Diplomatic talks between Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov failed today in Turkey as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its third week.
Both foreign ministers said no progress was made on a potential ceasefire agreement for the ongoing conflict.
Ukraine said that Moscow ignored its pleas for humanitarian access in order to rescue hundreds of thousands of civilians. Ukrainians are currently trapped under bombardment in cities across the country.
The war entered its third week, with Russia failing to reach its stated objectives. Since the war began, thousands of people have been killed, and a mass exodus of more than two million refugees has fled the country. Thousands more are trapped in besieged cities.
Kuleba said that Lavrov refused to make a promise to hold fire in order to usher aid into civilians or to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people from besieged cities such as Mariupol.
The talks came a day after Russian forces bombed a maternity hospital in besieged Mariupol. Lavrov downplayed the “so-called atrocity” in an interview with CNBC today, but offered no evidence for the claim that the hospital was somehow in control of “Ukrainian radicals.”
Aid agencies said that the need for humanitarian assistance is desperate, and most urgently needed in Mariupol. About 400,000 civilians are trapped without food, water, or power, as the bombing intensifies.
Kuleba said that he made a simple proposal to Lavrov to give 100% assurances on security guarantees for humanitarian corridors, and asked if he could do the same, to which Lavrov failed to respond.
Each minister held a news conference simultaneously in separate rooms. Lavrov showed no signs of concessions and claimed the operation was going as planned. He said Ukraine posed a threat to Russia. He also claimed that discussions of ceasefires were not on the agenda for the day’s talks.
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