Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday dismissed Kyiv’s proposal to hold peace talks in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol and said it was too early to talk about who would mediate any negotiations.
Lavrov, speaking after a meeting with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in Moscow, said Russia was committed to a diplomatic solution via talks on Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol had been “liberated” and that no military operations were underway there, the Kremlin said, directly contradicting Kyiv’s version of events.
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The Kremlin said Putin told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Kyiv should “take responsibility” for the people holed up in Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant, and call on fighters there to lay down their arms.
“Prisoners of war are guaranteed life, medical care and treatment in accordance with international legal standards,” the Kremlin said in a statement on the call.
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