Kyiv and Moscow resumed talks on the war in Ukraine on Tuesday after a pause on Monday, as Moscow announces sanctions against U.S. leaders.
"Consultations on the main negotiation platform renewed. General regulation matters, ceasefire, withdrawal of troops from the territory of the country," Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter.
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A Kyiv apartment building on fire after being hit by Russian shelling on Tuesday
(Photo: AFP)
This is the fifth time teams from the warring sides are meeting to negotiate an end to the fighting.
Russia said on Tuesday it had put U.S. President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other top officials on a "stop list" that bars them from entering the country.
Their names, together with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, CIA chief William Burns, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and others, were included on a list of 13 individuals banned from Russia in response to sanctions imposed by Washington on Russian officials. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was also named.
But the foreign ministry said it was maintaining official relations with Washington and if necessary would make sure that high-level contacts with the people on the list could take place.
As leaders from three EU countries set out to visit Kyiv, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country understands it does not have an open door to NATO membership and therefore proposes a way to protect itself independently provided it has security guarantees
"If we cannot enter through open doors, then we must cooperate with the associations with which we can, which will help us, protect us ... and have separate guarantees," he said in a video address.
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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in video address to the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF)
(Photo: AP)
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, meanwhile, said on Tuesday, that the alliance was concerned Russia might use chemical weapons in a "false flag" attack as part of its invasion of Ukraine.
"We are concerned Moscow could stage a false flag operation in Ukraine, possibly with chemical weapons," Stoltenberg told a press conference.
In Geneva, the Red Cross said that more than 70 buses were ready in the besieged city of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine to evacuate civilians who have gathered ahead of a "safe passage" operation which is set to start on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the organization said.
"People have assembled, we hope it will go ahead as planned," Watson, spokesperson of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), told Reuters in Geneva. "We are hoping at the very least to start this operation today."
Earlier Watson told a U.N. briefing in Geneva that the ICRC and Ukrainian Red Cross were hoping to organize the evacuation of two convoys of some 30 buses to a safe area.
Russia announced plans to spend 1 trillion rubles ($9 billion) on so-called anti-crisis measures. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Tuesday, that the plan includes more than 100 proposals and is to be updated, to rebuild production and supply chains.
Russia also said it would put forth its own draft of a resolution regarding humanitarian situation in Ukraine.
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Russia's UN envoy Vassily Nebenzia speaking to journalists on Tuesday
(Photo: Reuters)
Moscow's ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said in answer to a reporter's questions, that Russia will stop its invasion when the goals of its special military operation are achieved in Ukraine, including demilitarization.
First published: 17:03, 03.15.22