During peace talks on Thursday as Russia’s war on Ukraine is now in its eighth day, Moscow tentatively agreed to allow safe corridors for civilians to evacuate, according to a member of Ukraine’s delegation.
A member of Ukraine’s delegation in talks with Russia says the parties have reached a tentative agreement to organize safe corridors for civilians to evacuate and for humanitarian supplies to be delivered.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who took part in Thursday’s talks in Belarus near the Polish border, said that Russia and Ukraine reached a preliminary understanding that cease-fires will be observed in areas where the safe corridors are established.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin to sit down for talks while urging the West to offer a stronger military assistance to Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion in a speech to the nation from Kyiv on Thursday.
In a sarcastic reference to a long table Putin used for his recent meetings with foreign leaders and Russian officials, Zelensky said: “Sit down with me to negotiate, just not at 30 meters,” adding, “I don’t bite. What are you afraid of?”
During Thursday’s news conference, Zelensky said that prospects for another round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiations don’t seem promising, but emphasized the need to negotiate, adding that “any words are more important than shots.”
He said the world was too slow to offer support for Ukraine and prodded Western leaders to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine to deny access to the Russian warplanes. The U.S. and NATO allies have ruled out the move that would directly pit Russian and Western militaries.
Zelensky charged that if the West remains reluctant to declare a no-fly zone over Ukraine, it should at least provide Kyiv with warplanes.
In the meantime it’s reported thatat an emergency meeting of the leaders of the United States, Australia, Japan and India was scheduled overnight on Thursday amid fears of what China may do on the back of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The hastily arranged meeting between Prime Minister Scott Morrison, US President Joe Biden, India’s Narendra Modhi and Japan’s Fumio Kishida came as Russia tightened its grip on Ukraine and claimed to have captured its first major Ukrainian city.
The meeting of the four leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue followed expressions of concern by Australia and others that Beijing, which is not opposed to the Russian invasion and is helping Moscow mitigate the effect of sanctions by buying Russian wheat, is watching events with an eye to moving against Taiwan.
France 24 said in a televised meeting with his security council Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the fight against “neo-Nazis” in Ukraine was going “according to plan”. His comments seemed designed to rebut assessments that a fierce Ukrainian resistance had slowed Russia’s initial battle plan.
On the frontlines, Russian forces increased pressure on Mariupol and Kharkiv after Kherson became the first Ukrainian city to fall.
French President Emmanuel Macron believes “the worst is to come” in Ukraine after a 90-minute phone call with Putin who appears intent on seizing “the whole” of the country, an aide to the French leader said. /Argumentum.al
