Lavrov: Putin will not refuse talks with Zelensky

The meeting in Turkey between the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers ended after almost 90 minutes. An agreement is not in sight. The Ukrainian Foreign Minister said he was ready for another talk in this format.

The most important things at a glance:

• Three escape corridors for evacuation of people are also scheduled today, Thursday, from the Sumy region in the northeast of the country. These led from the cities of Trostjanets, Krasnopillja and Sumy in the direction of the central Ukrainian city of Poltava.
• The first meetings at government level since the outbreak of fighting, has ended without result. Dmytro Kuleba and Sergey Lavrov couldn’t agree. More on this [premium]
• For the first time, Russia Talks at the highest political level with Ukraine in prospect. After the unsuccessful talks in Turkey, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Putin would not refuse talks with Ukrainian President Zelensky, to discuss specific issues.
• President of Ukraine Volodymyr Selenskij calls the attack on the maternity hospital in Mariupol a “genocide”. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov once again said: “Russian forces do not shoot at civilian targets.” The situation in Mariupol is becoming increasingly precarious. More on this.

The developments in the Ukraine war in the live ticker