No one was going to agree on ceasefire: Russia on failed talks with Ukraine

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday that a ceasefire was always unlikely to be agreed upon in trilateral talks, hours after high level talks between Russia and Ukraine, mediated by Turkey, failed to come to an agreement on a ceasefire.

Speaking at news conference in the Turkish city of Antalya after the talks, Lavrov said, “No one was going to agree on a ceasefire [at this meeting], these proposals and the sequence of steps outlined in these proposals are well known to the Ukrainian side.”

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Commenting on the discussions in the meeting itself, Lavrov said that Russia and Ukraine “mainly talked about humanitarian issues at the initiative of our Turkish friends.”

The 71-year-old said that he warned Ukrainian and Turkish diplomats that Russia was not looking to create a “parallel track” to negotiations already underway between Russian and Ukrainian diplomats at the Ukraine-Belarus border.

“It is there that all practical issues are discussed, it is there that it was explained in the most detailed way what needs to be done in order to end this crisis,” Lavrov said, referring to the Russia-Ukraine talks held earlier near the border.

“This includes demilitarization and denazification and ensuring the neutral status of Ukraine,” the Russian foreign minister added, alluding to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s speech ahead of the invasion on the denazification of Ukraine.

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Lavrov went on to say that Russian diplomats had handed Ukraine a document detailing “extremely specific considerations” in the last round of talks at the Ukraine-Belarus border, adding that Ukraine had promised to provide a response to Russian demands.

The failed talks come at a time when reports suggest that Russia has stepped up attacks on besieged Ukrainian cities, and the increased shelling has resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians, sparking calls for an investigation into alleged war crimes.