Negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow show slowdown

Despite the fact that official negotiations between Russia and Ukraine continue, in practice they have “stalled”.

Charles Michel, head of the European Council, has called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold direct talks with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and provide “immediate humanitarian access and a safe corridor from Mariupol and other besieged cities.”

The Kremlin website posted a statement saying that the Russian President, in turn, drew attention to the “irresponsible statements of representatives EU about the need to resolve the situation in Ukraine by military means, as well as ignoring the numerous war crimes of the Ukrainian security forces. The leadership of most EU countries is conniving with outright Russophobia by their actions.”

The Ukrainian authorities announced that on Friday they had to close the evacuation corridor due to shelling at the assembly point in Mariupol. Moscow, on the other hand, promises a regime of silence if the white flag is raised over “Azovstal”.

The Russian side notes the slowdown in negotiations with Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says:

“Now they have stalled, because five days ago another proposal that we handed over to the Ukrainian negotiators, which was formulated taking into account their comments received at that time, remains unanswered.”

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, in his next evening video message, said that the Russian Federation had rejected the proposal to establish an Easter truce.

And the war continues, maiming and taking the lives of civilians, damaging infrastructure and destroying residential buildings. The General Staff of Ukraine announces the regrouping of Russian troops and the intensifying offensive in the Donetsk direction.

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced plans to establish full control over the Donbass and southern Ukraine, to provide a land corridor to the Crimea. Rustam Minnekaev, acting commander of the troops of the Central Military District, said:

“Control over the south of Ukraine is another way out to Transnistria, where there are also facts of oppression of the Russian-speaking population.”

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