Antalya, Turkey — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba met Thursday in Turkey in the first such high-level contact since Moscow invaded its neighbor. Speaking after the talks, Kuleba told reporters there was "no progress" toward a cease-fire.
"We also talked on the cease-fire but no progress was accomplished on that," Dmytro Kuleba said, describing the discussion as "difficult" and accusing his counterpart of bringing little more than "traditional narratives" to the table.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said earlier he was also heading to Antalya for meetings amid mounting concern over the safety of Ukraine's nuclear energy plants, but it was unclear when he was due to arrive or who he might meet with.
Even before the talks began, analysts feared there were slim chances of any breakthrough. Images of the meeting showed the Russian, Turkish and Ukrainian delegations sitting around a table, with each minister accompanied by just two other officials.
The meeting took place against the background of Ukrainian and international outrage after a Russian attack on a children's and maternity hospital in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol which, according to Kyiv, killed at least three people, including a young girl. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the strike an "atrocity."
Speaking after his talks with Kuleba on Thursday in Antalya,...
Russian military command has been lying for the fifth month in a row about battlefield “successes,” claiming that Russian forces are advancing west of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region. However, this...