On the 33rd day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian and Ukrainian delegations will meet in Istanbul, Turkey, for a new round of face-to-face negotiations, the Turkish presidency said on Sunday evening without specifying the exact date of the meeting. Situation on the ground, international reactions, sanctions: Europe 1 takes stock.
The main information to remember:
- New negotiations between kyiv and Moscow in Turkey
- The question of the “neutrality” of Ukraine “studied in depth” according to Zelensky
- Ukraine calls for the “demilitarization” of the Chernobyl zone
- Cherniguiv surrounded by Russian forces
Ukraine’s neutrality ‘studied in depth’: Zelensky
The question of Ukraine’s “neutrality”, one of the central points of negotiations with Russia to end the conflict, is “studied in depth”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assured Sunday in an interview with the media. Russians.
One of the clauses of the negotiations concerns “security guarantees and neutrality, the nuclear-free status of our state”, a requirement of Moscow, he said in this online interview broadcast on the Telegram channel of the presidential administration. Ukrainian.
New negotiation session at the beginning of the week
The Russian and Ukrainian delegations will meet in Istanbul, Turkey, for a new round of face-to-face negotiations, the Turkish presidency said on Sunday evening without specifying the exact date of the meeting.
Earlier in the day, one of the Ukrainian negotiators, David Arakhamia, had announced that a new session of talks would take place from Monday to Wednesday in Turkey, without specifying the place. The Russian chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinski, had for his part affirmed that it would take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Ukraine calls for the “demilitarization” of the Chernobyl zone
New fires have broken out in the area of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, occupied by Russian forces, according to the Ukrainian authorities who have called for the “demilitarization” of the sector under the aegis of the UN.
“Massive fires have started in the exclusion zone, which can have very serious consequences,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk wrote on her Telegram account on Sunday evening.
Paris calls for continued dialogue with Putin
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Sunday called for continued dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin until he realizes the “price to pay” for his invasion of Israel. Ukraine and that he wants to negotiate.
Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron warned of an “escalation of words and actions” in Ukraine, after comments by his American counterpart Joe Biden calling Mr Putin a “butcher”.
President Macron had indicated that he would speak to his Russian counterpart on Monday or Tuesday to organize an evacuation operation from Mariupol (southeast), a strategic port, Ukrainian, besieged and bombarded for weeks.
A Korean separation?
Ukraine’s military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said on Sunday that “after failing to take kyiv and overthrow the Ukrainian government”, Moscow “could impose a dividing line between the occupied and unoccupied regions of our country, ( in) an attempt” to institute a Korean-style separation.
These statements come as the Russian command surprised Friday by announcing “to concentrate the bulk of the efforts on the main objective: the liberation of Donbass” (east).
In the military field
The Ukrainian army assured, in the bulletin of its staff published Sunday at dawn, that in the areas of Donetsk and Lugansk (east), “seven enemy attacks were repelled” and eight Russian tanks destroyed. A presidential adviser said a little later that he feared a worsening of the situation in Mariupol (south-east) and in the east. For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the destruction of a missile depot in a village located 30 km south-west of kyiv.
To the northeast of the capital, the city of Cherniguiv is surrounded by Russian forces. In Mykolaiv (south), the largest port in Ukraine and a lock town on the road to Odessa that the Russian army has been trying in vain to blow up for weeks, the noose seems to be loosening. The front even retreated, with a Ukrainian counter-offensive on Kherson, some 80 km to the south-east, which the Russian army had claimed to have taken completely.
Possible referendum in Lugansk
The separatist territory of Lugansk, whose independence Moscow has recognized but not the international community, could soon hold a referendum to join Russia, the territory’s leader, Leonid Passechnik, said on Sunday.
“All fake referendums in the temporarily occupied territories are null and void and will have no legitimacy,” the spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reacted on Twitter.
Moment of Silence at the Oscars
A minute of silence was called for in tribute to Ukraine, invaded by Russia, during the 94th Academy Awards in Hollywood on Sunday evening.
During this brief moment of contemplation, screens broadcast messages calling for help to be sent by listing the essential needs of Ukrainians such as food, medical care or blankets. “We ask you to help Ukraine in every way possible,” one of the messages added.