KYIV: Ukraine on Tuesday said that if Russian President Vladimir Putin skips talks in Turkey on Thursday with Volodymyr Zelensky, it would be a clear sign that Moscow does not have any intentions of halting its invasion.
Zelensky has called on Putin to personally attend direct Russia-Ukraine talks that the Kremlin leader himself suggested, but Moscow on Tuesday declined to respond to that invitation for the second day running.
"If Vladimir Putin refuses to come to Turkey, it will be the final signal that Russia does not want to end this war, that Russia is not willing and not ready for any negotiations," Zelensky's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said in a statement published by the Ukrainian presidency.
Putin's spokesman on Tuesday refused to say who Russia would send to Istanbul.
"The Russian side continues to prepare for the talks scheduled for Thursday. That is all we can say at this point. We do not intend to comment further at this time," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Asked if he could name Russia's negotiating team, Peskov said: "No... as soon as the president deems it necessary, we will announce it."
The meeting between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Turkey would be the first direct talks on the invasion between the two sides since the first months of the war.
Putin proposed negotiations in a late-night statement from the Kremlin over the weekend, a counteroffer after Kyiv and Europe urged Moscow to agree to a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire starting Monday.
Putin skipping talks would be 'final signal' Moscow unwilling to end war
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Putin skipping talks would be 'final signal' Moscow unwilling to end war
Protesters try to attack driver after truck speeds through anti-Iran demonstration in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles police responded Sunday after somebody drove a U-Haul box truck down a street crowded with marchers demonstrating in support of the Iranian people, causing protesters to scramble out of the way and then run after the speeding vehicle to try to attack the driver.
The U-Haul truck, with its side mirrors shattered, was stopped several blocks away and surrounded by police cars. ABC7 news helicopter footage showed officers keeping the crowd at bay as demonstrators swarmed the truck, throwing punches at the driver and thrusting flagpoles through the driver’s side window.
The police department confirmed its officers were on the scene but didn’t immediately say if anyone was arrested.
Two people were evaluated by paramedics and both declined treatment, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.
Several hundred people had gathered Sunday afternoon in the Westwood neighborhood to protest against the Iranian theocracy. The LA police department eventually issued a dispersal order, and by 5 p.m. only about a hundred protesters were still at the scene, ABC7 reported.
Activists say a crackdown on nationwide protests in Iran has killed more than 530 people. Protesters flooded the streets in Iran’s capital of Tehran and its second-largest city again Sunday.
