Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was "happy to hear" that Turkey supports Ukraine's bid to join the NATO alliance.
Zelensky, who spoke alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a joint news conference in Istanbul, said the two leaders discussed "key issues of our work in the context of NATO, in particular preparing for a Vilnius summit."
Ukraine is expected to be at the top of the agenda of that meeting next week.
"I raised the question of Ukraine's membership in the NATO alliance and was happy to hear that the President (Erdogan) supports Ukraine to be a NATO member," Zelensky said.
Zelensky also said the two leaders talked about "the joint work in the military-industrial complex, development of technologies, drone manufacturing and other strategic directions."
"We made certain agreements," he said. "I asked Turkey to join into the efforts of rebuilding and transforming Ukraine, it is a colossal project, and we need Turkey’s experience and technology to help us."
Some context: Both Sweden and its neighbor Finland stated their intent to join NATO through its open-door policy in May last year, just weeks after Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Finland was accepted in April of this year, doubling the alliance’s border with Russia, but Sweden’s accession is currently being blocked by Turkey.
Turkey claims that Sweden allows members of recognized Kurdish terror groups to operate in Sweden, most notably the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).