Negotiations: In Kyiv, progress is noted

Russian-Ukrainian negotiations. Photo: BelTA

The positions of Russia and Ukraine in the negotiations became "more realistic", Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said on Wednesday in a morning video message. “But it is still necessary for the decisions to be in the interests of Ukraine,” he added, noting that it is “hard, but important”. The Russian side, according to Ukrainian negotiators, softened the tone.

As the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov stated , "negotiations are not easy for obvious reasons, but nevertheless there is a certain hope for a compromise."

Three full -time negotiations took place in Belarus. From Monday, negotiations on video communications are held daily.

The preliminary peace plan includes 15 points, reports Financial Times with reference to three negotiation participants. The plan provides for the ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine if Kyiv announces neutrality and agrees to limit the number of its armed forces.

According to this plan, Ukraine will abandon the intention to join NATO and undertake not to place foreign military bases or weapons on its territory in exchange for guarantees of protection by the allies - the USA, Great Britain, Turkey, writes FT.

“The Financial Times published a draft showing a request from the Russian side. And no more. The Ukrainian side has its own position,” wrote Mikhail Podolyak, the head of the office of the President of Ukraine on Twitter. “The only thing we confirm at this stage is the ceasefire, the withdrawal of Russian troops and security guarantees from a number of states.”

As Podolyak specified , Kiev insists on “legally verified” security guarantees that will mean that guarantor countries are not standing aside in the event of an attack on Ukraine, as today, ”but“ take an active part on the side of Ukraine in the conflict and officially provide us with an immediate supply of the necessary volume of weapons ”. “And, secondly, Ukraine no longer wants to depend on bureaucratic procedures that allow or do not allow you to close the sky from those very winged missiles. We need direct and tough guarantees that the sky will necessarily be closed,” the Ukrainian negotiator added.

As for the belonging of Crimea and Donbass, the Ukrainian side is not ready to discuss this issue. “So far, we are talking about guaranteeing the exit (Russia. - Ed.) From the territories that have been occupied from the moment the military operation began on February 24,” Podolyak said. Moscow also requires consolidation of the status of the Russian language in Ukraine.

According to FT, Ukrainians suspect that Russia through negotiations wants to win time to regroup its strength and continue the offensive.

The head of the Russian delegation in negotiations, Vladimir Medinsky, said that Ukraine in negotiations allegedly proposes an option to turn it into a demilitarized state on the model of Austria or Sweden. This option provides that Kyiv will not be included in any military alliances, but it will have a full -fledged army and fleet. According to Medinsky, this is now being discussed at the level of the Ministry of Defense of Russia and Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that this option "can be considered as a really compromise."

“Undoubtedly, we understand the attempt of our partners to remain the initiative side in the negotiation process. Hence the words about the Swedish or Austrian models of neutrality,” commented the words of Medinsky Podolyak. “But Ukraine is now in a state of direct war with the Russian Federation. Therefore, the model can only be Ukrainian and only about the legally verified security guarantees. And no other models or options.”

It became known that the Russian side requires a partial lifting of Western sanctions. “Of course, the sanctions claims of Russia and Ukraine and in general this crazy situation with economic sanctions, which already resembles, of course, no sanctions, but a full -fledged, full -scale, unprecedented economic war against Russia, this position is one of the key talk topics at each of our meetings,” Medinsky says. This was confirmed by Peskov.

On Wednesday, the UN International Court satisfied the request of Ukraine on temporary interim measures to a lawsuit against Russia. The court demanded that Moscow immediately stop the war, begun on February 24. Ukraine proves that Russia violated the Convention on the prevention of genocide and punishment for it, using accusations of genocide as an excess for invasion.

“The court believes that the Russian Federation must guarantee that any military or irregular formations that can be controlled by it or support it, as well as any organizations or persons who can indirectly control it, will not take further measures in these operations,” said Judge Joan Donhew.

Donohee noted that the UN court has jurisdiction to investigate whether the genocide occurs in Ukraine. At the same time, the court found that he had no evidence that Ukraine performs genocide on its territory. According to Donohee, the court doubts whether the Convention on the prevention of genocide is unilateral military operations in another state to prevent it.

13 judges voted for such a decision, only two against: the vice -chairman of the court, Russian Kirill Gevorkyan and Chinese Sueh Hanzin.