New round of negotiations expected from Moscow and Kyiv

After a week and a half of war, a third round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine is expected on Monday. The exact time and location were unknown as of Sunday evening. Recently there were two meetings between the delegations in the Belarusian border area. A ceasefire was recently agreed for the Mariupol and Wolnowacha areas in order to evacuate civilians via humanitarian corridors. However, this mission failed once more on Sunday.

Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of not complying with the ceasefire. The Ukrainian negotiator in the negotiations with Russia, David Arachamija, meanwhile rejected key demands from the other side as “unacceptable”. “I wouldn’t say we’re making fast progress because many people are being killed every day, especially civilians,” Arachamija said in an interview with US broadcaster Fox News. He described renunciation of Crimea and the so-called independent republics in Donetsk and Luhansk as “unacceptable”. Kyiv, on the other hand, signaled its willingness to talk regarding Russia’s decision not to join NATO. However, Moscow is demanding a complete “demilitarization” of Ukraine.