Kuleba: No progress in ceasefire – Lavrov: Ukraine has our proposals, we want an answer

LAST UPDATE: 13.23

The tripartite meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba and their Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Tsavusoglu, who took on the role of mediator in the quest for a diplomatic diplomat, ended fruitless.

The Turkish side had set as its primary goal achieving a ceasefire, which in addition to its importance to the civilian population would also be of great benefit to Ankara itself in terms of its role as an intermediary.

Statements Koulempa

“Ready for a new meeting,” he said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, after the end of the tripartite meeting.

Dmitro Kuleba described the meeting as “easy and difficult at the same time”: “Easy because Lavrov repeated his usual rhetoric and difficult because I did my best.”

He described the situation in Mariupol as the most difficult in the whole country, but said that he had gone to Antalya to talk about the humanitarian corridors, but “Lavrov failed to commit himself to such a thing for Mariupol”. “There has been no progress on the ceasefire,” Kuleba said.

“We have two goals, the organization of a humanitarian corridor in Mariupol and the achievement of a 24-hour truce,” he said, reiterating his hopes that “Russia will allow the creation of a humanitarian corridor from Mariupol.”

He later complained that “we can not stop the war if the attacking country is not in the mood for it.”

“We are ready for diplomacy, but we are also ready to defend ourselves,” Kuleba said. “We are ready to seek balanced diplomatic solutions, but Ukraine will not surrender.”

Lavrov statements

“We have reminded Ukraine that we have presented our proposals,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after the tripartite meeting with his Ukrainian and Turkish counterparts. “Moscow wants an answer,” he said. . The Russian Foreign Minister added that “no one here today has discussed a ceasefire.”

“The military operation in Ukraine is progressing according to plan,” he said, adding that Ukrainian equipment from the West was dangerous. “The West is behaving dangerously. It has been creating danger in the region for many years,” he said.

Lavrov also noted that it was not clear where the West-supplied missile launchers would end up. “Those who supply weapons and mercenaries in Ukraine must understand the danger of their actions,” he said.

“Ukraine was planning attacks in Russian-backed areas,” he added.

“How can our security be decided by NATO?” Lavrov asked. “Russian culture,” he said.

Lavrov went on to say that Moscow was ready to discuss security guarantees in Ukraine.

“We will emerge from this crisis with renewed worldview. No illusions about the West. We will endure this crisis. We will try never to become dependent on the West again. The West is trying to use Ukraine to undermine Russia.” , he stressed.

He also attacked the United States, saying “its denial of biological weapons is not surprising.” “The United States will never be able to destroy our economy,” he said.

At the same time, Lavrov claimed that Russia had never used oil and gas as “weapons”. “We have markets for our energy, we will always have them,” he said.

He stressed that Russia is not opposed to a meeting between Putin and Zelensky, as long as there is a basis for such a thing, “not just to say that we met.”

Lavrov also said that yesterday’s bombing of a Ukrainian pediatric hospital took place after Ukrainian forces had occupied the facility and there were no patients there. Asked about the bombing during an interview, Lavrov said that the Western media presented only the Ukrainian point of view.

“Until the end, we wanted to resolve the situation in Ukraine through diplomatic means,” Lavrov said, accusing the West of ignoring the repression of Russian-speakers and Russian culture in Ukraine. “The reaction of the West shows how much Russia is threatened. It’s threatened by its own right to be on the world map,” he said. Asked if Russia was serious about a negotiated settlement, Lavrov said: “We are absolutely serious about this.” Russia did not want the talks in Turkey “to replace or devalue the real, main diplomatic route taking place in Belarus,” Lavrov said.

On the possibility of a nuclear war, Lavrov said, “I do not want to believe it and I do not believe it.”