Kyiv/ANKARA (dpa-AFX) – Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba arrived in Antalya, Turkey, on Wednesday evening, where he intends to discuss options for ending the war in Ukraine with his Russian colleague Sergei Lavrov on Thursday. This was announced by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko on Facebook in the evening. The talks between the two ministers and their Turkish colleague Mevlt Cavusoglu are scheduled to begin on Thursday morning.
As a condition for a cessation of fighting, Russia is demanding that Ukraine declare itself neutral in its constitution. In addition, Kyiv must recognize the annexed Black Sea peninsula of Crimea as Russian and the separatist areas as independent. Although Ukraine has largely rejected this so far, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has shown himself willing to talk and recently indicated a certain willingness to compromise.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, also announced on Wednesday evening that he would travel to the Turkish city. After a series of incidents at Ukrainian nuclear facilities since the beginning of the Russian invasion, Grossi proposed on Friday negotiations between Ukrainian and Russian officials on security guarantees for nuclear power plants and other nuclear-related facilities in order to avoid a serious nuclear accident. It was initially not known whether Grossi would speak to the chief diplomats of the warring parties or whether representatives of the nuclear authorities from Kyiv and Moscow would also be present