German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at a press conference following his meeting with Russian President Vladimir PutinBERLIN, March 9< /strong>Kyiv turned to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for help in organizing a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Igor Zhovkva told the German television program Tagesschau. «The only serious negotiations that can be held with the Russians would be possible at the presidential level. My president is ready for this. International partners should help us organize such a meeting. We are talking with the German chancellor to organize such a meeting,» Zhovkva said. Zelensky's deputy head added that the condition for starting negotiations is «withdrawal of Russian troops, ceasefire.» . «These are the first conditions that must be met. For the rest … we can discuss what a possible neutral status of Ukraine might look like. But such negotiations and a possible agreement can take place only after the end of hostilities,» Zhovkva told Russia and Ukraine earlier 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. 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 the occupation of Ukraine is out of the question, the President of Russia emphasized.
