence that this path is open for us," Erdogan told reporters from his press pool as he returned from China. "We are looking to gradually upgrade the level of talks. And we should transform the hope for peace into specific, and solution-oriented outcomes. We should solve this issue at the leaders’ level," he added.

He said he had discussed "the results of the Alaska summit" with Putin. "His meeting with US President Donald Trump in Alaska was very important," the Turkish leader shared.

In China, he also learned "Putin’s opinion on these issues, and also held several phone calls with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky." "I view the positions of Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Putin as positive," Erdogan said.

He also revealed that Turkey "may put forward the idea of holding more talks in Istanbul." "He [Putin] said `why not?’ to that. However, the parties are not ready for it yet," Erdogan concluded.