No progress in Antalya, Turkey, in talks - mediated by the hosts - between Russian foreign ministers Serghei Lavrov and Ukrainian Dmitri Kuleba after 14 days of war, hundreds of civilian victims, damages for over 10 billion dollars and risks of nuclear accidents ( HERE all the live updates on the conflict, HERE all the articles on the crisis in Ukraine and HERE all the videos).
In the meeting, Kuleba said in a press conference at the end of the summit, “we addressed the issue of the 24-hour ceasefire to resolve most of the urgent issues from the humanitarian point of view. Unfortunately, we have not made progress, it seems that there are other people who decide on this in Russia. "The most serious situation, he added, remains that of Mariupol, where hundreds of thousands of people are trapped in a city without water, electricity and heating. "I am ready to meet Lavrov again if there are concrete prospects," he concluded.
LAVROV: “NEUTRAL UKRAINE” - So it was Lavrov's turn: "We have had confirmation that we have no alternatives", he marked, specifying that "these contacts cannot be used to replace or devalue the main negotiations on Belarusian territory". Then the usual refrain: "We did not attack in Ukraine. In Ukraine a situation arose that created a threat to Moscow, we made several appeals but no one listened to us."
"Those who fill Ukraine with weapons must understand that they are responsible for their own actions", he later stressed: "We want Ukraine to be neutral". Then he spoke of "special effects" by the Ukrainians: President Putin "has never denied contacts" but the Ukrainian government "continues to replace the real problem with special effects. Putin does not refuse a meeting between presidents but first of all preparatory work must be done. Ukraine has told us that it will give us concrete answers, we are waiting ". A nuclear war?" I don't want to believe it. "
On the bombing of the Mariupol pediatric hospital he confirms the version of Moscow according to which there were no patients inside and was instead "used as a base for the Azov battalion", that is the extremist Ukrainian military unit.
THE FIRST MEETING - The three rounds of negotiations on the Belarusian borders, which only led to the opening of fragile humanitarian corridors, have been set aside. This was the first high-level diplomatic meeting. The summit took place at the Regnum Carya hotel in Antalya and was also attended by the head of diplomacy of Ankara Mevlut Cavusoglu.
Also present was the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (Aiea) Rafael Mariano Grossi, who shortly before arriving had written on Twitter: "I am traveling to Antalya, Turkey, to discuss the urgent issue of guaranteeing safety. and the safeguarding of nuclear facilities in Ukraine. We need to act now. "
THE PREMISES - "To be honest, I have quite limited expectations. But we will do everything we can", explained the head of Ukrainian diplomacy on the eve. If the Kremlin assures that it wants talks "as soon as possible" and that "it depends on the will of Kiev", Ukraine has said it is ready to "a diplomatic solution" and to discuss the Russian request for military and political neutrality, but it will not give in " just one centimeter "of territory, assured Ihor Zhovkva, deputy chief of staff of President Volodymyr Zelensky and one of his main foreign policy advisers. "Our first condition for having such a negotiation - he added - is the immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of the Russian troops".
"We can only end this war through direct contacts between the presidents," Zelensky reiterated. "I - he assured - am ready for talks, ready for compromises. But they cannot be a betrayal of the people. And the other party must also be ready to compromise. This is the only way out".
(Unioneonline / D)