Istanbul/Kyiv, March 29 (AFP/APP):Ukrainian and Russian negotiators held face-to-face talks in Istanbul on Tuesday as Ukraine resumed evacuations from territory occupied by Russian forces and clung on in the besieged city of Mariupol.
The talks were taking place with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in attendance and under the shadow of shock allegations that delegates were poisoned at a previous round of negotiations.
Erdogan called on the delegations to “put an end to this tragedy,” saying both Russia and Ukraine both have “legitimate concerns” ahead of the meeting at the Dolmabahce Palace.
It is now more than a month since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s tanks rolled into Ukraine, hoping to cripple or oust the democratic government in Kyiv.
The fighting has already forced more than 10 million from their homes and according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has killed an estimated 20,000 people.
The prospects of a peaceful end to the war — or an imminent victory for either side — appear faint.
On the edge of the suburban town of Irpin to the northwest of Kyiv, AFP reporters on Tuesday heard the sound of sporadic shell fire, a day after Ukrainian forces said they had recaptured the town.
“In my opinion, maybe some 70-80 percent (of the town) is free, while the outskirts are taken” by Russians, said Irpin resident Roman Kovalevskyi, 48, who was cycling out of the town to get supplies from Kyiv.