TALKS WITH RUSSIA FAIL TO MAKE PROGRESS TOWARDS CEASEFIRE, UKRAINE SAYS

Thu 10 March 2022:

Ukraine’s foreign minister said he discussed a 24-hour ceasefire with his Russian counterpart, but no progress was achieved, while Moscow’s official supported the invasion and stated everything was progressing according to plan.

Russia’s and Ukraine’s foreign ministers met in Turkey on Thursday for face-to-face discussions, the first high-level interaction between the two countries since Moscow invaded its ex-Soviet neighbor last month.

“I’m ready to continue this engagement with the purpose of ending the war in Ukraine”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says his country and Russia have agreed to continue efforts to seek a solution to the humanitarian issues in Ukrainehttps://t.co/halkf0dYlo pic.twitter.com/JIcKx3hn8D

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) March 10, 2022

Ukraine’s Dmytro Kuleba said he secured no promise from Russia’s Sergey Lavrov to halt firing so aid could reach civilians, including the main humanitarian priority – evacuating hundreds of thousands of people trapped in the besieged port city of Mariupol.

“We also talked on the ceasefire but no progress was accomplished on that,” Kuleba told reporters after meeting Lavrov.

“It seems that there are other decision-makers for this matter in Russia,” Kuleba added in apparent reference to the Kremlin.

He described the meeting as “difficult” and accused Lavrov of bringing “traditional narratives” to the table.

“I want to repeat that Ukraine has not surrendered, does not surrender, and will not surrender,” said Kuleba.

Tried ‘diplomatic means’

“The Ukrainian side… has assured us that soon they will give a specific reply”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gives an update on talks following the country’s invasion of Ukraine, saying Russia has offered “proposals” to Ukraine https://t.co/MD3yDNHbt7 pic.twitter.com/Y4KwCJb6DQ

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) March 10, 2022

Lavrov, meanwhile, said Russia wants to continue negotiations with Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin would not refuse a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss “specific” issues.

Lavrov said Russia would not have started the conflict in Ukraine if the West had not rejected “our proposal on security guarantees“.

“Until the end, we wanted to resolve the situation in Ukraine through diplomatic means,” he said.

Western nations were behaving dangerously over Ukraine, and Russia’s “special military operation” there was going according to plan, he added.

The Russian foreign minister said he did not believe the standoff with the West over Ukraine would lead to nuclear war.

“I don’t want to believe, and I do not believe, that a nuclear war could start,” he told a news conference.

Russia had never used its oil and gas as weapons and it will always have markets for its energy exports, added Lavrov.

“We will come out of this crisis with refreshed views of the world – with no illusions about the West. We will try to never again be dependent on the West,” he said.

Officials from Kyiv and Moscow have held several rounds of discussions, but the meeting in the southern city of Antalya marked the first time Russia sent a minister for discussions on the crisis.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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