Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky during a Normandy Format meeting at the Elysee Palace MOSCOW, March 9Deputy head of Vladimir Zelensky's office, Igor Zhovkva, said that Kyiv is ready for a diplomatic settlement of the situation around Ukraine and for direct negotiations between Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. «Of course, we are ready for a diplomatic settlement,» the Ukrainian official answered a question in an interview with Bloomberg TV whether there is a diplomatic solution to the situation around Ukraine.
Erdogan conveyed to Putin Zelensky's intention to meet in Turkey «We are ready to talk with the Russian Federation on a wide range of issues,» Zhovkva stressed. He added that the fact that Volodymyr Zelensky is «ready for a direct dialogue with President Putin» is very important. In his opinion, direct contact between Zelensky and Putin is necessary «to end the terrible war.» At the same time, he stressed that the main condition for Kyiv to conduct these negotiations is a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine had previously held three rounds of negotiations. During the second round, the parties reached an understanding on the joint provision of humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of citizens, the delivery of food and medicine, but the humanitarian corridors did not fully work. On the sidelines of the Diplomatic Forum in Antalya on Thursday, a contact is planned between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba with the participation of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said earlier at a briefing in Moscow. Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24 . President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Armed Forces strike only at the military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops, nothing threatens the civilian population. With the support of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the DPR and LPR groups are developing an offensive. But there is no talk of the occupation of Ukraine, the Russian president emphasized.The development of the situation is in the online report>>
Azarov doubted the possibility of a conversation between Putin and Zelensky
