In their third meeting since Russia’s full-scale military assault on Ukraine, Ukrainian and Russian negotiators once again failed to reach a consensus on a complete ceasefire. The three-hour-long meeting took place in the Brest region of western Belarus, the same location as the previous talks.
Although there was no progress in terms of brokering a ceasefire, Ukraine did welcome the headway made on the issue of setting up humanitarian corridors after Kyiv had earlier rejected Moscow’s offer to evacuate citizens to Russia.
Minutes before the talks, Ukrainian Presidential advisor and lead negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak criticised the Russian government for its violent behaviour towards civilians in Ukraine. Nevertheless, after the talks, Podolyak confirmed on Twitter that “there were some small positive shifts regarding logistics of humanitarian corridors,” adding that the two sides engaged in intense deliberations over “ceasefire and security guarantees.”
The third round of negotiations has ended. 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. pic.twitter.com/s4kEwTNRhI
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) March 7, 2022
Prior to the meeting, Russia’s lead negotiator and Presidential advisor, Vladimir Medinsky, said that Moscow planned to address the political and military settlement of the ongoing Ukraine war. Medinsky emphasised that Russia would focus on trying to establish humanitarian corridors that were agreed upon in the previous meeting but have not been operationalised yet.
Later, Medinsky confirmed that a functioning humanitarian corridor will be established in Kyiv, Kharkov, Sumy, and Mariupol from Tuesday. However, he called out the Ukrainian side for not signing Russia’s “concrete” proposals and instead prolonging the peace talks by taking it “to study at home.”
Furthermore, another Russian negotiator, Leonid Slutsky, remarked that the negotiation process still has “laborious, systematic work ahead.” He also confirmed that the two sides will meet again for a fourth round of talks in Belarus in the “very near future.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine rejected the Russian military’s evacuation offer that established corridors out of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mariupol, and Sumy leading to Russia and Belarus. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russian troops of attacking buses that were evacuating civilians and slammed Moscow for multiple ceasefire violations at critical locations.
Zelenskiy with another video from his office in the heart of Kyiv.
— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) March 7, 2022
Not many presidents would still be there and not in a bunker, on the 12th day of an invasion, with multiple intelligence reports of hit squads out to get him.
His resilience is proving hugely inspiring here. pic.twitter.com/RCa8dnf8jS
In a similar vein, French President Emmanuel Macron blamed the Russian government of “moral and political cynicism,” pointing out that Moscow’s proposed humanitarian corridors only lead to Russia or Belarus, both of whose militaries have played a central role in the Ukraine war.
Last week, Ukraine and Russia held the first round of peace talks days after Russia commenced its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In the second round of peace talks, the two sides agreed to establish “humanitarian corridors,” but have failed to operationalise this agreement. However, Russia’s military assault on Ukraine has only intensified, with the United States (US) claiming that Moscow has sent “nearly 100%” of the forces it had amassed at the border into Ukraine.