Zelensky meets Erdogan after securing US cluster bombs

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Friday entered crunch talks with Turkiye's leader after securing a US pledge for cluster munitions that could inflict massive damage on Russian forces on the battlefield.
Washington's decision to deliver the controversial weapons -- banned across a large part of the world but not in Russia or Ukraine -- dramatically ups the stakes in the war, which enters its 500th day Saturday.
Zelensky has been travelling across Europe and working the phones trying to secure bigger and better weapons for his outmatched army, which has launched a long-awaited counteroffensive that is progressing less swiftly than Ukraine's allies had hoped.
"Without long-range weapons, it is difficult not only to fulfil an offensive mission, it is difficult to conduct a defensive operation, to be honest," Zelensky told reporters while hopping between Bratislava, Prague and Istanbul Friday.
US President Joe Biden's decision to approve the delivery of cluster munitions provides Ukraine with weapons capable of dispersing multiple small explosives over an area covering several football fields.
Zelensky has been also pushing hard for membership of Nato, arguing that Ukraine had turned into Europe's last line of defence against Russia's aggression.
The White House said membership would come in the "not too distant future", but not at next week's summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.
Zelensky's talks in Turkiye were being watched closely by the Kremlin, which has tried to break its international isolation by cultivating strong relations with Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The talks with Erdogan are also expected to focus on an expiring deal to ship Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea.
Both Zelensky and Erdogan want to extend the United Nations and Turkiye-brokered agreement with Russia under which Ukraine has been allowed to ship grain to global markets during the war.
The deal will expire on July 17 unless Russia agrees to its renewal.