Both sides see progress
Selenskyj now wants to meet Putin himself as soon as possible
03/14/2022, 08:13 am
Volodymyr Zelenskyj wants to start talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin personally as soon as possible. According to Ukraine, the decisions would be made personally by the Kremlin boss anyway. The Kremlin is not opposed to such a meeting.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin ahead of the new talks with Russia. The goal is “to do everything to enable a meeting of the presidents. A meeting that people are definitely waiting for,” Zelenskyj said in a video message in the morning. Ukraine has repeatedly pointed out that Putin himself makes all final decisions.
The Kremlin said it would not refuse such a meeting if “specific issues” were at stake. Ukraine and Russia will resume talks via video link at 9:20 a.m. ET, according to Ukrainian negotiator David Arachamia. “Our goal is for Ukraine to get the necessary result in this struggle, in this difficult negotiation work … for peace and security,” said Zelenskyy.
On Friday, the foreign ministers of both countries held talks at government level for the first time since the beginning of the war. However, they were unsuccessful. Ukrainian Minister Dmytro Kuleba said afterwards that his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov was unable to arrange escape corridors himself. “He will discuss this with the relevant authorities in Russia,” said the Ukrainian minister.
“Decisions are made by others”
In addition, a 24-hour ceasefire was discussed “to solve the most urgent humanitarian problems”. Literally, Kuleba said: “We have not made any progress on this issue. Because it seems that these decisions are being made by others in Russia.” According to Lavrov, Putin also has nothing against meeting Zelenskyy. However, “preparation work” is required for this.
Before the new round of talks, representatives of both sides expressed cautious optimism. Zelenskyy’s adviser Mykhailo Podoliak said on Twitter on Sunday that Moscow had stopped giving Kyiv “ultimatums” and had started “listening carefully to our positions”. Zelensky himself said on Saturday that Moscow had taken a “fundamentally different” stance in the negotiations.
Russian negotiator Leonid Slutski also said talks were progressing. “My personal expectation is that progress will lead to a common position between the two delegations and documents to be signed very soon,” he added, according to Russian news agencies. Putin had already spoken of “positive progress” in the ongoing negotiations on Friday.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine on February 24, three rounds of talks have been held in Belarus. The priority was to create humanitarian corridors for civilians.