Negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian officials in a third country on Feb. 28 yielded no results, officials said after the talks concluded.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sent top officials as intermediaries as Russian and Ukrainian forces continued battling in Ukraine, including near major cities such as Kyiv. The negotiations were held in Belarus, which has allowed Russian forces to pass through during the war.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a top adviser to Zelensky, told reporters after talks broke off that the primary aim was to discuss a ceasefire.
“The parties have determined several priority topics on which certain decisions have been envisioned,” Podolyak said. “The parties are returning to their capitals to have the possibility to implement these decisions. The parties have discussed the possibility to hold in the nearest time a second round of negotiations where these issues will get to be practically developed.”
Podolyak later took to Twitter, writing: “Negotiations are difficult. However, without any obligatory ultimatums already. Unfortunately, the Russian side is still extremely biased regarding the destructive processes it launched.”
Vladimir Medinsky, who headed the Russian delegation, said the five-hour talks included finding points of agreement on unspecified various agenda items and featured an agreement to continue negotiations.
“The next meeting will take place in the coming days at the Polish–Belarusian border. There is already a relevant agreement. Before the meeting, both delegations, the leaders of both delegations, will consult with their countries’ leadership concerning their negotiation positions,” Medinsky said.
In Washington, Ned Price, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said the United States supports Ukraine attempting to reach a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, but said it would be difficult to hammer out a pact while fighting was ongoing.
Russian troops, on Putin’s orders, entered Ukraine on Feb. 24 and have moved toward Kyiv in the intervening days.
Fighting has taken place around Kyiv, Kharkiv, and other major cities.
As the negotiations took place, other officials appeared at the United Nations in New York.
Sergiy Kyslytsya, the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.N., told the assembled representatives that the U.N.’s General Assembly “should be vocal in demanding from the Russian Federation to stop its offensive against Ukraine as an act of aggression against a sovereign and independent state.”
The assembly should demand Russia immediately and unconditionally withdraw its troops from Ukraine and reverse the recognition of portions of eastern Ukraine as independent, he said, as well as recognizing “the treacherous role of Belarus” in the conflict.
Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s ambassador to the U.N., later said the crisis was precipitated by the actions of Ukraine, including flouting obligations under the Minsk agreement reached in 2014.
“Our Western colleagues have shamelessly inundated the country with weapons, have sent to the country instructors and effectively incited Ukrainians, who are facing a 120,000 strong military contingent, and prompted them to engage in armed provocation against the Donbas,” he said, referring to one of the regions, adding that Russia’s army “does not pose a threat to the civilians of Ukraine, is not shelling civilian areas and areas and cities where Russian armed forces have taken control, and these areas are seeing citizens living their lives normally.”
(source)
Have you received Salvation from Jesus the Messiah? Time is running out. Jesus will return very soon. The signs of His return are everywhere in this crazy world we are living in. Please read below so that you can be saved. Jesus is the only way to Heaven. The Words below are directly from the Bible, so you can trust them.
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6)
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:16-17)
If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all )is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:9-13)
“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. IF YOU KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. (John 15:9)
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)
For those of us who persevere and do what Jesus says to do, we have this to look forward to in eternity: And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
The Bible – New King James Version, NKJV
The Blogging Hounds 