It gives the impression that Kyiv “does not need it at all,” said the Russian foreign minister the day before
Almost two months after Russia’s military operation began in Ukraine, negotiations to end the conflict between the parties are ongoing but have stalled, the country’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed this week.
In statements released the day before, the Russian Foreign Minister said that the negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv are progressing “slowly” and that this situation gives the impression that the Ukrainian authorities “do not need them at all”.
Meanwhile, the offensive of Russian forces, together with the militias of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, is advancing into the areas designated by Moscow as the second phase, which are still under the control of Kyiv operational.
Kremlin representatives presented their draft agreement “with clear wording” during the talks in Kyiv, said presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday.
Both the country’s authorities and some political analysts estimate that despite the advance of troops, dialogue between Moscow and Kyiv must continue in order to both end hostilities and set the parameters for future relations between the two countries.
A few days ago, the Russian Foreign Minister drew attention to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy’s recent comments about the possibility of a peaceful solution after he withdrew his country’s proposals at the March 29 talks in Istanbul.
In his opinion, Zelenskyy’s words should not be taken seriously because he keeps changing his mind. Recalling that it was he who requested the negotiations accepted by Russia, he stressed the relevance of the document signed by the head of the Kiev delegation in this Turkish city.
Proposals included that Ukraine would not join any military alliance, that it would be a neutral state in exchange for security guarantees, that it would ban military bases, that it would, among other things, restrict the manufacture and use of weapons of mass destruction, both nuclear and chemical and biological kind, would prohibit others.
“It wasn’t our language, it was her language,” Lavrov warned, noting that shortly after the Ukrainian authorities began to back down, “before we can one day have a reasonable discussion of what she’s saying, we have to being aware of the credibility of that person and that of his team”.
For its part, the Moscow army is continuing on its way towards the full liberation of the Donbass region, a priority that President Putin has been emphasizing since February 24, the day the military operation began.
The recent liberation of the Donetsk Territory city of Mariupol, which in recent weeks has become a bastion of Ukrainian forces, nationalists and the ultra-radical Azov Battalion, is seen as a major victory in that fate. (Agency Summary)