Ukraine isn’t naive, Zelenskyy says after Russia pledges to scale down the attack on Kyiv. Talks took place in an Istanbul palace more than a month into the Russian invasion.
There were signs of a breakthrough as delegates from Russia and Ukraine met in Turkey’s Istanbul to negotiate an end to the month-long war. Notably, a Ukrainian negotiator said a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin may soon materialise. The Russian delegation was also optimistic after the first round of talks with the Ukrainians in Istanbul, terming them “meaningful”.
The two sides met face-to-face after several rounds of failed negotiations. The talks hosted by Turkey raised hopes that a diplomatic resolution may be in sight for the Russia-Ukraine war which has turned into a bloody campaign of attrition.
Russia-Ukraine war: Top 5 developments
1. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to Russia’s promise to curtail military operations late on Tuesday saying that the people of Ukraine are ‘not naive’.
“Ukrainians have already learned during these 34 days of the invasion, and over the past eight years of the war in Donbas, that the only thing they can trust is a concrete result,” he added.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence in an intelligence update said: “It is highly likely that Russia will seek to divert combat power from the north to their offensive in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east.”
2. Russia Promises to Scale Down Attacks. In a significant concession by Moscow, the Russian military said it would “fundamentally” cut back operations near Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv. Deputy Défense Minister Alexander Fomin said the move was meant “to increase trust” in talks aimed at ending the fighting, which has resulted in untold losses on both sides.
“In order to increase mutual trust and create the necessary conditions for further negotiations and achieving the ultimate goal of agreeing and signing (an) agreement, a decision was made to radically, by a large margin, reduce military activity in the Kyiv and Chernihiv directions,” Fomin told reporters.
3. During the peace talks, Kyiv also proposed Moscow should not oppose Ukraine from joining the European Union. Russia has previously opposed Ukrainian membership of the EU and especially of NATO.
4. US military commander in Europe Tod Wolters on Tuesday claimed that Russia has repeatedly fired hypersonic missiles at Ukrainian military targets. “Most of those strikes have been designated at specific military targets,” Wolters said. On March 19, Russia announced that it used hypersonic Kinzhal (Dagger) missiles to destroy a large weapons depot in Ukraine’s western Ivano-Frankivsk region
Lending credence to Moscow’s claims of pullback, Ukraine’s military said it had noted withdrawals around Kyiv and Chernihiv on Tuesday. However, the Russian onslaught continued as usual in the war-torn country’s western and southern regions.
5. A series of explosions were heard on Tuesday night outside the Russian city of Belgorod, close to the border with Ukraine, the local governor said, adding there were no casualties.
“We all should be prepared to watch for a major offensive against other areas of Ukraine,” spokesman John Kirby told a news briefing. “It does not mean that the threat to Kyiv is over.”
Britain’s Ministry of Defence in an intelligence update said: “It is highly likely that Russia will seek to divert combat power from the north to their offensive in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east.”
