A face-to-face meeting in Turkey between Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba and Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov failed to make progress in ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kuleba said on Thursday.
It was the first time top diplomats had met since Russia invaded its neighbor on February 24.
Kuleba said Lavrov’s “broad narrative” was that Russia would continue its invasion until Ukraine met its demands.
Kyiv has always rejected Moscow’s calls to demilitarize, recognize Crimea as part of Russia, and recognize two separatist regions in the Donbas region as autonomous states.
Officials from Kyiv and Moscow have previously held talks in Belarus. However, the meeting between Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Antalya marks the first time Russia has sent a minister to discuss the conflict.
The talks were aimed at “Russia stopping its hostilities and ending its war against Ukraine,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
Kuleba: “Expectations are limited”
Kuleba lowered expectations ahead of the meeting, saying the prospects for a ceasefire agreement were “limited” as Russia continued to bombard, as well as besiege, major cities.
He said the success of the meeting would depend on “what instructions and instructions Lavrov is subject to” from the Kremlin.
“I do not place high hopes on them, but we will try to make the most of the talks,” he added.
Moscow has said it is ready for talks, but that all its demands, including that Kyiv take a neutral stance and abandon its NATO aspirations, must be met to end its attack.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pressed his country to play a mediating role between the two sides.
DW’s Russian affairs analyst Konstantin Eggert said before the talks that Turkey’s mediation was a key factor, as “Turkey, and in particular Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, are among the very few entities in the world that respects Putin.” .
He said that any prospect of reaching an agreement “is essential [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. “
Egert added that the chances for the talks depended on Lavrov presenting a modified set of demands that differed from those made by Moscow at the beginning of the invasion, as Ukraine would not be ready to accept them given the current successes. in the conflict.
jsi / sms (AFP, Reuters)
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