The Heads of Russian and Ukrainian diplomacy met this Thursday in Turkeyfor the first time since the beginning of the Russian invasion two weeks ago, one day after the terrible attack on a pediatric hospital in the city of Mariupol, that left at least three dead, including a girl. However, they failed to reach an agreement for a ceasefire, in their first face-to-face after two weeks of Russian military offensive, which continues to advance and reaches the gates of Kiev.
The foreign ministers Russian, Sergei Lavrov, and Ukrainian, Dmytro Kuleba, they met in the presence of their Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Cavusoglu, in Antalya, a Turkish seaside resort in the south of the country.
“We wanted to get a 24-hour ceasefire. (Russian Foreign Minister Sergei) Lavrov said that Moscow wanted to talk about humanitarian corridors,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said after the meeting in Antalya, southern Turkey.
The Ukrainian official assured that Russia intends to “continue its aggression until Ukraine capitulates”.
“I heard today that the ceasefire is linked, on the part of Russia, to the respect of the demands expressed by President (Vladimir) Putin to Ukraine,” he added. “But Ukraine has not given up, is not giving up and will not give up,” he insisted to reporters.
It is also Lavrov’s first trip abroad since the start of the invasion of Ukraine and severe international sanctions against Russia were imposed.
Ukrainian orders
Kuleba explained, in a statement from his ministry, that he will insist on “three key points” during the negotiation with Russia: “A permanent ceasefire, an improvement in the humanitarian situation in Mariupol, Kharkiv, Sumy, Volnovakha and other Ukrainian cities, and a withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Ukraine.”
These four cities are besieged by Russian attacks and numerous civilians are trapped in them.
So far, the talks between Kiev and Moscow have achieved local truces and the establishment of humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians. But Russia has been accused of not having respected these agreements.
The meeting in Turkey illustrates the efforts of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country is a member of NATO, to become a mediator in this crisis.
“We are working so that this crisis does not turn into a tragedy,” Erdogan declared on Wednesday.
Russia will ask its army for information
Turkey’s meeting comes a day after the bombing of a children’s hospital in Mariupol, in the southeast of the country, a strategic port on the Sea of Azov that is besieged by Russia.
At least three people, including a girl, perished in the attack, according to the latest balance of the municipal authorities communicated on Thursday.
the ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelensky, who called the bombing a “war crime”published videos showing the destruction of the place.
The images caused worldwide revulsion. The White House denounced a “savage” use of force and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the attack “immoral.”
The bombing occurred when there were women giving birth in the hospitalAn official from the military administration of the Donetsk region told AFP.
This Thursday, the Kremlin said that it will ask the army for information about this attack.
More than 1,200 people have been killed in Mariupol since the Russian military siege began nine days ago, according to municipal figures.
EU calls Russian bombing of children’s hospital in Ukraine ‘heinous war crime’
On Wednesday, in its latest official balance, the UN estimated that 516 civilians were killed and 800 wounded in Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion, which also caused the forced departure of more than two million people from the country.
Surround Kiev
In recent hours and according to the Ukrainian General Staff, Russian forces continue to advance to “surround Kiev”, also attacking on other fronts, such as the cities of Izium, Petrovske, Sumy, Ojtyrka and the Donetsk region.
To the northeast of the capital, important columns of smoke rose this Thursday morning, according to AFP journalists.
Humanitarian corridors were reopened Thursday morning to allow the evacuation of civilians in areas heavily affected by the fighting, where civilians have been hiding in basements and makeshift shelters for days.
On Wednesday, at least 35,000 civilians were evacuated from Sumy, Enerhodar and areas near Kiev, according to figures reported by Zelensky. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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