Russia And Ukraine Seek Compromise In Peace Talks

About 20,000 people flee Mariupol in private cars – Ukraine
Hundreds of thousands of people still trapped in the city
UK says Russian forces are struggling to make progress
The President of Ukraine called the peace talks more realistic
US President Biden to meet with NATO leaders

KYIV/LVIV, Ukraine, March 16 – Russia and Ukraine highlighted new opportunities for compromise on Wednesday as peace talks were due to resume three weeks after a Russian offensive that has so far failed to topple the Ukrainian government.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the talks were becoming “more realistic”, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there was “some hope for a compromise” and Ukraine’s neutral status – Russia’s main demand – is now on the negotiating table.

The Kremlin said the parties are discussing a status for Ukraine similar to that of Austria or Sweden, members of the European Union that are not members of the NATO military alliance.

Three weeks into the invasion, Russian troops halted at the gates of Kyiv, having suffered heavy casualties and failed to capture any of Ukraine’s largest cities in a war that Western officials said Moscow expected to win in the coming days.

Ukrainian officials this week expressed hope that the war could end sooner than expected, even within weeks, as Moscow resigned itself to a shortage of fresh troops to continue fighting.

Talks were due to resume on Wednesday via video link for the third straight day, the first time they have lasted more than a day, which both sides say means they have entered a more serious phase.

“Meetings are ongoing and, as I was informed, the positions during the negotiations are already sounding more realistic. But it still takes time for decisions to be in the interests of Ukraine,” Zelensky said in a video message the day before.

On Tuesday, Zelenskiy hinted at a possible avenue for compromise, suggesting that Ukraine would be willing to accept international security guarantees that fell short of its long-held hope of full entry into the NATO alliance.

Keeping Ukraine out of NATO has long been one of Russia’s main demands, months before it launched the so-called “special operation” to disarm and “denazify” Ukraine.

“Negotiations are not easy for obvious reasons,” Lavrov said in an interview with RBC. “But there is still some hope of reaching a compromise.”

“A neutral status is now being seriously discussed, along with security guarantees, of course,” Lavrov said. “Now this is exactly what is being discussed at the talks – there are absolutely specific formulations that, in my opinion, are close to agreement.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a demilitarized Ukraine with its own army along the lines of Austria or Sweden is seen as a potential compromise. They are the largest of the six non-NATO EU countries.

“This is an option that is currently being discussed and which can really be considered as a compromise,” RIA quotes Peskov.

The head of Ukraine’s negotiating team, Zelensky’s aide Mykhailo Podlolyak, tweeted ahead of the resumption of talks on Wednesday that the Ukrainian military’s counter-offensives “dramatically changed the positions of the parties.”

Rescuers work at the site of a warehouse where shelling-burnt food is stored as the Russian offensive into Ukraine continues, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 16, 2022. REUTERS/Vitaly Gnidy.

In an intelligence assessment released on Wednesday, the UK said Russian troops were stranded on the roads, struggling to deal with the Ukrainian terrain and suffering from an inability to establish air control.

“The tactics of the Armed Forces of Ukraine skillfully exploited Russia’s lack of maneuver, disrupted the Russian advance and inflicted heavy losses on the invading forces,” the statement said.

THREE MILLION REFUGEES

The biggest invasion of Europe since World War II destroyed several Ukrainian cities and sent more than 3 million refugees abroad.

The streets of the capital Kyiv were virtually empty on Wednesday after authorities imposed a nightly curfew. Several buildings in the residential area were badly damaged after a suspected Russian missile was shot down early Wednesday morning, residents and rescuers said.

There were no reports of casualties as the rescue team searched the wreckage for signs of life. The surrounding streets were covered in broken glass from hundreds of windows smashed across a large area. Something that looked like a rocket engine lay on the side of the road.

However, the Ukrainian forces withstood the onslaught of a much larger army. Zelensky said that Ukrainian troops had killed a fourth Russian major general in recent battles. Reuters was not immediately able to verify his claim.

“The occupiers did not achieve success today, although they threw thousands of their people into battle, in the north, east, south of our state. The enemy lost equipment, hundreds more soldiers. Many Russian conscripts were killed, dozens of officers.”

Ukraine said some 20,000 people were able to leave the besieged port of Mariupol in private vehicles, but hundreds of thousands remain trapped in the relentless bombardment, many without heating, electricity or running water.

Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said it is not yet clear if a humanitarian corridor to the city will open on Wednesday. She said 400 staff and patients are being held hostage in a hospital seized by Russian troops in Mariupol on Tuesday.

The prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia were due to return home on Wednesday after an overnight train ride from Kyiv. They met with Zelenskiy in the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday. It was the first visit of its kind since the start of the war, and has become a symbol of the success of the Ukrainian administration in resisting the Russian attack.

Zelenskiy was scheduled to address the US Congress via video link later Wednesday, having already spoken to parliaments across Europe. The White House said US President Joe Biden will make his first post-invasion visit to Europe next week to discuss the crisis with NATO allies.

The conflict has led to Russia’s economic isolation, and the economic costs were fully exposed on Wednesday as its sanctions-ravaged government teetered on the brink of its first international default since the Bolshevik revolution.

Moscow was due to pay $117 million in interest on two dollar-denominated sovereign bonds it sold back in 2013, but faced payout restrictions and said it would pay in rubles, which would trigger a default. More

Reuters reporting; Writing by Peter Graff, Michael Perry; Edited by Lincoln Fist, Raju Gopalakrishnan, Alex Richardson and Philippa Fletcher.

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