(VOVWORLD) - Senior Ukrainian negotiators offered to hold special talks with Russia in Mariupol on Wednesday, without conditions in a bid to evacuate troops and civilians from the besieged port city.
 Talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, Turkey March 29, 2022. (photo: Xinhua News Agency/VNA) |
David Arakhamia, a member of the Ukrainian negotiating team, said that Kiev proposed direct talks with Russia. He confirmed that the Ukrainian side is ready to talk at any time, once it receives Russia’s reply.
Also on Wednesday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his readiness to exchange prisoners with Russia to get people out of the city of Mariupol.
Earlier the same day, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that Kiev and Moscow reached a preliminary agreement on the establishment of a humanitarian corridor to evacuate women, children, and elderly people from Mariupol, an important port city by the Azov Sea in southern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the outcome of negotiations with Ukraine depends on Ukraine's readiness to consider Moscow's demands.