Zelenskiy open to ‘genuine’ talks with Moscow By Reuters

(Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was open to talks with Russia, but only “genuine” negotiations that would restore Ukraine’s borders, grant it compensation for Russian attacks and punish those responsible for war crimes.

DIPLOMACY

* A senior adviser to Zelenskiy said Ukraine had never refused to negotiate with Russia and was ready for talks with its future leader but not with Vladimir Putin. The comments by Mykhailo Podolyak followed a Washington Post report saying the Biden administration was privately encouraging Ukraine’s leaders to signal an openness to negotiate.

* White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan has been engaged in confidential talks with senior Russian officials aimed at lowering the risk of a broader war over Ukraine, a source familiar with the conversations said.

* Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson will seek Turkey’s approval for his country’s bid to join NATO during talks on Tuesday in Ankara with President Tayyip Erdogan, who has stalled the process and accused Sweden of harbouring militants.

* Chinese authorities behind a major trade expo in Shanghai pulled an opening ceremony address by the European Council president that was set to criticise Russia’s “illegal war” in Ukraine, diplomats said.

FIGHTING, CONFLICT

* Zelenskiy said the Donetsk region in the east remained the “epicentre” of fighting, with hundreds of Russians being killed every day.

* Ukraine has received its first delivery of NASAMS and Apside air defence systems, Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said.

* Putin said that 50,000 Russian soldiers called up as part of his mobilisation drive were now fighting with combat units in Ukraine, the Interfax news agency reported.

* Russia’s defence ministry took the rare step of denying allegations that a naval infantry unit had suffered disastrous losses of men and equipment in a futile offensive in eastern Ukraine.

QUOTES

“Negotiating with Putin would mean giving up, and we would never give him this gift… The Russian army will leave Ukrainian territory, and then dialogue will come,” Zelenskiy adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in an interview with Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper published on Tuesday.