Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said this Wednesday (16) that parts of the negotiated agreement with Ukraine are close to being closed and that Kiev’s neutrality is one of the main conditions presented by Vladimir Putin to end the war. , is being seriously discussed.
“Negotiations are not easy for obvious reasons,” the diplomat, who has headed the Russian Foreign Ministry for nearly two decades, told broadcaster RBC. “However, there is some hope of reaching a compromise, and the neutrality status is being seriously discussed.”
Lavrov’s remarks come hours after measured optimism was also displayed on the Ukrainian side. President Volodymyr Zelensky said this Tuesday night (15) that the negotiation, in recent days, has become more realistic.
Earlier, Zelensky gave yet another signal that goes against Moscow’s interests: he said that the country could stay out of NATO, the 30-member military alliance led by the United States.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson also made a similar statement. According to the British newspaper The Guardian, Boris confirmed that “there is no way Ukraine will join NATO anytime soon”. “Everyone said nothing, and we made that clear to Putin.”
The country’s neutrality, so as not to join NATO or the European Union (EU), as well as the recognition of the annexed Crimea and the independence of the so-called breakaway republics of Donbass are the main demands put on the table by Putin.
Lavrov approached them again when he suggested a deal might be on the way. The Russian said the security of people in eastern Ukraine – which are mostly ethnic Russians -, the demilitarization of the country and the rights of Russian-speaking people were key issues.
The Kremlin also suggested that Ukraine could follow models of neutrality similar to countries like Sweden and Austria. With a policy of non-interference in the military conflicts of third states, the two nations are in the western geopolitical scope —they are part of the EU—, but they are not in the ranks of NATO.
Despite diplomatic signals, the attacks continued, especially in two of the largest cities, Kiev and Kharkiv, on Wednesday morning, dawn in Brazil. In the capital, two people were injured and 37 were evacuated after a residential building was attacked.
In Kharkiv, in the east, at least two people died after an attack on a residential area. Rescue teams were working to put out the fire, and a school was also reportedly bombed shortly before, according to local authorities.
Attacks also persist in Mariupol, a port city whose conquest is strategic for Russia to establish a land bridge linking Crimea to Russia’s east of Ukraine.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said Russian troops are under control of a hospital in the city where they are holding 400 staff and patients hostage, information that, however, could not be independently confirmed.
Zelensky will make a virtual speech to the US Congress later this Wednesday morning, when he is expected to ask for greater international support with weapons for Kiev and sanctions for Moscow.
Hours later, US President Joe Biden is expected to announce additional aid of US$800 million (R$4.1 billion) to the Eastern European country, to be spent mainly on security.
The conflict is still on the agenda of the International Court of Justice, the highest court of the United Nations, which must decide this Wednesday afternoon on an emergency agenda presented by Ukraine to stop the Russian military invasion, on its 21st day.
Kiev filed the demand shortly after the start of the war on February 24, arguing that the Russian claim that there is genocide in eastern Ukraine, used to justify the action, is unfounded.
While the court’s decisions are binding — with countries being obliged to follow what is decided within their scope — there are no direct means of enforcing them.
