War in Ukraine: Zelensky sees a change in Russia's approach to negotiations
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a filmed intervention, February 25, 2022. © REUTERS/UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SE
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3 mins
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed on Saturday March 12 a new, "
fundamentally different
" approach from Moscow in its recent talks with Kiev, stressing that Russia was no longer content to "
just issue ultimatums
".
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Asked about statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had mentioned "
advances
" in the Russian-Ukrainian talks, the Ukrainian president said he was "
happy to have a signal from Russia
", during a press conference in Kyiv broadcast on the Telegram account of the Ukrainian presidency.
During the last discussions, “
we started talking
”, and Moscow “
no longer simply issues ultimatums
”, which constitutes “
a fundamentally different approach
”, added Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to him, over the past two years, Ukraine has approached Moscow “
more than a dozen times
”, “
without ever having heard that a dialogue could take place.
»
Volodymyr Zelensky made these remarks as a meeting took place on Thursday between the heads of Russian and Ukrainian diplomacy in Turkey, the first at this level since the start of the conflict.
Previously, three sessions of talks at the level of delegations had taken place, the first on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border and the next two on the Polish-Belarusian border.
►Also read: The day the first meeting between the heads of Russian and Ukrainian diplomacy failed
The talks will continue by videoconference, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday March 12, declining to give more details.
The Ukrainian president, however, deplored that “
Western partners
(of Ukraine)
are not sufficiently committed
” to this approach.
In terms of security guarantees, “
Ukraine will not be able to trust Russia after this bloody war.
Such security guarantees must be offered by other foreign leaders
,” he said.
A first assessment of military losses on the Ukrainian side
During this same press conference, the Ukrainian president for the first time gave a figure on the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24.
"
We have about
1,300 soldiers who died
," said the Ukrainian president, without giving further details on this assessment.
Ukraine also revised upwards the losses of the Russian army, claiming to have accounted for the loss of “
about 12,000 men
”.
It's "
a ratio of one to ten, but that doesn't make me happy
," he added.
These reports provided by both sides are at this stage unverifiable.
On March 8, the United States estimated the number of Russian soldiers who died in the conflict "
between 2,000 and 4,000
".
►Also read:
War in Ukraine: "Three times more deaths on the Russian side in one week than in seven years in Syria"
On March 2, the Russian army, which committed some 150,000 soldiers to the battle, announced that it had lost nearly 500 soldiers.
But it hasn't provided any new figures since, as fighting rages in many towns across the country, including around the besieged city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov, as well as in
Irpin
, near Kiev, which Russian forces are trying to encircle.
All of our daily, live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
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Ukraine
Russia
Volodymyr Zelensky
Diplomacy