Peace talks to be held today in Russia-Ukraine crisis

Agencies | Ankara

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Ukraine’s priorities at the Ukrainian-Russian talks in Turkey this week will be “sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Zelensky told his nation Sunday in his nightly address.

“We are looking for peace, really, without delay,” he said. “There is an opportunity and a need for a face-to-face meeting in Turkey.”

Zelensky also signed a law Sunday that bans reporting on troop and equipment movements that haven’t been announced or approved by the military. Journalists who violate the law could face three to eight years in prison. The law does not differentiate between Ukrainian and foreign reporters. Ukraine says that to defeat Russia, the West must provide fighter jets and not just missiles and other military equipment. A proposal to transfer Polish planes to Ukraine via the United States was scrapped amid NATO concerns about being drawn into direct fighting.

In his pointed remarks, Zelensky accused Western governments of being “afraid to prevent this tragedy. Afraid to simply make a decision.”

His plea was echoed Sunday by a priest in the western city of Lviv, which was struck by rockets a day earlier. The aerial assault illustrated that Moscow, despite assertions that it intends to shift the war eastward, is willing to strike anywhere in Ukraine.

“When diplomacy doesn’t work, we need military support,” said the Rev. Yuri Vaskiv, who said fearful parishioners were staying away from his Greek Catholic church.

In his video address, Zelensky angrily warned Moscow that it was sowing a deep hatred for Russia among Ukrainians.

“You are doing everything so that our people themselves leave the Russian language, because the Russian language will now be associated only with you, with your explosions and murders, your crimes,” Zelensky said.

Along with the millions of people who have fled Ukraine, the assault has driven more than 10 million people from their homes, almost one-quarter of Ukraine’s population. Thousands of civilians are believed to have been killed.

The Ukrainian foreign legion’s only requirement to join is military or firearms experience, according to representatives of the website fightforua.org, which is helping organize the effort.

Other webpages set up for Brazilians rallying to the cause have hundreds of members, such as Portuguese-language Facebook group “Volunteers to Fight in Ukraine,” with 1,800.

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators will resume face-to-face peace talks Monday, probing whether a near-stalemate in fighting has forced Moscow to temper its demands.

President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the new negotiations, saying he hoped they would bring peace “without delay”, and lamented a month-long Russian assault that has already killed thousands and devastated numerous Ukrainian cities.

At the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday night, attendees expressed support for Ukraine by going silent for 30 seconds.

A tribute that started with words from the Ukrainian-born Mila Kunis ended with the Academy Awards fading to black about midway through the show, with a plea for anyone watching to do whatever possible to send help to those in the war-torn nation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the West of cowardice Sunday while another top official said Russia was trying to split the nation in two, like North and South Korea.

Zelensky made an exasperated plea for fighter jets and tanks to sustain a defence as his country continues battling Russia’s attacking troops. Russia now says its main focus is on taking control of the eastern Donbas region, an apparent pullback from its earlier, more expansive goals, but one which is raising fears of a divided Ukraine.

Speaking after US President Joe Biden said in a lacerating speech that Russian President Vladimir Putin could not stay in power — words the White House immediately sought to downplay — Zelensky lashed out at the West’s “ping-pong about who and how should hand over jets” and other weapons while Russian missile attacks kill and trap civilians.