Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, has “finally accepted” that he will need to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in person to resolve the country’s ongoing war.
According to the Express, the Russian despot will meet Zelensky ‘at some point,’ after the Ukrainian leader accused Russia of committing ‘war crimes,’ following the bombing of an art school and theater in Mariupol, where civilians were refuge.
Since the war began on February 24, the two leaders have allowed their diplomatic teams to hold peace negotiations on neutral ground.
According to BBC correspondent Lysa Doucet, Russian President Vladimir Putin is reportedly thought to have bowed in to his top diplomats and conceded that he will have to attend negotiations “at some stage.”
Putin has accepted the fact that he will have to lead the talks at some point in the future, according to BBC’s Lyse Doucet.
‘Diplomats are conversing, negotiators are conversing. We hear that President Putin has agreed to meet President Zelensky, who has been requesting a meeting since January, at some point,’ she said.
‘He hasn’t said that in public; in fact, he says the exact opposite.’
Yesterday, Zelensky warned that Russia will “go down in history as a perpetrator of war crimes,” and condemned the invaders’ bombing and siege of Mariupol, the southern port city that has been battered by warplanes and missiles for weeks.
‘To do this to a peaceful city… is a terror that will be remembered for centuries,’ Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said.
Despite being ‘not simple and pleasant,’ he noted, peace discussions with Russia are ongoing.
According to reports, Kyiv has demanded that one or more Western nuclear powers be included in talks with the Kremlin, as well as legally obligatory security guarantees for Ukraine.
However, Chancellor Rishi Sunak today urged a ‘degree of skepticism’ about any potential peace deal in Ukraine, citing an official in Zelensky’s office who told the Associated Press that the main topic discussed between the two sides last week was whether Russian troops would remain in separatist regions in eastern Ukraine after the war and where the borders would be.
Mr. Sunak stated that it was “too early to say” who would serve as the guarantor.
Zelensky also stated today that he spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday about the progress of the peace talks.
‘Ukraine has always sought a peaceful solution to its problems. Furthermore, we are now interested in peace,’ he added.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna told Sky News today that in future peace talks, her country will not lose any territory to Russia.
‘Ukrainian territory is a definite territory established in 1991,’ she explained.
‘Within its full and globally recognized boundary, it is not only Ukraine’s position, but the entire world’s view, as established in several UN Security Council decisions… thus that is not an option for negotiation.’
‘Of course, there could be some talk about the reintegration of those territories that have been occupied for the past eight years.’
‘I can tell that the sense of political priority is still there, while the final aim of today is the ceasefire and security guarantees,’ said the official.
The deputy prime minister stated that she believes the Ukrainian people are being subjected to genocide.
‘I firmly believe it’ (is a genocide). ‘I am a lawyer, and I pledge to see that the decision is carried out,’ she asserted.
She cited a judgement by the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which asked Russia to ‘immediately cease the military actions’ it launched in Ukraine on February 24.
‘We know that the ruling’s words, the orders, have no meaning for the Russian Federation, but this is not something I or anybody else assumes; this is the fact,’ she said. ‘Putin and the Kremlin are the most heinous crooks on the planet.
‘They perpetrate the most heinous acts and are launching a targeted attack on the Ukrainian people… it’s not a question; it’s simply the reality we all face in the twenty-first century.’