[LIVE] War in Ukraine: kyiv says it is "studying" the Russian request for its "neutrality"
An icon of Archangel Michael in a Ukrainian trench on the outskirts of Mykolaiv on Sunday March 26.
AP - Petros Giannakouris
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
On the 33rd day of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, follow our latest information live.
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.
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The main points:
►
The Russian and Ukrainian delegations confirmed on Sunday that a new round of talks will take place at the beginning of the week
.
According to kyiv, these face-to-face negotiations will be held from Monday March 28 to Wednesday March 30 in Turkey, while the Russian chief negotiator has advanced the dates of Tuesday and Wednesday, without specifying a location.
► Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelensky said in an interview with Russian independent media on Sunday that
his government was studying "in depth" the question of Ukraine's "neutrality"
.
This is one of Moscow's main demands in the negotiations to end the conflict.
► For Kiev, all
the referendums organized "
in the occupied territories
" around a possible attachment to Russia would be "
null and void
, and will have no legitimacy
", reacted Oleg Nikolenko, spokesman for the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A few hours earlier, the leader of the pro-Russian separatist territory of Lugansk, Leonid Passetchnik, had announced that a referendum could be organized there around a possible attachment to Russia.
► Loud explosions were felt
in Kyiv, Lutsk, Kharkiv and Zhytomyr
, as airstrike warnings sounded in almost all Ukrainian regions on Sunday.
► Reacting to the words of US President Joe Biden, who called Vladimir Putin a "
butcher
" who "
cannot stay in power
", Kremlin spokesman
Dmitry Peskov judged that "
the personal insults of this gender narrow the scope of
our bilateral relations with the current US government
".
► A total
of 5,208 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities
via humanitarian corridors on Saturday, according to a senior official, compared to 7,331 the day before.
4,331 people have left Mariupol, but according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk, more than 100,000 people still need to be evacuated.
Times are given in Universal Time (UT)
00h: Before new negotiations, Ukraine says it is "studying" the Russian request for its "neutrality"
Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelensky said his government was studying "
in depth
" the question of Ukraine's "
neutrality
", one of the central points in negotiations with Russia to end the conflict, which are due to resume at the start of the week.
One of the clauses of the negotiations concerns "
security guarantees and neutrality, the denuclearized status of our state
", a requirement of Moscow, he declared in an online interview with Russian independent media, broadcast on the channel Telegram of the Ukrainian Presidential Administration.
“
This point of the negotiations is understandable for me and it is under discussion, it is studied in depth
”.
But it will have to be submitted to a referendum and guarantees are needed, he warned, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin and his entourage of “
dragging things out
”.
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Day to day war in Ukraine
Ukraine
Volodymyr Zelensky
Vladimir Poutine
Russia