Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday huddled with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin hours before a five-day pause in the fighting in Syria is set to expire.

Erdogan, who met with Putin in the Black Sea resort Sochi, warned Kurdish forces that his military offensive against them would begin again unless they pulled out of the safe zone he wants to create in northern Syria before the US-brokered ceasefire ends.

“If the promises given to our country by the United States are not kept, we will continue our operation from where we left off with greater determination,” he said.

Sporadic clashes have broken out between the Kurdish and Turkish forces since Erdogan agreed to a ceasefire last Thursday during a meeting with Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

It ends at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Putin called the situation in Syria “severe” as the talks began but said the relationship between the two countries, who support opposing sides in the fight, “will let us find an answer to even the most difficult questions.”

Moscow has backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his fight against rebels forces, and Russian-backed Syrian troops have entered some key cities in northern Syria where US forces abandoned.

Assad called Erdogan a “thief” while visiting his troops who retook an area in Idlib province in northwestern Syria from Turkish-backed Syrian fighters.

He said the Turkish leader is a “thief who robbed factories, wheat and fuel and is today stealing territory,” according to state-run media.

Erdogan launched the incursion days after President Trump told him in a phone call on Oct. 6 that he would remove US troops from the area.

US special forces had been partnering with Kurdish militia in Syria since 2014 to destroy the Islamic State caliphate.

Ankara views the Kurds as terrorists who are aligned with an insurgent group that has been battling the government for decades inside Turkey.

Speaking during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Monday, Trump defended his decision to withdraw the US forces.

He acknowledged the Kurds’ contribution to the fight against ISIS, but said America’s responsibility for them only goes so far.

“You know, they hated ISIS, so they were fighting ISIS,” Trump told reporters. “Where’s an agreement that said we have to stay in the Middle East for the rest of humanity, for the rest of civilization, to protect the Kurds? They never said that.”

Meanwhile, Iraq is pushing back on Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s announcement on Monday that some US troops pulled from Syria will be deployed there.

Iraq’s military said the US doesn’t have permission to allow the troops to stay.

“All U.S. forces that withdrew from Syria received approval to enter the Kurdistan Region so that they may be transported outside Iraq. There is no permission granted for these forces to stay inside Iraq,” it said in a statement.

With Post wires