Ukraine-Russia Talks Witness Small Positive Developments

Small positive developments were made between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations on the issue of humanitarian corridors, a Ukrainian negotiator was reported to have said on Monday following the conclusion of the third round of talks between the sides.

That is about as much as anyone had hoped for, and the negotiator said there had been no significant results on reaching a truce or ceasefire.

Given maximalist demands from the Russians for the demilitarisation and neutralisation of Ukraine, something which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ruled out time and time again, no ceasefire is expected any time soon.

The Ukrainian negotiator did state, however, that talks with Russia will continue. Market focus now turns to a round of talks between the Ukrainian and Russian Foreign Ministers in Turkey on Thursday.

Russian and Ukrainian delegations began talks Monday in Belarus aimed at ending the nascent war that has brought ruin to vast areas of Ukraine’s largest cities.

Two previous attempts to negotiate an end to the conflict, now in its twelfth day, proved fruitless.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday revealed Russia’s harsh demands: Ukraine halt its military activity, change its Constitution to include neutrality so it cannot join the EU or NATO, recognize Crimea as Russian territory and recognize independence for the separatist regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.

Russia’s military said it would cease fire and open humanitarian corridors in several Ukrainian cities Monday but continued to pound residential areas of the battered cities of Kyiv, Mariupol, Kharkiv and Sumy.

Ukraine Defense Secretary Aleksey Danilov said Russia “violates the agreements reached, blocks the opening of green corridors, does not allow humanitarian supplies, but at the same time tries to create a false picture of a ‘joyful meeting’ of the occupiers by local residents.”

Some of the evacuation routes actually would funnel civilians toward Russia or its ally Belarus, a plan that Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk called unacceptable. UK Europe Minister James Cleverly agreed, saying that “evacuation routes into the arms of the country that is currently destroying yours is nonsense.”

The US is among 48 nations whose governments have committed “unfriendly actions” against Russia, the Kremlin says. Russian citizens, companies and government bodies that owe money to those countries can pay debts in rubles, the decree says.