By Afshain Afzal
Over one and a half hour hot talks between Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, and Foreign Minister of Ukrainian Dmytro Kuleba left a lot of hopes. As the meeting was not for a discussion on a cease-fire but to frame the issues. A single main demand from Moscow was, "Legal assurances that Ukraine will never join NATO". On the other hand Ukrainian Foreign Minister made it very clear to Moscow that the Ukrainian nation is not impressed by Russian illegal occupation, "I want to repeat that Ukraine has not surrendered, does not surrender, and will not surrender," said Dmytro Kuleba .
Western media claimed that Russo-Ukraine talks brooked by Turkey have ended in failure as there is no commitment with regard to progress on agreeing a cease-fire or safe passage for civilians. In fact, Ukraine’s proposal for a 24-hour cease-fire was not agreed upon by Russia on the plea that unless Ukraine meets all the demands there will be no ceasefire or withdrawal. One interesting thing did happen was that the that Russian Foreign Minister claimed that he was not in a position to authorize any kind of agreement on a cease-fire, “there are other decision-makers on this matter". The Russian side in a carefully crafted diplomatic statement said, "President Vladimir Putin would not refuse a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy to discuss specific issues".
The message from Moscow to is quite loud and clear that President Vladimir Putin is ready to discuss the issues with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Earlier, Washington termed Russian invasion of Ukraine barbaric and European Union Commission termed it inhuman, cruel and tragic act. At the United Nation Organization forum not much is expected as the Veto power by Russia would fail any move. Now the only hope is Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who was able to pave path of peace in the first round of Russo-Ukraine Antalya talks and next move is direct talks between the President of Russia and Ukraine, which Moscow announced in principle at the Thursday's meeting. Let us wait and see for peace.