Russia and Ukraine to hold fresh talks; Ukrainian military claims Russian troops withdrawn from around Kyiv after heavy losses
The Kremlin has said peace talks between Russia and Ukraine may get under way in Turkey on Tuesday, adding that it is important the discussions are held face-to-face despite scant progress in negotiations so far.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, used a video interview with independent Russian media outlets to signal his willingness to discuss having Ukraine adopt a “neutral status”, and also make compromises about the status of the eastern Donbas region, in order to secure a peace agreement with Russia. But he said he was not willing to discuss Ukrainian demilitarisation, and that Ukrainians would need to vote in a referendum to approve their country adopting a neutral status.
Russia’s foreign affairs minister, Sergei Lavrov, appears to have ruled out any direct meetings between Vladimir Putin and Zelenskiy, saying it would be counterproductive at this point.
The southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe and must be evacuated, its mayor has warned. Vadym Boichenko said about 160,000 civilians were trapped in the city without power.
Ukraine has no plans to open humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians from besieged cities on Monday because of intelligence reports warning of possible Russian “provocations” along the routes, the deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, said.
The Ukrainian military claimed in its latest operational report that Russia had withdrawn troops that were surrounding Kyiv after significant losses.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence released its latest intelligence report, claiming there had been “no significant change” to Russian forces’ dispositions in Ukraine over the past 24 hours.
The US president has denied he is calling for regime change in Russia, after saying during a visit to Poland that Putin “cannot remain in power”. When asked by a reporter if he wanted to see the Russian president removed from office, Joe Biden said “no”.
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Russian investigators would look into a video circulating on social media that purported to show Ukrainian forces mistreating captured Russian soldiers. He also said Biden’s comments that Putin could not remain in power were a cause for concern.
Schools in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, will reopen today via remote learning online.
The UK government’s Cabinet Office has issued a procurement policy note for public sector organisations holding contracts with Russian or Belarusian suppliers, urging them to investigate where they can cancel contracts.
The UK education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, said he had no doubt that Russia had carried out war crimes in Ukraine.
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