Photo: Mustafa Ciftci/Anadolu Agency via Getty; AFP via Getty
The top diplomats forRussia and Ukrainemet in Antalya, Turkey, on Thursday for the latest round of talks between the countries but failed to pause the fighting from Russia’s invasion that haskilled or wounded more than 1,200 civiliansand spurred arefugee crisis in Europe.
Despite it being the highest-level meeting so far since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, both sides implied that an agreement was never going to be reached in Turkey, where Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made a false claim that his country “didn’t attack Ukraine,” according toThe New York Times.
Lavrov “came to talk but not to decide,” his counterpart, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, told Turkish television.
“They will continue their aggression until Ukraine meets their demands, and the least of these demands is surrender,” Kuleba told reporters after the talks.
Russia continues to “seek surrender from Ukraine, but this is not what they are going to get,” Kuleba said, according toNBC News.
Lavrov said his country’s demands were made clear in previous negotiations in Belarus.
“It is there that all practical issues are discussed, it is there that it was explained in the most detailed way what needs to be done in order to end this crisis,” he said,according to CNN. “This includes demilitarization and ‘de-Nazification’ and ensuring the neutral status of Ukraine.”
Cem Ozdel/Anadolu Agency via Getty
“Ukraine is strong. Ukraine is fighting. Ukraine made Russian initial plans fail,” Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister,also saidof the latest talks. “We are ready to seek balanced diplomatic solutions to put an end to this war, but we will not surrender.”
There was hope that Russian PresidentVladimir Putin’s frustration withthe state of the invasion, which has met tougher-than-expected resistance in Ukraine, and aslight shift in his apparent goalscould “crack the door open to a permanent cease-fire,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday before his foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, presided over the meeting.
But in mentioning “demilitarization and ‘de-Nazification,’ " Lavrov signaled a return to Russia’s apparent aim of regime change in Ukraine.
Answering questions from members of the media, Lavrov said reports of Russian actions in Ukraine were “fakes,” even as a horrific scene unfolded Wednesday when injured pregnant women evacuated a severelydamaged children’s hospital and maternity wardin the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
Cavusoglu reportedly called Thursday’s meeting “extremely civilized,” and said no one raised their voices. “No miracles should be expected in just one meeting,” the Turkish diplomat added. “This political-level meeting is an important beginning.”
Russia’sattack on Ukrainecontinues after their forces launched a large-scale invasion late last month — the first major land conflict in Europe in decades.
With NATO forces massing in the region around Ukraine, various countries have also pledged aid or military support to the resistance. Ukraine President Zelenskyy urged his country to fight back.
Putin insists Ukraine has historic ties to Russia and he is acting in the best security interests of his country. Zelenskyy vowed not to bend.
“Nobody is going to break us, we’re strong, we’re Ukrainians,“he told the European Unionin a speech in the early days of the fighting, adding, “Life will win over death. And light will win over darkness.”
source: people.com
