MINSK (belarus), March 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A third set of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine ended Monday with little progress — as a Ukrainian official said the Kremlin was engaging in “tactics reminiscent of medieval siege warfare.”
After the talks broke up, Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted: “There are small positive subductions in improving the logistics of humanitarian corridors… Intensive consultations have continued on the basic political block of the regulations, along with a ceasefire and security guarantees.”
However, Russia’s main negotiator said Moscow’s expectations are “not fulfilled.”
The latest negotiation attempt came as Russia continued to pound its neighbor with bombs and bullets on the 12th day of its brutal invasion.
“[Russia] is resorting to tactics reminiscent of medieval siege warfare, encircling cities, cutting off escape routes and pounding the civilian population with heavy ordnance,” said Jonathan Gimblett, a lawyer hired by Ukraine to pursue its war-crimes claim against Moscow.
Vladimir Medinsky told reporters after the talks that negotiations “are not easy.
“It is too early to talk about something positive,” he said.
“Hopefully next time we can take a bigger step forward,” Medinsky said, according to Reuters.
Earlier on Monday, the Kremlin announced it would stop all attacks in Ukraine if the Kyiv government agreed to certain conditions, including ceasing all military action, adjusting the country’s constitution to rule out ever joining NATO and acknowledging Crimea as Russian territory.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Ukraine was aware of the conditions, saying “they were told that all this can be stopped in a moment.”
“They should make amendments to the constitution according to which Ukraine would reject any aims to enter any bloc. This is possible only by making changes to the constitution,” Peskov told the outlet.
Russia also demanded that Ukraine recognize the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic as independent states.
“We really are finishing the demilitarization of Ukraine. We will finish it. But the main thing is that Ukraine ceases its military action. They should stop their military action and then no one will shoot,” Peskov said.
The Kremlin spokesman did not say whether Ukraine’s agreement to those terms, which Kyiv has rejected, would cause Russian forces to leave Ukrainian territory or guarantee Moscow’s military operations would not resume at a future date. — NNN-AGENCIES
