In their first meeting since the beginning of the invasion, Sergei Lavrov and Dimitro Kuleba have left the door open for future negotiations
The foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine, Sergei Lavrov and Dimitro Kuleba, respectively, have ended their meeting this Thursday in the Turkish city of Antalya without agreement, the first they have held since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine.
Kuleba has stated that the contacts have been settled without a ceasefire agreement, although he has been willing to “continue negotiations”, as reported by the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN.
“Ukraine has proposed a humanitarian corridor to and from Mariupol and a ceasefire of at least one day to solve the humanitarian problems of civilians. The Russian side has not agreed. I am ready to continue negotiations », she said.
Thus, he has revealed that he has been told that “a ceasefire is possible if Ukraine complies with the conditions of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin. »Ukraine does not give up. We will seek diplomatic solutions, but until we achieve them we will protect the people from Russian aggression,” he stressed.
For his part, Lavrov has said that Kiev has rejected Moscow’s demands and has stressed that the Russian position on opening humanitarian corridors on a daily basis remains unchanged, according to the Russian news agency TASS.
The Russian minister has outlined that the Ukrainian authorities “begin to understand” the Russian position and has emphasized that Moscow “does not want to deny security to the Ukrainian people” and is willing to discuss “guarantees” in this regard.
On the other hand, he has confirmed that he has discussed with Kuleba the possibility of opening direct negotiations between Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodimir Zelensky. The president of Ukraine has proposed this possibility on several occasions in recent days.
Lavrov has stressed that Russia “is always willing to negotiate at the highest level if they are going to have value”, while alerting Western countries to the danger posed by their decision to deliver weapons to Ukraine to deal with the offensive Russian military.
The meeting, in which the Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, has participated, has taken place within the framework of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, which will be held in the city between Friday and Sunday this week. Putin expressed on Sunday to his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his readiness to negotiate with the Kiev authorities.
Turkey has been proposing itself as a mediator in the conflict for days. Erdogan asked Putin for collaboration to “build together the path to peace” and reiterated his help to collaborate in any ceasefire declaration or opening of humanitarian corridors.
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