ISTANBUL, Turkey — Russia said it would scale down
fighting around two Ukrainian cities following "meaningful" talks
with
Ukraine on Tuesday, as officials raised the prospect of a meeting between
the Russian and Ukrainian presidents.
اضافة اعلان
The outcome of the face-to-face talks at a
palace in Istanbul raised hopes around the world after more than a month of
conflict that has left thousands dead and forced millions from their homes.
On the ground, Ukraine said seven people
were killed by a
Russian strike on a regional government building in the southern
port city of Mykolaiv.
But Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia
said there were now "sufficient" conditions for talks between
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Arakhamia also called for "an
international mechanism of security guarantees where guarantor countries will
act in a similar way to
NATO's article number five — and even more
firmly".
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander
Fomin meanwhile said there had been progress in talks on "the neutrality
and non-nuclear status of Ukraine".
Therefore "a decision has been made to
radically, by several times reduce the military activity" around the
capital
Kyiv and the city of Chernigiv, he said.
Russia's chief negotiator
Vladimir Medinsky also said there had been "meaningful discussion" and raised the
prospect of a Putin-Zelensky meeting.
Turkish Foreign Minister
Mevlut Cavusoglu
called the talks the "most significant progress" since Russia's
invasion began on February 24.
US President Joe Biden discussed the
"latest developments" with the leaders of Britain, France, Germany,
and Italy in a call that lasted just under an hour.
Seven killed in Mykolaiv strike
Following Tuesday's announcements, European
stock markets lifted and oil prices fell by five percent as supply fears eased
while the ruble surged 10 percent against the dollar.
Adding to a toll estimated by Zelensky at
20,000 so far, Ukraine said seven people were killed by the Russian strike in
Mykolaiv.
"I was having breakfast in my
apartment," Donald, 69, a retired Canadian postal worker with Ukrainian
residency told AFP. "I heard a whoosh, then a boom and my windows rattled".
Ukrainian forces have pushed back Russian
forces from around the city in recent days and have recaptured territory in
other parts of the country, including in the suburban town of Irpin outside
Kyiv — an important gateway to the capital.
Ukraine has also resumed evacuations from
areas in the south of the country occupied by Russian forces.
Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan had
opened the talks at the sprawling Dolmabahce palace, recognizing
"legitimate concerns" on both sides but urging them to "put an
end to this tragedy".
Russian oligarch and
Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich, who has been hit by Western sanctions, was also in
attendance.
The Kremlin said he was acting as an
intermediary and denied reports that he had been poisoned during a previous
round of negotiations in Ukraine.
"This is part of information sabotage,
part of an information war," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told
journalists.
'Crime against humanity'
In response to the invasion, the West has
imposed crushing economic sanctions and several Western companies have pulled
out of Russia.
There have also been several rounds of
diplomatic expulsions, including the latest on Tuesday when the Netherlands
said it was kicking out 17 Russian diplomats for alleged intelligence activity.
Russia has hit back against Western
sanctions, saying that its gas deliveries to the
EU must now be paid for in
rubles.
"Nobody will supply gas for free. This
is just impossible. And it can only be paid in rubles," Peskov told
reporters.
Russia also said it was expelling 10
diplomats from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in a tit-for-tat move after the
Baltic countries expelled Russian diplomats over the conflict.
While Ukraine's forces are counterattacking
in the north, they are struggling to retain control of the southern port city
of
Mariupol.
Russian forces have encircled the city and
have embarked on a steady and indiscriminate bombardment, trapping an estimated
160,000 people with little food, water, or medicine.
At least 5,000 people have already died,
according to one senior Ukrainian official who estimated the real toll may be
closer to 10,000 when all the bodies are collected.
Zelensky said the Russian siege constituted
a "crime against humanity, which is happening in front of the eyes of the
whole planet in real time".
UN nuclear visit
Ukraine's foreign ministry called the
situation "catastrophic," saying
Russia's assault from land, sea, and
air had turned a city once home to 450,000 people "into dust".
France, Greece, and Turkey are hoping to
launch a mass evacuation of civilians from Mariupol within days, according to
French President
Emmanuel Macron, who is seeking agreement from Putin.
Western powers say they have seen evidence
of war crimes, which are already being investigated by the
International Criminal Court.
On Monday, Ukraine's prosecutor general,
Iryna Venediktova, said there was proof that Russian forces have used banned
cluster bombs in the southern Odessa and Kherson areas.
Biden has expressed his "moral
outrage" at the conduct of the war, and ruffled feathers over the weekend
by suggesting Putin "cannot remain in power".
He has since denied seeking regime change
and swatted away concern that his remarks would ratchet up tensions with
Putin.
"I don't care what he thinks,"
Biden said on Monday.
The conflict has also raised fears over
nuclear safety after Russia seized several facilities, including Chernobyl, the
site of the world's worst nuclear disaster.
The chief of the UN atomic watchdog,
Rafael Grossi, was visiting Ukraine on Tuesday.
"We must act now to help prevent the
danger of a nuclear accident," he said on Twitter.
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