Kyiv and Moscow will hold a fresh round of conflict talks in Turkey from Monday, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 enters the second month. So far, both countries have held several negotiations about opening humanitarian corridors in Ukrainian cities most affected by military strikes. But, none has yielded results. The talks in Turkey, however, will be the second round of high-level talks between negotiators from both countries.
Meanwhile, the United States is continuing efforts to soften comments on Saturday from President Joe Biden, who said Russian leader Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power” during an impassioned speech in the Polish capital of Warsaw. Biden was there to meet Ukrainian refugees and top officials from the war-torn country for a first face-to-face since the invasion.
Top American officials, including US secretary of state Antony Blinken, have clarified that the US did not have a policy of regime change in Russia. Biden’s comments attracted much controversy, with French President Emmanuel Macron warning of a “verbal escalation”. Biden had also called Putin a “butcher” after his interaction with Ukrainian refugees.
Here are the top five updates from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which has killed thousands, sent nearly 3.8 million abroad and driven more than half of Ukraine’s children from their homes, as per the United Nations:
Ukraine-Russia talks in Turkey: Kyiv said it will be starting a new round of conflict talks with Moscow in Turkey starting Monday. This is the second round of high-level conflict talks between negotiators from both countries. “Today, during another round of video negotiations, it was decided to hold the next in-person round of the two delegations in Turkey on March 28-30,” David Arakhamia, a Ukraine negotiator and politician wrote on Facebook, as per a report by AFP. Russian lead negotiator Vladimir Medinsky confirmed the talks but gave a slightly different time frame, saying they will start on Tuesday and end the next day.
Russia and Ukraine failed to make a breakthrough in their first top-level talks on March 10 in Antalya. The two sides have held regular talks via video conference but there has been no breakthrough.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erodgan said Russia and Ukraine appeared to have reached an understanding on four out of six negotiating points; Ukraine staying out of NATO, use of Russian language in Ukraine, disarmament and security guarantees. But Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said, however, that there was “no consensus” on key points.
Russia says it hit Lviv with cruise missiles: The Russian defence ministry said it struck military targets in Lviv with high-precision cruise missiles. Russia hit a fuel depot being used by Ukrainian forces near Lviv with long-range missiles and used cruise missiles to strike a plant in the city being used to repair anti-aircraft systems, radar stations and sights for tanks, the ministry said, showing a video of the missile strikes. Officials in Lviv, just 60 km from the border with NATO-member Poland, said people had been wounded in the missile attacks.
After more than four weeks of conflict, Russia has failed to seize any major Ukrainian city and Moscow on Friday said it was scaling back its ambitions to focus on securing the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting the Ukrainian army for the past eight years.
Blinken says US not seeking to topple Putin: The United States was not trying to topple Putin, Blinken said, despite its harsh condemnations of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Blinken spoke a day after President Joe Biden said of Putin during a speech in Warsaw: ‘For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.’ Speaking to the media in Jerusalem, he said Washington had no strategy of regime change in Moscow, and that Biden had simply meant Putin could not be “empowered to wage war” against Ukraine or anyone else. American diplomats have ramped up efforts to clarify Biden’s statement.
Biden’s comments appeared to be a sharp escalation of the US approach to Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. Julianne Smith, the US ambassador to NATO, also sought to contextualise the president’s remarks, saying they followed a day of speaking with Ukrainian refugees in Warsaw. “In the moment, I think that was a principled human reaction to the stories that he had heard that day,” Smith told CNN’s “State of the Union” programme before adding: “The US does not have a policy of regime change in Russia. Full stop.”
The Kremlin had dismissed Biden’s comment, saying it was “not for Biden to decide”.
In a message of solidarity with Ukrainians on Sunday, Biden also tweeted: “My message to the people of Ukraine: We stand with you. Period.”
Ukrainian rebel region may vote to join Russia: The Russian-backed self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine could hold a referendum soon on joining Russia, the republic’s news outlet cited local separatist leader Leonid Pasechnik as saying.
Ukraine, meanwhile, said Russia holding a referendum in occupied Ukrainian territory would have no legal basis and would face a strong response from the international community, deepening its global isolation. “All fake referendums in the temporarily occupied territories are null and void and will have no legal validity,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said in a statement to Reuters. “Instead, Russia will facе an even stronger response from the international community, further deepening its global isolation.”
Crimeans had voted overwhelmingly to break with Ukraine and join Russia — a vote that much of the world refused to recognise.
UN says 1,119 civilians killed in Ukraine: 1,119 civilians had so far been killed and 1,790 wounded since Russia began its attack on Ukraine, according to the UN human rights office. Some 15 girls and 32 boys, as well as 52 children whose sex is as yet unknown, were among the dead, the UN said on Sunday. The number of deaths took place between February 24 and midnight of March 26. Most civilian casualties have been caused by explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes, the UN said.
The head of the International Monetary Fund has also warned that the global economic strain caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine could stoke civil unrest in the Middle East and beyond. Speaking at the Doha Forum in Qatar on Sunday, Kristalina Georgieva said Russia’s invasion and the resulting sanctions on Moscow have forced the world’s poorest to bear the worst with inflation and employment issues.
(With agency inputs)
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