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.
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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
UN Security Council plans emergency meeting on Ukraine Monday
UN: The UN Security Council will meet Monday to discuss Ukraine, a revised scheduled showed, after Kyiv’s mayor urged residents to leave the capital due to mass heating outages caused by Russian strikes.
“The Russian Federation has reached an appalling new level of war crimes and crimes against humanity by its terror against civilians,” Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Melnyk said in a letter to the Security Council seen by AFP on Friday.
The latest strikes left half of the residential buildings in Kyiv without heating in sub-zero temperatures, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said.
The Kremlin also confirmed firing an Oreshnik ballistic missile on Ukraine for the second time since the war began in February 2022.
“The Russian Federation regime officially claims that it used an intermediate-range ballistic missile, the so-called ‘Oreshnik’, against the Lviv region,” the ambassador’s letter continued.
“Such a strike represents a grave and unprecedented threat to the security of the European continent.”
Moscow claims the Oreshnik, which can be equipped with both nuclear and conventional warheads, is impossible to stop
Ukraine’s request for the emergency UNSC meeting was supported by six members — France, Latvia, Denmark, Greece, Liberia and the United Kingdom — diplomatic sources told AFP.
“The Russian Federation has reached an appalling new level of war crimes and crimes against humanity by its terror against civilians,” Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Melnyk said in a letter to the Security Council seen by AFP on Friday.
The latest strikes left half of the residential buildings in Kyiv without heating in sub-zero temperatures, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said.
The Kremlin also confirmed firing an Oreshnik ballistic missile on Ukraine for the second time since the war began in February 2022.
“The Russian Federation regime officially claims that it used an intermediate-range ballistic missile, the so-called ‘Oreshnik’, against the Lviv region,” the ambassador’s letter continued.
“Such a strike represents a grave and unprecedented threat to the security of the European continent.”
Moscow claims the Oreshnik, which can be equipped with both nuclear and conventional warheads, is impossible to stop
Ukraine’s request for the emergency UNSC meeting was supported by six members — France, Latvia, Denmark, Greece, Liberia and the United Kingdom — diplomatic sources told AFP.
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