Signals from Tuesday’s Russian-Ukrainian talks in Turkey are “positive”, but Ukraine does not “intend to relax” its military efforts, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
• Read also: LIVE | 34th day of fighting in Ukraine
• Read also: Negotiations: Moscow will “radically” reduce its military activity in Ukraine
• Read also: “What is NATO doing?”: Zelensky’s impatience grows
“We can say that the signals we are hearing in the negotiations are positive, but they do not make us forget the explosions or the Russian shells,” he said in a video message posted on Telegram.
But “we see no reason to believe the words spoken by the various representatives of a state (Russia, editor’s note) which continues to fight with the intention of destroying us”, immediately tempered Mr. Zelensky.
“The situation has not become easier, the scale of challenges has not diminished, the Russian military still has significant potential to continue attacks once morest our state,” he added.
In this context, “it should not be expected that the negotiations (between Kyiv and Moscow) will lead to the lifting of sanctions once morest the Russian Federation. This question can only be considered once the war is over and we have recovered what is ours, ”warned the Ukrainian president.
After three hours of discussions in Istanbul, the head of the Russian delegation and representative of the Kremlin, Vladimir Medinski, meanwhile, reported “substantial discussions” and assured that Kyiv’s “clear” proposals for an agreement would be “studied very soon and submitted to President” Vladimir Putin.
Announcements, however, greeted with circumspection by Western leaders who also say they want to judge Moscow on its actions rather than on these words.