Russian, Ukrainian officials in ‘civil’ meeting in Turkey

Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, has described the meeting between Russia’s Sergei Lavrov and Ukraine’s Dymytro Kuleba as ‘civil.’

He added the most important outcome of the talks, which failed to produce any ceasefire agreement, was establishing high-level contact between both sides, Al Jazeera reports.

Speaking at a news conference after the meeting, Mr Cavusoglu said there was a need for both a humanitarian corridor from Mariupol to allow for civilians to be evacuated from the city and for a sustainable ceasefire in Ukraine.

“The meeting was an important start. No one should expect miracles at one meeting,” he told reporters.

Both foreign ministers met for face-to-face talks in Turkey on Thursday in the first high-level contact between the two sides since Russia started attacking Ukraine on February 24.

Mr Cavusoglu brokered the talks between Mr Lavrov and Mr Kuleba as Ankara pushes to position itself as a mediator in the conflict.

Mr Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, in a tweet said he insisted on the urgent need to allow humanitarian help for Mariupol and a 24-hour ceasefire.

“Unfortunately, FM Lavrov seemed to have come to talk, not to decide. I hope he will convey Ukraine’s requests back to Moscow,” he said.

On the other hand, Mr Lavrov accused Western powers of behaving dangerously over Ukraine by supplying the country with weapons, warning the moves will affect the region’s security for years to come.

Addressing reporters at a news conference following the talks, the Russian foreign minister also said Moscow’s ‘special military operation’ was going according to plan.

“We are not planning to attack other countries and we did not attack Ukraine either, we were just dealing with the issues there,” Al Jazeera quoted Mr Lavrov as saying.

He added that Russia wants to continue negotiations with Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin would not refuse a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss “specific” issues.

Mr Lavrov said Russia would not have started the conflict in Ukraine if the West had not rejected “our proposal on security guarantees“.

“Until the end, we wanted to resolve the situation in Ukraine through diplomatic means,” he said.

Speaking of fears that the war in Ukraine could result in a nuclear war, Al Jazeera quoted Mr Lavrov as saying, “I don’t want to believe, and I do not believe, that a nuclear war could start.”

“We will come out of this crisis with refreshed views of the world – with no illusions about the West. We will try to never again be dependent on the West,” he said.

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According to Mr Cavusoglu, the aim of the meeting was to pave the way for a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents, which would be facilitated by Turkey’s president.

Russia and Ukraine in the past week have been in talks but have yet to reach an agreement as to how to end the war.

Two weeks into the invasion of Ukraine, nearly two million people have fled the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv Mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said.

“From our information, one in two Kyiv residents has left the city,” Mr Klitschko said in televised remarks. “A little less than two million people have currently left.”