Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said he doesn’t expect much from Russia when he meets in the face-to-face meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.
It follows after Ukraine accused Russia of bombing a children’s hospital, describing it as a “war crime.” Three people were reported dead in the Mariupol shooting, according to authorities.
Seventeen individuals, including workers and patients, were hurt, according to the local mayor’s office. A ruined building – which also housed a birthing ward – is shown, with a huge hole nearby.
The Kremlin announced on Thursday that it would seek information from the Russian military about what occurred.
Another seven fatalities were reported in Russian attacks in northeast Ukraine overnight, four of them including two children died near the city of Kharkiv, and three people, including a 13-year-old boy, perished in strikes on Okhtyrka, in the Sumy region.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s vice prime minister has revealed that the country will open seven evacuation routes – including those out of Mariupol and Sumy – on Thursday.
“Frankly… my expectations of the negotiations are modest,” said Mr Kuleba before the meeting in Antalya, southern Turkey.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry said that Kyiv was demanding “an immediate halt to the fighting and Russia’s war against Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, Russia is asking Ukraine to abandon its stated intentions to join the NATO military bloc and become a neutral-status nation. The document also demands that Ukraine accept Moscow’s authority in Crimea, the southern Ukrainian province annexed by Russia in 2014.
Kyiv, on the other hand, wants to preserve its sovereignty and territorial integrity by refusing to recognize two self-declared rebel regions in eastern Ukraine.
The two sides have not been able to reach a compromise, despite numerous previous rounds of talks in recent days. The two warring factions have agreed to set up humanitarian corridors.