On Thursday, delegations from Ukraine and Russia failed to reach a ceasefire agreement during the second round of peace talks in the Brest region of western Belarus. However, Moscow and Kyiv did agree to set up humanitarian corridors for the safe departure of civilians from war-torn Ukrainian cities. The talks come days after the first diplomatic contact between the two countries, and eight days after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has killed thousands and turned one million Ukrainians into refugees.
This time, the Ukrainian and Russian delegations met in Belarus’s Belovezhskaya Pushcha, located at the intersection of Ukraine, Poland, and Belarus. Prior to the negotiations, Davyd Arakhamia, one of Ukraine’s negotiators and leader of the ruling party, outlined that its minimum expectation is the establishment of a humanitarian corridor, before emphasising that Ukraine did not expect to make any major breakthroughs. Mykhailo Podolyak, the leader of the Ukrainian delegation and presidential advisor, underlined that Kyiv’s primary demands are an “immediate cease-fire.”
The second round of negotiations is over. Unfortunately, the results Ukraine needs are not yet achieved. There is a solution only for the organization of humanitarian corridors... pic.twitter.com/0vS72cwYSX
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) March 3, 2022
The Russian delegation, led by Kremlin presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, made it clear ahead of the talks that Moscow’s peace proposals are centred around the “military-technical, humanitarian-international and political” aspects. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed that Russia’s condition for a peace agreement is the “demilitarisation” of Ukraine and for it to revert back to a neutral status with no intention of joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
After the talks, both delegations confirmed that they had reached an agreement to establish humanitarian corridors to safely evacuate civilians. Ukraine’s Podolyak said the two sides will observe a temporary ceasefire in the locations of corridors, but only for the duration of the evacuation. He expressed his displeasure with the talks, saying that Kyiv’s primary demand for a total ceasefire and withdrawal of Russian troops remains unmet.
⚡️⚡️⚡️🇷🇺🇧🇾🇺🇦Second round of Russia-Ukraine talks kick off in Belarus pic.twitter.com/xqfyrZ5gs1
— Belarus MFA 🇧🇾 (@BelarusMFA) March 3, 2022
Russia’s Medinsky added that the two sides might possibly meet for a third round of talks next week. Medinsky emphasised, “Russia calls on civilians who find themselves in this situation, if military actions continue, to use these humanitarian corridors.”
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday accused Ukraine of deliberately delaying negotiations, saying, “The Ukrainian negotiators are clearly not in a hurry.”
Earlier this week, Kyiv and Moscow conducted the first round of peace talks in the Gomel region near the Ukrainian-Belarusian border. Since then, Russia has intensified its military assault on major Ukrainian cities, particularly Kharkiv and Kyiv. Russia has also gained control over the southern port city of Kherson, its first territorial gain. Ukraine, on the other hand, submitted a fast-track application to join the European Union (EU) that was approved by an overwhelming majority.
Ukrainian President Zelensky challenges Vladimir Putin to sit down for talk https://t.co/5v84PEfKod pic.twitter.com/ARQLQMTSg0
— TIME (@TIME) March 3, 2022