Signing a “comprehensive peace treaty” is on the agenda that Russia and Ukraine are discussing, the Turkish foreign minister has said, stressing that a “war has no winner”.
“There are a lot of topics which Russia and Ukraine are discussing, including neutrality, and the signing of a comprehensive peace treaty is also on the table,” Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday.
He was speaking after a meeting with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts in Antalya. It was the first time that Moscow and Kiev met at the ministerial level since Russia attacked its neighbour two weeks ago.
The meeting was not held in an “easy environment” and “a miracle should not be expected from such meetings”, Cavusoglu told a news conference in the resort city on Türkiye’s Mediterranean coast.
During the talks, Türkiye stressed that humanitarian corridors in Ukraine should be kept open without any obstacles, he said.
The top diplomats also discussed a possible meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy, Cavusoglu said.
Diplomacy in focus
After the three-way talks that lasted over an hour, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the meeting showed that nothing could replace the negotiation process.
Lavrov also warned the West against giving arms to Ukraine, claiming that countries that do so “create a threat to themselves because those arms lack controls on their use”.
He added that “those who send weapons to Ukraine, (or) encourage mercenaries, will be responsible for their actions.”
He said Putin was not refusing to hold a meeting with Ukraine’s Zelenskyy, but added that more preparatory work was required.
Russia would not have started the “military operation” in Ukraine if the West had not rejected Moscow’s proposal for security guarantees, said Lavrov.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Russia had no plans to establish truce, and that no progress was made on a ceasefire as Lavrov was not authorised to discuss the matter.
“They seek a surrender from Ukraine. This is not what they are going to get. Ukraine is strong. Ukraine is fighting,” Kuleba told reporters after the meeting held on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum.
Both parties, however, agreed to continue efforts to seek a solution to the humanitarian situation on the ground, he said.
