Meeting In Turkey, Ukrainian Foreign Ministers And Russian Foreign Ministers Fail To Reach A Significant Agreement

The meeting of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (left side) with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba (right side) was attended by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavuşoğlu (center). (Source: Twitter @ragipsoylu)

JAKARTA - Talks between Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, and Ukrainian Foreign Minister,  Dmytro Kuleba, in Turkey have not brought the expected results, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine entered its third week on Thursday.

Thousands of people have died, more than two million refugees have fled Ukraine and thousands more are besieged in cities under bombardment, as the invasion that began on February 24 has shown no sign of achieving its stated goal.

Ukraine's Dmytro Kuleba said he did not get a promise from Russia's Sergei Lavrov to stop the shelling, so aid could reach civilians, including Kyiv's top humanitarian priority, evacuating hundreds of thousands of people trapped in the besieged port of Mariupol.

Meanwhile, Sergei Lavrov shows no sign of making concessions, reiterating Russia's demands that Ukraine is disarmed and accept neutral status. He said Kyiv appeared to want meeting after meeting and blamed the West for intensifying the conflict by arming its neighbors.

Kuleba told reporters after their meeting in Turkey that the most critical situation was in the southern port of Mariupol, but that Lavrov was not committed to a humanitarian corridor there and there was no progress in agreeing on a wider ceasefire.

"I put forward a simple proposal to Minister Lavrov: I can call my ministers, authorities, President of Ukraine now and give you 100 percent guarantees on security guarantees for humanitarian corridors", he said.

The impact of the Russian attack on the invasion of Ukraine. (Wikimedia Commons/mvs.gov.ua/Міністерство ав аїни)

"I asked him 'can you do the same?' and he didn't answer."

At a separate news conference, Foreign Minister Lavrov said President Vladimir Putin would not refuse a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss 'specific' issues.

Russia never wants to depend on Western countries or companies again, Lavrov said, adding the West is using Ukraine to weaken Russia and create a dangerous situation in the region that will last for years.

Responding to Kyiv's condemnation of Wednesday's bombing of the maternity hospital in Mariupol, Lavrov said the building was no longer being used as a hospital and had been occupied by Ukrainian forces, although the Kremlin separately said the incident was under investigation.

Moscow has said all of its demands, including Kyiv taking a neutral position and abandoning aspirations to join the NATO alliance, must be met to end its offensive.

Moscow has called its attacks a "special military operation" to disarm Ukraine and expel leaders it calls "neo-Nazis." Meanwhile, Kyiv and its Western allies regard it as a baseless pretext for an unwarranted war against the democratic nation of 44 million people.

It is known that the meeting of the two foreign ministers was held in Turkey, which shares maritime borders with Russia and Ukraine on the Black Sea and has good relations with both countries. However, Turkir called the Russian invasion unacceptable and called for an urgent ceasefire but opposed sanctions against Moscow.

While it maintains close ties with Russia on energy, defense, and trade, and relies heavily on Russian tourists, Turkey has also sold drones to Ukraine, angering Moscow.