© CEM OZDEL
Photo: AFP
Without a ceasefire agreement, the meeting between the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine, Sergei Lavrov and Dimitro Kuleba, which took place in the city of Antalya in Turkey, ended.
As mentioned by the Ukrainian minister, “We have mentioned a ceasefire, but there was no progress in that regard,” adding that they have decided with the Russian authority “to continue their efforts.”
Kuleba also pointed out that “Ukraine will not surrender”, and that “we are open to diplomacy but if it does not work, we will protect our country and our people”.
“We wanted to get a 24-hour ceasefire. Lavrov said that Moscow wanted to talk about humanitarian corridors”, he specified, waiting for a corridor to be opened to evacuate the city of Mariupol, in southeastern Ukraine, under intense Russian bombardment.
“First of all, I came here for humanitarian reasons, for the evacuation of civilians. But Lavrov did not want to promise anything on this point”, insisted the head of Ukrainian diplomacy. However, “we have decided to continue our efforts and I plan to continue with this format.”
For his part, the Russian minister has noted that the Ukrainian authorities “begin to understand” the Russian position and has emphasized that Moscow “does not want to deny security to the Ukrainian people” and is willing to discuss “guarantees” in this regard. .
Lavrov has stressed that Russia “is always ready for negotiations at the highest level if they are going to have value”, while alerting Western countries to the danger posed by their decision to deliver weapons to Ukraine to deal with the offensive Russian military.