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The foreign minister of Ukraine expressed a strong desire to physically confront his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, during their initial meeting at the start of Moscow’s invasion.
During an hour-long informal interview published on Monday, Dmytro Kuleba shared his thoughts with a Ukrainian video blogger.
The minister expressed that the toughest discussions are the ones where you have the urge to physically harm the other party, but you are unable to act on that impulse.
“I can confirm that this happened on two or three occasions. One of these instances was when I was with Lavrov in the Turkish resort of Antalya in the spring of 2022,” he stated.
Shortly after Russia deployed troops into Ukraine in February 2002, delegations from Ukrainian and Russian ministers engaged in multiple rounds of discussions.
The initial discussions took place near the border of Ukraine and Belarus, followed by a subsequent round of talks in Turkey.
During that period, Mr. Kuleba characterized the discussions in Turkey as challenging. He also disclosed that the negotiators deliberated on implementing a ceasefire and establishing humanitarian corridors.
Russian authorities in Moscow confiscated Mr. Kuleba’s statement expressing a desire to physically harm Mr. Lavrov, seeing it as a possible chance for propaganda. Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry, stated that this displayed Ukraine being governed by “uneducated, hostile individuals” in remarks published by the Russian newspaper Izvestia.
There have been no further discussions since the meetings in Turkey. The administration of Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that it will not agree to a ceasefire or peace deal that permits Russia to maintain control over any seized territory during the ongoing two-year conflict.
Instead, Ukraine has introduced its own 10-point proposal for peace which stipulates the repatriation of all Ukrainian land, including the Crimean peninsula that was unlawfully taken over by Russia in 2014.
Source: independent.co.uk
