Talks with Ukraine continue but no deal yet, says Russia

The Kremlin yesterday said Russia was putting “colossal” energy into talks on a possible peace deal with Ukraine but did not see such “zeal” from Kyiv, and agreement had yet to be reached.
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said talks were continuing and Russian negotiators were ready to work around the clock.
“Our delegation is putting in colossal effort,” Peskov told reporters. “I repeat again, our delegation...is ready to work around the clock and has demonstrated such readiness — but unfortunately we don’t see such zeal from the Ukrainian side.”
Ukraine says it is willing to negotiate to end the three-week-old war that erupted after Russia invaded its neighbour, but will not surrender or accept Russian ultimatums.
“Negotiations are complicated. The positions of the parties are different. For us, fundamental issues are inviolable,” presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in a tweet.
Russia’s invasion has killed thousands of people, displaced more than 3mn and raised fears of a wider confrontation between Russia and the US, the world’s two biggest nuclear powers.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Putin yesterday he would be happy to host him and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy for talks.
The Russian foreign ministry yesterday added that a Ukrainian allegation that the Russian air force had bombed a theatre in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol was a lie and that the truth would emerge despite what it called attempts to frame Moscow.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry on Wednesday alleged that Russian forces had dropped a powerful bomb on the theatre where hundreds of civilians were sheltering in the encircled Ukrainian city and accused Moscow of committing a war crime.
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry, told a briefing yesterday that Kyiv was trying to frame Russia.
“The Kyiv regime immediately tried to blame the Russian military, who, in its view, allegedly dropped a bomb from the air on the theatre,” said Zakharova. “Of course, this is a lie. It is well known to everyone that the Russian armed forces do not bomb cities. No matter how many videos are doctored by Nato structures and how many video clips and photo fakes are pumped out, the truth will come out.”

Biden, Xi to speak today
US President Joe Biden will today hold a call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, as Washington piles pressure on China to not support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a step that would dramatically widen the gulf between Beijing and Western governments. The call, announced by the White House yesterday, comes at a pivotal moment in US-China relations and in Ukraine, where heavily outnumbered local forces have prevented Moscow from capturing any of the country’s biggest cities so far. The Biden administration has issued public and private warnings that Beijing would face dire consequences if it provides material support to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war. Biden and Xi “will discuss managing the competition between our two countries as well as Russia’s war against Ukraine and other issues of mutual concern,” as part of an ongoing effort to keep lines of communication open, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.