Negotiations at ministerial level in the Ukraine war with Russia will take place on Thursday. A quick end to the violence is not yet in sight. News ticker.
- Ukraine conflict*: For the first time since the beginning of the war two weeks ago, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Ukrainian colleague Dmytro Kuleba met for negotiations.
- The expectations of the peace talks are still subdued (see first report).
- According to his ministry, the Ukrainian foreign minister wants to present three main demands (see update from March 10, 10:30 a.m.).
- This News ticker on the negotiations and diplomatic attempts related to the Ukraine war is continuously updated. More on the background of the Ukraine crisis* here.
Update from March 10, 11:45 a.m.: Lavrov makes it clear that, from a Russian perspective, the decisive talks on the practical points of negotiations in Belarus should be discussed – in other words, what needs to be done to end the Ukraine war. Colleagues were warned from the start on Thursday that “no parallel track” should be set up here.
Update from March 10, 11:35 a.m.: Lavrov once again explains the Russian point of view: “We wanted a Ukraine that is peaceful, friendly to us, demilitarized, from which there is no threat of a new Nazi state, a Ukraine where the Russian language, Russian culture, Russian Orthodox Church is not forbidden.” All the pleas to the West “to bring the Ukrainian leadership to their senses have not been answered”. The West constantly works against everything Russian. Western reactions to the Russian actions were “very dogged”, “rabid”. It is about Russia’s right to be on the political map of the world and “that Russian interests are respected”. Lavrov also said at the press conference: “We do not intend to attack other countries, nor have we attacked Ukraine.”
Ukraine war: Lavrov from Russia vents his displeasure with the West
Update from March 10, 11:26 am: “Why should the interests of our security be determined by NATO?” Lavrov asked at a press conference. “We are not interested in trying to justify our actions in Ukraine in any way, we presented these actions very specifically,” he says. And further: “We don’t want the tendency in Ukraine to continue that of Ukraine becoming a neo-Nazi state.”
Asked about the effects of the sanctions on Russia and the problems in the country, Lavrov is combative: “We will manage it.” He assures that the country will emerge from this crisis as a state “with sound mind”. There is “no illusion that the West can be a reliable partner”. Russia never wants to be dependent on the West “in any way” again “in the crucial areas of our lives”. Lavrov, like Kuleba before him, was open to further talks – “if we can add value and solve a problem”.
Negotiations Russia and Ukraine: Lavrov comments after the talks
Update from March 10, 11:23 am: After the meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov also responded to a question about alleged attacks on a maternity clinic in Mariupol. According to Lavrov, these reports are “very emotional”, “but unfortunately in every situation there is a second side” that allows one to get an “objective impression”, but this gets “too little attention”. He dismissed the allegations as false reports. Russia had already informed the United Nations on March 7 that there were no longer any medical staff in the former clinic, but a camp of ultra-radical fighters from the Ukrainian battalion Azov. He spoke of a “manipulation” of the entire world with information on alleged atrocities committed by the Russian army.
Update from March 10th, 11:17 am: Lavrov explained that monetary issues were discussed mainly at the initiative of Turkish friends and also explained “what measures our army is taking on the ground to alleviate the plight of the civilian population”. The Ukrainian side took documents to Kyiv and assured that there would be an answer.
Update from March 10th, 11:11 am: In the meantime, the Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov is also speaking. He says Russia is still open to humanitarian corridors, as the Russian side envisioned. So far, their routes have always failed.
Ukraine war: Talks ended – no progress on ceasefire
Update from March 10th, 11:08 am: According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba, there was no progress towards a ceasefire during talks between the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers. “We talked about a ceasefire, but no progress was made in this regard,” Kuleba told journalists in Antalya, Turkey, on Thursday.
Update from March 10, 11:02 a.m.: Kuleba wants a diplomatic solution. “But we don’t have them yet,” said the Ukrainian foreign minister after the meeting with his Russian counterpart. Until then, Ukraine would continue to “defend the people from Russian aggression”. Kuleba would like the format, i.e. the meeting of foreign ministers, to be continued. “I’m ready,” he says. The prerequisite is that the Russian side also negotiate objectively and in a focused manner and refrain from “using the propaganda slogan”.
Negotiations between Ukraine and Russia ended
Update from March 10, 11:01 am: Suddenly the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba steps in front of the camera. “We will not give up, we are looking for diplomatic solutions,” he says.
Update from March 10, 10:30 a.m.: The foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine, Sergey Lavrov and Dmytro Kuleba, have started talks in Turkey (see first report). Before the joint consultations began, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu received the two ministers separately. According to his ministry, Kuleba wants to put forward three main demands from Ukraine:
- an immediate ceasefire
- an improvement in the humanitarian situation in Mariupol, Kharkiv, Sumy, Volnovakha and other Ukrainian cities
- a withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine
Negotiations in the Ukraine war: Kuleba and Lavrov meet for the first time since the beginning of the invasion
First report from March 10th: Antalya – The sometimes extremely bloody fighting in Ukraine continues. But now the governments are talking to each other again. For the first time since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Russia – Dmytro Kuleba and Sergey Lavrov – will meet on Thursday (March 10). Both met in Turkey for the negotiations.
The politicians sat opposite each other in a hall in Antalya on Thursday morning in the presence of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavusoglu, according to a photo released by the Russian Foreign Ministry. As a condition for a cessation of fighting, Russia is demanding that Ukraine* declare itself neutral in its constitution. In addition, Kyiv must recognize the annexed Black Sea peninsula of Crimea as Russian and the separatist areas of Luhansk and Donetsk as independent states. So far, however, Ukraine has largely rejected this.
Nevertheless: Kuleba had landed in Antalya for talks “about the cessation of Russian hostilities and the end of the war against Ukraine,” a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Kyiv wrote on Twitter on Wednesday evening.
Ukraine-Russia negotiations in Turkey: observers do not expect a breakthrough
The Russian government recently spoke of “progress” in negotiations with the Ukrainian side and, unlike before, assured that it would not seek to overthrow the government in Kyiv. For his part, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj* made his willingness to compromise clear* and moved away from the call for his country to join NATO. However, observers do not expect a breakthrough and a quick end to the violence in Ukraine.
The fact that Russia is now ready for talks at a higher level is interpreted by experts as meaning that the Kremlin’s war plan does not seem to be working. There are increasing reports of exhausted fighters and military vehicles that are stuck. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also doubts the success of the Russian attack in Ukraine *. Other voices emphasize that the talks could be part of a delaying tactic by Russia.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan* had repeatedly offered to mediate in the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv. Turkey is still able to talk “both with Ukraine and with Russia,” Erdogan stressed on Wednesday. The meeting in Antalya is about “preventing the crisis from developing into a tragedy”. Turkey, as a NATO member, supplies combat drones to Ukraine, but also has close economic ties with Russia, for example in tourism and in wheat and energy supplies.
Ukraine war: Kuleba and Lavrov meet for negotiations – “Limited expectations”
On Wednesday, Kuleba assured in a Facebook video that he would do everything possible to make the “talks (as) effective as possible”, but admitted that he had “limited expectations”. “I don’t have high hopes, but we will do everything we can to get the maximum out of it,” he said. He stressed that “everything will depend on the instructions Lavrov received before these talks.”
A Western official said he was “not optimistic” about the meeting. He asked: “Why is Lavrov engaging (in these talks)? Obviously we hope it is because they (the Russians) want what is happening to come to an end.”
The Turkish President will call his US colleague Joe Biden* at 4 p.m. CET, as the White House announced on Wednesday evening. The US government recently warned of a possible Russian use of chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine.
Negotiations in Turkey between Russia and Ukraine – including talks on the security of Ukrainian nuclear facilities
Talks on the security of the Ukrainian nuclear plants* are also to be held in Antalya. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, wants to travel there himself. After a series of incidents since the beginning of the Russian attack, Grossi had proposed negotiations on nuclear safety guarantees to avoid a serious nuclear accident. (AFP/cibo/dpa) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
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