by James Mackenzie and Natalia Zinets
LVIV, Ukraine (Reuters) – Kyiv and Moscow discussed on Wednesday some avenues that could lead to a compromise on Ukraine’s status, outlining hope for a possible way out of the crisis after three weeks of war.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky said negotiations between the two sides were becoming more “realistic” and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said some language under discussion could be agreed upon.
Vladimir Putin, who ordered the launch of Russia’s massive military offensive against Ukraine on February 24, said Moscow was ready to discuss a neutral status for its neighbor.
The Kremlin leader added, however, that Russia would achieve its goals in Ukraine and that the West would fail in what he said was an attempt at world domination and the dismemberment of his country.
The Russian assault, which Moscow presents as a “special operation”, is taking place as planned, he assured during an intervention before his ministers broadcast on state television.
SHEARLING
On the ground, Russian forces continued to encircle and shell Ukrainian towns.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitchko accused Russian forces of shelling homes in the Podol neighborhood on Wednesday night. Three people died in a fire caused by the fall of a shell on a market in Kharkiv, in the East, according to Ukrainian relief.
In Mariupol, in the south-east of the country, a theater where civilians were sheltering was bombed, said the municipality, without being able to provide a toll of possible victims yet.
The United States has accused the Russian military of shooting dead ten people queuing for bread in the town of Chernihiv, a charge denied by the Russian Defense Ministry.
The governor of the Zaporizhia region accused Moscow forces of injuring five people by heavy artillery fire on a convoy of refugees coming from the besieged city of Mariupol in the south-east of the country.
Russia claims not to target civilians.
On Tuesday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights announced a confirmed toll of 691 civilians killed and 1,143 others injured since the start of the Russian invasion.
Three weeks after the start of its offensive in Ukraine, the Russian army remains blocked at the gates of Kyiv, has suffered heavy losses without managing to seize the largest cities of the country.
“A STATUS SIMILAR TO THAT OF AUSTRIA”
Talks have been taking place between the two sides since Monday via video link.
“The meetings are continuing and I am informed that the positions in the negotiations already seem more realistic. But it still takes time for the decisions to go in the interests of Ukraine,” Volodimir Zelensky said in a video released to the course of the night.
According to the Kremlin, the two parties are discussing a status for Ukraine similar to that of Austria or Sweden, two member countries of the European Union which do not belong to the Atlantic Alliance. Russia refuses that Ukraine join NATO one day.
“A status of neutrality is now being seriously discussed alongside, of course, security guarantees,” Sergei Lavrov said. “There are absolutely precise wordings that in my view are close to being agreed upon.”
The main Russian negotiator, Vladimir Medinski, clarified on public television: “Ukraine proposes an Austrian or Swedish version of a neutral demilitarized state but at the same time a state with its own army and its own navy.”
In an apparent sign of openness, Volodimir Zelensky said on Tuesday that Ukraine was ready to accept security guarantees from Western countries even if it meant giving up on its long-term goal of NATO membership. .
The head of the Ukrainian delegation to the talks, Mykhailo Podolyak, said that Kyiv still demanded a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops and wanted direct negotiations between Volodimir Zelensky and Vladimir Putin.
If Russia presents the demilitarization and neutrality of Ukraine as the main objectives of its “operation”, with the “denazification” of the country, Kyiv and its allies believe that the real goal of Moscow is to oust the elected government pro- Western power in Ukraine.
BIDEN PROMISES ADDITIONAL $800 MILLION
In a speech delivered by video link to the United States Congress, Volodimir Zelensky on Wednesday urged the United States to provide Ukraine with more armaments to deal with the aerial bombardments of Russia, inviting American parliamentarians to remembering the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the attacks of September 11, 2001.
In a televised appearance, US President Joe Biden, who opposes Ukrainian demands to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine because it could trigger World War III, he says, announced the release of an additional $800 million to provide military aid to Ukraine, including drones and anti-aircraft defense systems equipped with long-range missiles.
The streets of Kyiv were emptied of their inhabitants on Wednesday, the authorities having imposed a curfew for 35 hours in a row in anticipation of Russian shelling.
Several buildings in a residential area were badly damaged after a Russian missile was reportedly downed in the early hours of the day, residents and rescue workers said.
Ukraine claimed to have launched counter-offensives against the Russian army in several places on its territory.
Efforts to try to evacuate civilians from combat zones have continued in parallel, in particular in Mariupol, a port besieged and bombarded for two weeks by the Russian army, where more than 2,500 inhabitants have already died according to the Ukrainian authorities.
About 20,000 people were able to leave the city in passenger cars, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said, but at least 10 times as many, without drinking water, heating, electricity and food, should be evacuated urgently.
Three million Ukrainians have already fled their country since the beginning of the Russian offensive.
(Reuters editorial staff, French version Bertrand Boucey and Jean-Stéphane Brosse, edited by Matthieu Protard)