Ukrainian negotiator David Arahamia said on Thursday that the talks would continue via video, focusing on the peace framework presented by Kyiv during a face-to-face meeting in Istanbul this week, which Moscow described as constructive. Russian President Vladimir Putin has further stepped up diplomatic stances by signing a decree requiring foreign buyers to pay in rubles for Russian gas from Friday or to see their energy contracts terminated – a demand that Germany has made. France and the United Kingdom immediately rejected it and Berlin called it blackmail. . A humanitarian corridor is scheduled to open at 10 a.m. Friday to allow civilians out of Mariupol, and an escort of 45 Ukrainian buses has begun to try to deliver humanitarian supplies and evacuate trapped civilians, the deputy prime minister said. of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk. The convoy was expected to enter the city on Friday morning following Russian promises of a limited ceasefire along the route from Mariupol to the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia. Map of Mariupol The move follows “a personal request by the French president and the German chancellor to Russian President Vladimir Putin,” the Russian Defense Ministry said. Repeated efforts to set up humanitarian corridors to evacuate up to 170,000 people remaining in Mariupol, which has been under four weeks of bombing and few supplies, have failed. Ukraine has accused Russian forces of bombing supposedly safe routes outside various battlefields, a claim Moscow denies. On Thursday night, Volodymyr Zelenskiy reiterated his warning that Russia was preparing for “strong strikes” in the Donbass region as it appeared to be withdrawing from an attack in Kyiv. He rejected as a tactic the withdrawal of Russian forces near Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy. The Pentagon also said Russia may redeploy some of its forces to send them to Donbass. The Pentagon said Russia was withdrawing troops from Georgia to step up its invasion of Ukraine in a move it said was unplanned and “indicative of the unexpected losses suffered during the invasion.” Both the United States and the United Kingdom have suggested that Putin is increasingly frustrated, with US President Joe Biden saying Putin “appears to be isolated” and noting that “there is some evidence that he has dismissed or dismissed house restraint some of his advisers “without citing details. White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said the war was a “strategic disaster” for Russia and that it was “working to redefine the original goals of its invasion.” British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Putin “was not the force he was” and “is now a man in a cage he built”. Despite the ongoing talks, there is growing skepticism in the West about Russia’s intentions in the talks, more than five weeks after its invasion of Ukraine. There was no real sign of a partial military retreat in northern Ukraine that had been promised as a gesture of goodwill, suggesting that the Kremlin could play with time. Kiev chief negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak, however, insisted that the Kremlin was considering Ukraine’s proposals, which included an international treaty under which Ukraine would remain neutral, with its security guaranteed by third countries. In other developments:
The UN Atomic Energy Agency is investigating Ukrainian allegations that Russian soldiers in possession of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant left after receiving high doses of radioactivity. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said it can not confirm the allegations of Ukrainian state-owned energy company Energoatom and is calling for an independent assessment. Australia will send Bushmaster armored vehicles to Ukraine after Zelensky’s speech to lawmakers. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said: “We will send our armor, the Bushmasters … and we will fly them in our C-17s. [aircraft] to make sure they can be there to support [Ukraine]. » Morrison suggested that more help follow. The leaders of the EU and China will meet for the first summit in two years on Friday with Brussels seeking reassurances from Beijing that it will neither supply Russia with weapons nor help Moscow bypass Western sanctions. EU officials close to preparing for the summit said any aid to Russia would damage China’s international reputation and jeopardize relations with its biggest trading partners – Europe and the United States.
