Ukrainian FM says negotiations with Russia are ‘very difficult’

Talks with Moscow are “very difficult,” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba, denying parties have reached any form of the agreement since the armed conflict began a little more than a month ago.

“The negotiation process is very difficult,” the Ukrainian diplomatic chief said in a statement to AFP, denying any “consensus” with Moscow at this stage.

On Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had assured that Russia and Ukraine had agreed on four out of six negotiation points, reports AFP.

This has been denied by the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, who assured the media that “there is no consensus with Russia on the four points mentioned by the President of Turkey,” all while praising Turkey’s “diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the war.”

Kouleba and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov had seen each other in Antalya, Turkey on March 10, at the invitation of Ankara.

According to him, Ankara’s “classification” of key topics of negotiations into four or more points “is incorrect,” he said in the statement.

“Many different issues are discussed at the same time in the subgroups of delegations,” he added.

“Ukraine will continue its dialogue with Turkey and other stakeholders in order to restore peace on Ukrainian soil,” Kouleba finally said.

The head of Ukrainian diplomacy repeated the “strong position” and ”requirements” of Kiev to reach an agreement with Moscow, demanding “a ceasefire, security guarantees and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” but also that “the Ukrainian language is and remains the only state language in Ukraine.”