admin
LVIV, Ukraine. – Ukraine said it held “hard” talks on a ceasefire, immediate withdrawal of troops and security guarantees with Russia yesterday, despite the fatal shelling of a residential building in Kyiv.
Both sides had suggested some results could be in sight after earlier rounds primarily focused on ceasefires to get aid to towns and cities under siege by Russian forces and evacuate civilians; those truces have frequently failed.
RIA news agency quoted a Russian delegate, Leonid Slutsky, as saying the talks had made substantial progress.
Slutsky, a senior member of Russia’s negotiating team, told state-run television network RT on Sunday that the Russian side saw “significant progress”.
“According to my personal expectations, this progress may grow in the coming days into a joint position of both delegations, into documents for signing,” Slutsky said.
Firefighters tackled the remains of a blaze at the damaged apartment block in the capital, where a stunned young resident described the chaos of the previous night in a city targeted by the Russian advance but so far largely spared bombardment.
“Our goal is that in this struggle, in this difficult negotiating work, Ukraine will get the necessary result … for peace and for security,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said yesterday, adding that both sides speak every day.
He said the aim was “to do everything to ensure a meeting of presidents. A meeting that I am sure people are waiting for”.
Russian air raids on Sunday hit a Ukrainian military training ground near the border with Poland, a NATO member. Ukrainian officials said at least 35 people were killed and more than 130 wounded in the attack, while Russia’s defence ministry said up to 180 foreign fighters were killed. The statements could not be independently verified.
Russia denies targeting civilians, saying it is conducting a “special operation” to demilitarise and “denazify” Ukraine.
Separately, US journalist Brent Renaud was killed on Sunday as fighting escalated in Kyiv’s suburbs – the first foreign reporter to die since Russia’s invasion on February 24. The award-winning video and documentary maker was shot dead, while a US photojournalist with him, Juan Arredondo, was wounded in Irpin, medics and witnesses said.
Zelenskyy yesterday renewed his call for NATO to impose a no-fly zone following the attack that took place near the western city of Lviv.
“If you do not close our sky, it is only a matter of time before Russian missiles fall on your territory, on NATO territory, on the homes of NATO citizens,” Zelenskyy warned in a video address.
The United States and its European Union allies have sent funds and military aid to Ukraine and imposed unprecedented economic sanctions on Russia. But Washington has ruled out any direct intervention, with President Joe Biden warning that NATO fighting Russia “is World War III”.
Biden spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday and the two leaders “underscored their commitment to hold Russia accountable for its actions and support the government and people of Ukraine”, the White House said.
The Kremlin said yesterday that Russia could take full control of major Ukrainian cities and cautioned the West that it had sufficient military clout to fulfil all of its aims in Ukraine without any need for help from China.
“The defence ministry of the Russian Federation, while ensuring the maximum safety of the civilian population, does not exclude the possibility of taking major population centres under full control,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
Peskov said that some of Ukraine’s major cities were already surrounded by Russian forces.
When asked by Reuters about remarks by U.S. officials who had said that Russia had asked China for military equipment, Peskov said: “No.”
“Russia possesses its own independent potential to continue the operation. As we said, it is going according to plan and will be completed on time and in full.” – Agencies
Online Reporter