Ukrainian and Russian negotiators meet in Istanbul, Monday March 28 or Tuesday March 29 according to sources, to try to stop a conflict which has already forced more than 3.8 million Ukrainians to flee their country, according to a count of the Sunday, March 27, and some 63 billion in damage to the country’s infrastructure, according to a study by the kyiv School of Economics.
These negotiations between kyiv and Moscow open at a time when the humanitarian situation in Mariupol, in the east of the country, is described as “catastrophic”. In the city besieged and bombarded for weeks, “the population is fighting to survive. The humanitarian situation is catastrophic”, affirmed on the night of Sunday March 27 to Monday March 28 the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on its Twitter account.
Ukraine’s neutrality “studied in depth”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that his government was studying “in depth” the issue of Ukraine’s “neutrality”, one of the central points in negotiations with Russia to end the conflict.
One of the clauses of the negotiations concerns “security guarantees and neutrality, the nuclear-free status of our state”, a demand from Moscow, he said in an online interview with Russian independent media, broadcast on the Telegram channel of the Ukrainian presidential administration. “This point of the negotiations is understandable for me and it is under discussion, it is studied in depth”. But it will have to be submitted to a referendum and guarantees are needed, he warned, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin and his entourage of “draging things out”.
Humanitarian situation in Mariupol described as ‘catastrophic’
In the city besieged and bombarded for weeks, “the population is fighting to survive. The humanitarian situation is catastrophic”, said the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on its Twitter account overnight from Sunday to Monday.
“The Russian armed forces are turning the city into dust,” he added, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denouncing for his part a total blockade of this city that the Russian army has been trying to take for weeks. “All entrances and exits from the city are blocked (…) it is impossible to bring food and medicine into Mariupol,” he said on Sunday evening. “Russian forces are bombing humanitarian aid convoys and killing the drivers,” he added.
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.
A 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.
Paris calls for continued dialogue with Vladimir 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 Vladimir Putin a “butcher”.
A 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.