According to Ukraine, a first round of negotiations between Russia’s and Ukraine’s foreign ministers failed to produce headway on a ceasefire.
Dmytro Kuleba remarked after the meeting in Turkey that his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov’s demands amounted to a surrender.
Meanwhile, Mr. Lavrov stated that his country’s military action was going according to plan.
He claimed that the West was behaving irresponsibly by giving weapons to Ukraine.
The meetings take place just one day after Ukraine accused Russia of attacking a children’s hospital in Mariupol, describing the attack as a “war crime.”
The incident killed three individuals, including a kid, according to officials.
Russia stated that it would inquire about the incident with its military.
Mr Kuleba stated that Mariupol has the worst humanitarian situation.
He said, however, that Russia had not committed to building a humanitarian route there.
Mr Kuleba admitted that listening to Mr Lavrov during the conversation had been difficult, and that his counterpart’s main point had been that Russia would continue to assault Ukraine unless Kiev complied with Moscow’s demands.
Ukraine, on the other hand, would not capitulate, even if it was willing to seek balanced diplomatic solutions and continue meeting, according to the foreign minister.
Mr. Lavrov stated that Moscow was awaiting a response from Kyiv to its list of requests.
Russia demands that Ukraine drop its announced ambitions to join the Nato military alliance and adopt a neutral status.
Also read: Russia Threatens to Shut Down Gas Pipeline To Germany
It further states that Kyiv must accept Moscow’s control over Crimea, the southern Ukrainian peninsula acquired by Russia in 2014, as well as recognize the independence of two self-proclaimed rebel-held areas, Luhansk and Donetsk.
Russia’s foreign ministry also said that Ukraine was plotting an attack on two eastern Ukrainian areas.
The assault was hailed as “horrific” by UN Secretary General António Guterres, while the US accused Russia of “barbaric use of military force to go after innocent civilians.”
For several days, Russian military have surrounded Mariupol, a city of around 400,000 people, and numerous attempts at a truce to allow residents to flee have failed.
The entire city is without power, water, food, or anything else, and people are dying from dehydration.
