By Tuvan Gumrukcu and Ece Toksabay
ANTALYA, Turkey: The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will hold a meeting in Turkey on Thursday on the sidelines of a Diplomacy Forum being held in Turkey’s Southern Province of Antalya on March 11-13, Reuters reported.
It would be the first high-level talks between Russia and Ukraine since Moscow invaded its neighbour.
Turkey, which had repeatedly offered to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, hoped that talks between Sergei Lavrov and Dmytro Kuleba could mark a turning point in the raging conflict.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian foreign minister has tempered expectations for a ceasefire agreement or other results from the meeting with the Russian Counterpart.
Dmytro Kuleba urged the Russian foreign minister to approach the talks “in good faith, not from a propagandistic perspective.”
“I will say frankly that my expectations of the talks are low,” Kuleba said in a video statement on Wednesday. “We are interested in a ceasefire, liberating our territories and the third point is to resolve all humanitarian issues.”
Russia has also said that it is ready for talks with Ukraine but that all of its demands including that Kyiv takes a neutral position and drops aspirations of joining the NATO alliance must be met to end its assault.
