Marwa Shaheen - Broadcast:

Bilateral talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ukrainian counterpart Dmitro Kuleba began today, Thursday, amid tension due to the continuation of clashes on the ground despite the announced truce to evacuate civilians in 6 burning fighting areas.

“We support any contacts with Kyiv in order to achieve a settlement,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

He said: We stressed during the talks that Moscow’s initiative to open humanitarian corridors in Ukraine on a daily basis still exists.

He stressed that Russia did not attack Ukraine and did not plan to attack other countries, but it faced a situation that threatens its security.

He said at a press conference: Those who supply Ukraine with weapons and mercenaries must understand the seriousness of what they are doing

“We will get through this crisis and we will no longer have any illusions that the West can be a reliable partner,” he added

And he said; We discussed the possibility of arranging a meeting between Putin and Zelensky, but the meeting should not be for the sake of meeting only

confirmed; We want Ukraine to be neutral and are ready to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine as well as security guarantees for European countries and for Russia.

As Lavrov said, the West only wants Ukraine to be a country that works against everything that is Russian.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba said today, Thursday, that his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, was not ready for talks and would return to his officials in Moscow, stating, “I assumed that Lavrov had the authority to make decisions.” Lavrov said that he informed the Ukrainian side that Moscow is waiting for a response. for its proposals for a solution.

During his press conference in conjunction with his Ukrainian counterpart, Lavrov accused Kyiv of using civilians as human shields, stressing that there is no alternative to diplomacy to resolve the crisis over Ukraine.

Kuleba said that he made every effort with Lavrov to find a solution to the crisis, pointing out that it was agreed with him to continue efforts to resolve humanitarian issues.

On Thursday, the two ministers held face-to-face talks in southern Turkey, the first high-level contact between Kyiv and Moscow since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine two weeks ago.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has sought Turkey to play a mediating role, hoped the talks would be able to avert the tragedy caused by the Russian-Ukrainian war.

at the same time; Analysts fear there are slim chances of a breakthrough at the meeting.

Ukrainian officials, including Ukraine’s defense minister, held a series of meetings with a Russian delegation in Belarus. These talks were largely devoted to humanitarian issues, but Moscow did not send any ministers to the talks.

Lavrov and Kuleba will be joined at the meeting by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

The Ukrainian side is not optimistic.

Before the meeting, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the success of the talks will depend on the instructions and directions that Lavrov is subject to from the Kremlin in the discussions.

“I don’t place any high hopes on them, but we will try to make the most of the talks through effective preparation,” he said.

Lavrov’s visit to Turkey breaks Russian isolation:

Lavrov’s visit to Antalya is the first foreign trip he has made since the Western world isolated Russia with harsh sanctions targeting senior Russian officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed that Lavrov will attend the meeting, which will be on the sidelines of a diplomatic forum organized by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Antalya.

Turkey plays the role of a cautious mediator:

In this context, Erdogan said Wednesday, “We are working to stop this crisis from turning into a tragedy,” adding, “I hope that the meeting between ministers will open the way for a permanent ceasefire.”

Turkey is a traditional ally of Ukraine and has provided Kyiv with Bayraktar drones, which Kyiv has used in the conflict with Russian forces, but it is trying to maintain good relations with Russia, on which Turkey relies heavily for gas imports and tourism revenues.

Erdogan described the Russian invasion as unacceptable, but at the same time Ankara did not join Western sanctions against Moscow and refused to close its airspace to Russian aircraft.

The Russian war on Ukraine, which began on February 24, aroused widespread international condemnation and led to the imposition of financial sanctions on Moscow, and stimulated the exodus of international companies from Russia, which has become mired in the torrent of Western economic sanctions.

The repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian war extend beyond the borders of Europe:

In addition to the Russian-Ukrainian war returning the specter of war to the European continent, it caused a large wave of displacement to the European Union countries, and ignited tension between the traditional rivals Russia and the United States of America, and this tension led to returning the world again to the state of the Cold War that ended since Three decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Russian bombing of a Ukrainian nuclear power plant also led to a new threat to the world from nuclear danger, and this has not happened almost since the Cuban missile crisis between the United States of America and the Soviet Union in 1962 during the Cold War.

The repercussions of the war on bread and oil:

in context; The World Trade Organization has warned of a rise in wheat prices globally, as a result of the repercussions of the Russian war in Ukraine, and Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Uyala, stressed on Friday that the war in Ukraine will have “significant repercussions” on wheat prices, which the country is a source his main, and thus bread.

An economic expert warned of the repercussions of high oil prices due to the repercussions of the war on global markets, and said that the rise of a barrel of oil to the level of $ 120 a barrel and its stay at this level for a long time will lead to a collapse in the markets, said expert Alexander Timofeev, assistant professor of economics at the Russian Plekhanov University of Economics: “The fact that oil prices remain at the level of $120 per barrel for a long period of time will lead to further development of oil fields, which will contribute to the formation of a surplus in the oil market and over time the collapse of this market.” The global economy is still suffering from the effects of the Corona pandemic.