Moscow approach to peace talks becoming “more constructive”, says Zelensky representative

Delegations from Russia and Ukraine held a fourth round of peace talks on Monday, aiming for  a ceasefire, the withdrawal of Russian troops, and security guarantees for Ukraine. Ihor Zhovkva, deputy head of office for Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, told the BBC that Moscow’s approach was becoming “more constructive”, “instead of giving us an ultimatum or red lines or asking Ukraine to capitulate”. Talks between the two sides are set to resume on Tuesday.

Still, Euronews reported a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said that to take over major cities in Ukraine the Kremlin was not ruling out launching full military assaults – although according to the BBC “Moscow had planned to avoid civilian casualties and to refrain from storming major population centres, including Kyiv”.

Russian assaults on numerous cities in Ukraine continued on Monday, with a rocket attack on a television tower in the western village of Antopol killing nine people, and an airstrike in Kyiv’s downtown area Monday killing one and wounding six others. Russia’s defence ministry alleged that 20 people had been killed and nine wounded in a missile strike in the Donetsk region, an incident which the BBC said it had not been able to independently verify.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera writes that more than 160 civilian cars were able to leave via an evacuation corridor in the heavily besieged city of Mariupol, where residents have been trapped without basic necessities for days.

High-level talks were held between the US and China on Monday, with Washington raising security concerns with Beijing over the prospect of China providing support to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Earlier, the US said that Russia had already appealed for such help from Beijing, an accusation which China labelled disinformation.

A fourth European Union sanctions package against Moscow is in the works, the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday, targeting “Russia’s market access, membership in international financial institutions, and steel and energy sectors”, according to Euronews. Borrell said the coercive measures would further undermine the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, economically and logistically.

Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki proposed on Monday that the frozen assets of Russian state organisations and oligarchs should be used to set up an aid fund for Ukraine: “Freeze the assets of the Russian state completely, confiscate it. Freeze the assets of Russian oligarchs, big and small, businessmen and politicians. Let them serve the people, the unarmed victims of Putin’s regime.”

Source: Euronews, Al Jazeera, BBC