LIVE: New Round of Russian-Ukrainian Negotiations

New Round of Russian-Ukrainian Negotiations

Date of the next round of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations announced

A new round of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations is scheduled for March 29-30, head of the Russian delegation Vladimir Medinsky said.

"Another round of talks with Ukraine was held today via videoconference. As a result, it was decided that they will meet in person on March 29-30," Medinsky wrote on his Telegram channel.

The office of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the next meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations will be held in the Turkish city of Istanbul.

"Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed during a telephone conversation that the next meeting of Russian and Ukrainian negotiators will be held in Istanbul," the statement said.

Since February 28, Moscow and Kiev have been holding negotiations on the conflict in Ukraine both in face-to-face format, meeting in Belarus, and by teleconference.

Last Friday, the head of the Russian delegation, who is also a presidential advisor, lamented the lack of progress on the key issues discussed during the negotiations.

NATO Considers Supporting Countries Threatened by Russia

NATO is considering additional measures to support countries that may be "threatened" by Russia, Atlantic Alliance Assistant Secretary for Defense Policy and Planning Patrick Turner said.

"We already take steps to support countries like Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, but we want to consider what more we can do to support countries that may face a Russian threat," Turner told the Doha Forum international conference in Qatar this weekend.

Despite US promises in 1990 that NATO would not expand eastward, the warring bloc broke its commitments in 1999 and incorporated Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic in its first expansionist wave.
In the second wave in 2004 the military organization admitted Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania; and in 2009 it acceded Albania and Croatia.

In early June 2017, NATO incorporated Montenegro despite massive protests by the population of this country. Three years later, North Macedonia joined.

In 2008, the North Atlantic alliance agreed that Ukraine, a country bordering Russia, would join the bloc, although it did not set dates or an action plan to achieve this.

Russia insists that the Atlantic Alliance stop expanding eastward, return to 1997 positions and commit to not admitting into its ranks the nations of the former Soviet Union, first and foremost Ukraine.

Zelenski Says He Needs 1% Of NATO Planes and Tanks

Volodymir Zelensky stated that Ukraine needs at least 1% of the total number of aircraft and tanks that are "covering themselves with dust" in NATO countries.

"That's what our partners have and what is getting covered with dust.... Just 1% of the total number of NATO aircraft and 1% of the total number of NATO tanks, we are not asking for more," he said in a video address posted on his Telegram channel.

As Zelenski stated, the request to supply arms to Kiev is not a position exclusively of Ukraine, but of the "absolute majority of the population of Europe." Zelensky accused the partners of indecision in sending arms to Ukraine.

Number of Refugees from Donetsk and Lugansk keep growing

The number of refugees from Ukraine, Donetsk and Lugansk arriving in Russia reached almost 440,000 with more than 19,000 in the last 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on March 26.

"Only in one day 19,694 people, including 3,300 children, were evacuated from the dangerous areas of Ukraine, Donetsk and Lugansk," said Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Center for Defense Management, attached to the Ministry, in a press appearance.

He said that "since the beginning of the special operation, 439,420 people have been evacuated, 91,673 of them children".

Mizíntsev pointed out that 4,183 civilians were rescued in one day from the city of Mariupol, in the south of Donetsk, where the nationalist troops of the Ukrainian regime entrenched.

The number of those rescued from this city totals 98,081 people to date, he said.

According to their data, more than 2.7 million Ukrainians have asked Russian forces to help them escape from nationalist-controlled cities.

Russian Defense Ministry intercepted encrypted messages containing a secret January order of the Ukrainian National Guard

On March 25, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have intercepted encrypted messages containing a secret January order of the Ukrainian National Guard commander aimed at preparing an offensive in Donbas.

It stressed that the order of the Ukrainian National Guard commander of January 22, 2022 was intended to complete all combat coordination activities of the nationalists by February 28.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24 the launching of a "special military operation" in Ukraine on the grounds that the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, previously recognized by Moscow as sovereign states, need help in the face of "genocide" by Kiev.

One of the key objectives of such an operation, according to Putin, is "demilitarization and denazification" of Ukraine. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the military strikes are not directed against civilian facilities, but are aimed at disabling the war infrastructure.

Ukraine broke diplomatic relations with Russia, imposed martial law throughout the national territory, as well as a curfew in Kiev and other cities, decreed a general mobilization and urged the international community to activate "all possible sanctions" against the Russian leader.

Numerous countries, with exceptions such as China, condemned in strong terms Russia's military operation in Ukraine and activated several batteries of individual and sectoral sanctions.