Ukraine's Zelenskyy sees hope in ‘confrontational' Russia talks
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Loading... - Benjamin Grant
- 23 Mar 2022
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Talks between Ukraine and Russia are confrontational but moving forward, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday, as authorities appealed to the Russians to allow tens of thousands of people to escape the besieged city of Mariupol amid a worsening humanitarian crisis.
Sustained Russian air attacks have turned Mariupol into the “ashes of a dead land”, the city council said on Tuesday.
Hundreds of thousands are believed to be trapped inside buildings, with no access to food, water, power or heat. Both civilians and Ukrainian troops have been coming under Russian fire in a port city that is normally home to about 400,000 people, according to the regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.
Russian forces and Russian-backed separatist units had taken about half of the port city, Russia’s RIA news agency said, citing a separatist leader.
But in an early morning address, Zelenskyy held out hope for negotiations with Moscow, which have so far made little progress.
“It’s very difficult, sometimes confrontational,” he said. “But step by step we are moving forward.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he also saw progress in the talks.
“From my outreach with various actors, elements of diplomatic progress are coming into view on several key issues,” and the gains are enough to end hostilities now, he said. He gave no details.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24, has forced more than 3.5 million to flee overseas, brought on the unprecedented isolation of Russia’s economy, and raised fears of a wider European conflict.
Zelenskyy accused Russian forces of not only blocking a humanitarian convoy trying to take desperately needed aid to Mariupol, but seizing what another Ukrainian official said were 15 of the bus drivers and rescue workers on the aid mission, as well as their vehicles.
Zelenskyy said the Russians had agreed to the route ahead of time.
“We are trying to organise stable humanitarian corridors for Mariupol residents, but almost all of our attempts, unfortunately, are foiled by the Russian occupiers, by shelling or deliberate terror,” he said in his video address.
Explosions and bursts of gunfire also shook Kyiv, the capital, and heavy artillery fire could be heard from the northwest, where Russia has sought to encircle and capture several of the city’s suburbs. Read More…
