{"id":3064,"date":"2022-03-30T07:45:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T07:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linksus.net\/ukraine-russia-negotiations-suggest-progress-but-west-is-skeptical-the-washington-post\/"},"modified":"2022-03-30T07:45:00","modified_gmt":"2022-03-30T07:45:00","slug":"ukraine-russia-negotiations-suggest-progress-but-west-is-skeptical-the-washington-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/2022\/03\/30\/ukraine-russia-negotiations-suggest-progress-but-west-is-skeptical-the-washington-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine-Russia negotiations suggest progress but West is skeptical – The Washington Post"},"content":{"rendered":"

ISTANBUL \u2014 Ukrainian negotiators in Turkey said Tuesday they had offered a detailed peace proposal to their Russian counterparts, exchanging military neutrality for security guarantees, as Moscow said it would \u201cdrastically reduce\u201d military activity near the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv \u201cto increase mutual trust and create the necessary conditions for further negotiations.\u201d
The declarations signaled a rare moment of optimism nearly five weeks into the bloody invasion. But U.S. and other Western leaders were skeptical, saying they would judge Russia by its actions and not its words. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Russia\u2019s movement of troops away from Kyiv appeared to be minimal, and numerous explosions were heard in the city Tuesday night.
\u201cWe\u2019re not convinced that the threat to the capital city has been radically diminished,\u201d Kirby said.
The centerpiece of the Ukrainian proposal was a pledge that the country would give up its bid to join NATO in exchange for a security system guaranteed by international partners including the United States, Turkey and others. Ukrainian negotiators likened the offer to Article 5 of NATO\u2019s charter, which ensures the alliance\u2019s collective defense.
The guarantor parties \u2014 including European countries, Canada and Israel \u2014 would provide Ukraine with military assistance and weapons if it were attacked, the negotiators said. Ukraine, in turn, would ensure it remained \u201cnonaligned and nonnuclear,\u201d although it would retain the right to join the European Union.
The Ukrainian proposal also offered a 15-year timeline for negotiations with Russia over the status of Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.
Read the latest news from Ukraine<\/a><\/span>
Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey\u2019s foreign minister, said the discussions amounted to <\/b>\u201cthe most meaningful progress since the start of negotiations.\u201d Vladimir Medinsky, Russia\u2019s lead negotiator, characterized the talks to reporters afterward as a \u201csubstantive conversation.\u201d In separate comments, however, he left open the possibility of additional attacks in northern Ukraine.
\u201cDe-escalation in the Kyiv and Chernihiv directions does not mean a cease-fire,\u201d Medinsky said, according to Russia\u2019s state-run Tass news agency. \u201cThere is still a long way to go to prepare an agreement between Russia and Ukraine on mutually acceptable terms. The Russian Federation will put forward counter-initiatives after studying Ukraine\u2019s proposals.\u201d
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said late Tuesday that news from the negotiations was \u201cpositive\u201d but that Kyiv has \u201cno reason to trust\u201d Moscow\u2019s claim that it will curtail its attacks. \u201cThese signals do not silence the explosion of Russian shells,\u201d he said in his nightly video address.
The Kremlin also signaled it will keep fighting for Mariupol, a key southern port city, saying that unless \u201cUkrainian nationalist militants\u201d stop resisting and lay down their arms, it will be difficult to \u201cresolve the acute humanitarian situation\u201d there.
Reaction from the United States was mixed, even as Moscow\u2019s pledge to reduce military activity prompted a drop in oil prices and boosted U.S. stock markets<\/a>.
President Biden, speaking at the White House, said that he and other world leaders were waiting to see what Russia does next, and would keep pressuring Moscow through economic sanctions and by sending aid to Ukraine.
\u201cWe\u2019ll find out what they do, but, in the meantime, we\u2019re going to keep strong the sanctions,\u201d Biden said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to continue to provide the Ukrainian military with the capacity to defend themselves, and we\u2019re going to continue to keep a close eye on what\u2019s going on.\u201d
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking at a news conference with his Moroccan counterpart in Rabat, the Moroccan capital, said Russia\u2019s brutal, month-old military offensive has left little room for optimism. \u201cThere is what Russia says and what Russia does,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re focused on the latter, and what Russia has been doing is the brutalization of Ukraine and its people.\u201d
The governor of the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv said that the regional administration building was struck by a missile Tuesday morning, marking the largest Russian attack on the city\u2019s downtown since the start of the war.
Mykolaiv, a city of about 500,000 some 70 miles from Odessa on Ukraine\u2019s Black Sea coast, has held the front line against Russian forces for weeks. The Ukrainian military\u2019s stand there has delayed any plans for the strategic port of Odessa, which hasn\u2019t faced a major attack since the start of the war.
Vitaliy Kim, the governor of the broader Mykolaiv region, shared a photo of the government building, where his office is located, on his Telegram channel. There was a large hole through the center of the structure. Rescue operations were ongoing, Kim said, but most people who work there already had been evacuated. Eight civilians and three soldiers were reported missing.
\u201cThey waited until people got to work to hit it,\u201d Kim said on Telegram. \u201cAnd I overslept.\u201d
North of Kyiv, Ukrainian soldiers working in dusty trenches told a small group of visiting reporters that there had been shelling a few days earlier, but the area had been largely quiet for the previous two days. More than 95 percent of Irpin, a Kyiv suburb, is now under Ukrainian control, said Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, the commander overseeing the defense of Kyiv.
Ukrainian forces have pushed toward the borders of the Chernihiv and Zhytomyr regions, north and west of Kyiv, he said. Chernihiv has come under intense Russian attack in recent weeks, with power largely cut off.
Ukrainian military officials said in a Facebook post that it appeared Russian troops north of Kyiv had pulled back north to Chernobyl and into Belarus to \u201crestore combat capability.\u201d The officials warned, however, that once Russia completes \u201cthe regrouping and strengthening of troops,\u201d the actions against Kyiv could resume.
The Pentagon\u2019s <\/b>top officer overseeing U.S. troops in Europe, Gen. Tod D. Wolters, said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday that he could verify reports of Russian forces pulling back in the area around Kyiv. But at a briefing for reporters later in the day, Kirby suggested Russia was carrying out a repositioning, not a \u201creal withdrawal.\u201d
\u201cNo amount of spin can mask what the world has witnessed over the past month, and that\u2019s the courage and the military prowess of Ukraine\u2019s armed forces and its people, which are proving to be more than Russia bargained for in its unprovoked and unjustified invasion,\u201d Kirby said.
How Ukraine’s internet is still working despite bombs and cyberattacks<\/a><\/span>
The Pentagon is again adding U.S. troops in Eastern Europe, Kirby said, redeploying several hundred Marines who had just concluded a training exercise in Norway to Lithuania and possibly other countries. The group includes about 10 F\/A-18 jets, C-130 cargo planes and other equipment, he added.
Before Tuesday\u2019s talks, Russia and Ukraine had sought to temper expectations of a breakthrough, after previous talks <\/b>failed to produce an agreement. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the delegations from Ukraine and Russia the he hoped the negotiations would lead to a cease-fire, saying \u201cthe whole world is waiting for benevolent and good news from you.\u201d
Outside the palace, the international press corps, barred from the meeting hall, crowded on a narrow sidewalk, perching laptops on shrubbery and watching convoys roll in. Inside the hall, a sighting of Roman Abramovich, a Russian oligarch who faces sanctions in Europe, added to the intrigue: A day earlier, an associate of his said the oligarch suspected he was poisoned at a previous round of talks, along with members of the Ukrainian delegation.
The Kremlin denied any connection to the alleged incident, which has not been independently confirmed by The Washington Post. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the allegation as \u201cpart of the information sabotage\u201d of the West. But in comments to a Ukrainian news channel, Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine\u2019s foreign minister, <\/b>advised anyone at the negotiations \u201cnot to eat or drink anything, and preferably avoid touching any surface.\u201d
Ukraine warns negotiating team not to eat, drink or touch anything during talks in Istanbul<\/a><\/span>
In comments to reporters, Ukrainian delegates said that any agreement struck with Moscow would be subject to a popular referendum. Some of the thorniest issues, including the status of Ukrainian regions occupied by Russia, would have to be worked out by Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, they said.
But Ukrainian negotiators suggested the day\u2019s events had provided a possible path forward.
Oleksandr Chaly, a member of Ukraine\u2019s delegation, said talks with Russia would continue in the next two weeks. Consultations have already begun with the guarantor countries, which could be invited to send representatives to the upcoming negotiations, he said.
After the Ukrainian and Russian leaders reached a \u201cfinal agreement,\u201d they would hold a multilateral conference where a deal would be signed, Chaly said.
Diplomacy faced new challenges elsewhere, as several European Union countries announced the expulsion of Russian diplomats.
Belgium expelled 21 Russian diplomats based in the embassy in Brussels and the consulate in Antwerp, the country\u2019s Foreign Ministry said. The ministry said the individuals were working for Russian intelligence services.
The Netherlands expelled 17 Russian diplomats for allegedly using diplomatic cover to do intelligence work. Ireland said it had asked four Russian diplomats to leave, saying their conduct was not in accordance with international standards of diplomatic behavior.
Stern reported from Mukachevo, Ukraine; Lamothe from Washington; and Khurshudyan from Odessa, Ukraine. Siobh\u00e1n O\u2019Grady in Kyiv; John Hudson in Rabat, Morocco; Robyn Dixon in Riga, Latvia; Hannah Knowles and Reis Thebault in Washington; Quentin Aries and Emily Rauhala in Brussels; and Annabelle Timsit and Zeynep Karatas in Istanbul contributed to this report.<\/i>
The latest: <\/b>After a day of talks, Ukrainian negotiators outlined some proposals that Russia said it would look into \u2014 and Moscow said it would \u201cdrastically reduce\u201d military activity near Kyiv and Chernihiv <\/a>\u201cin order to increase mutual trust and create the necessary conditions for further negotiations.\u201d
The fight: <\/b>Nearly five weeks into their invasion, Russian forces continue to mount sporadic attacks<\/a> on civilian targets in a number of Ukrainian cities. Russia has been accused of committing war crimes<\/a>.
The weapons: <\/b>Ukraine is making use of weapons such as Javelin antitank missiles<\/a> and Switchblade \u201ckamikaze\u201d drones<\/a>, provided by the United States and other allies. Russia has used an array of weapons<\/a> against Ukraine, some of which have drawn the attention and concern of analysts.
In Russia: <\/b>Putin has locked down the flow of information within Russia, where the war isn\u2019t even being called a war<\/a>. The last independent newsletter in Russia suspended its operations<\/a> Monday.
Photos: <\/b>Post photographers have been on the ground from the very beginning of the war \u2014 here\u2019s some of their most powerful work<\/a>.
How you can help:<\/b> Here are ways those in the U.S. can help support the Ukrainian people<\/a> as well as what people around the world have been donating<\/a>.
Read our full coverage of the <\/i>Russia-Ukraine crisis<\/i><\/a>. Are you on Telegram? <\/i>Subscribe to our channel<\/i><\/a> for updates and exclusive video.<\/i>
News\u2022<\/span>
News\u2022<\/span><\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ISTANBUL \u2014 Ukrainian negotiators in Turkey said Tuesday they had offered a detailed peace proposal to their Russian counterparts, exchanging military neutrality for security guarantees, as Moscow said it would \u201cdrastically reduce\u201d military activity near the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv \u201cto increase mutual trust and create the necessary conditions for further negotiations.\u201dThe declarations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":869,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3064"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/869"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3064\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}