Ukraine-Russia negotiations suspended: Kyiv and Moscow blame each other

Created: 05/18/2022, 05:38

By: Patrick Mayer, Fabian Müller

Kyiv and Moscow suspend peace talks after hundreds of Mariupol soldiers are captured by Russian troops.

The ticker about the talks in the Russia-Ukraine war.

• Negotiations in the Russia-Ukraine war:

  Hundreds of Mariupol fighters are evacuated to the occupied area.

• After the first bus transports: Hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers are still waiting in the Azov steelworks.

• This 

  news ticker on the Russia-Ukraine negotiations and international efforts

   is continuously updated.

Update from May 17, 10:53 p.m .:

French President Emmanuel Macron has promised his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy significantly more military aid in the Ukraine war.

According to a statement from the Elysée Palace, Macron said in a joint telephone conversation on Tuesday that arms deliveries from Paris would "intensify in the coming days and weeks".

At the end of April, Macron promised to deliver Milan anti-tank weapons and Caesar howitzers to Ukraine.

Macron also promised Zelenskyy additional humanitarian aid for Ukraine, according to the statement on Tuesday.

He also spoke to the Ukrainian President about ways to enable grain exports from Ukraine despite the Russian naval blockade against the country.

Macron also assured Zelenskyy that Ukraine's application for membership of the European Union would be examined at the EU summit in June.

Ukraine-Russia negotiations suspended: Kyiv and Moscow shift blame back and forth

Update from May 17, 5:27 p.m .:

Ukraine and Russia have suspended negotiations to end the war for the time being.

Above all, Ukraine is opposed to a dictated peace by Russia.

"The negotiation process depends on how events in Ukraine unfold," Kiev negotiator Mykhailo Podoliak said on Tuesday.

The situation has changed noticeably since the beginning of the war.

Podoliak accused Russia of continuing to think in terms of its stereotypes and of not having understood the real situation in Ukraine after 82 days of war.

"They still live in a world where there is supposedly Ukrainian Nazism," Podoliak explained.

There is only a "Russian Nazism".

The talks would only be resumed if there were concrete proposals.

Kyiv rejects a face-saving solution for Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, said Podoljak.

In addition, a ceasefire could only be discussed after a complete withdrawal of Russian troops.

"The war doesn't end if we give up anything," Podoliak said.

This is unacceptable for Ukraine.

Only a complete liberation of all occupied territories is acceptable.

Russia had previously confirmed the temporary end of talks.

“No, the negotiations will not continue.

Ukraine has practically withdrawn from the negotiation process," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko told journalists in Nizhny Novgorod.

Update from May 17, 3:45 p.m .:

Russia is continuing to put pressure on the issue of energy in the peace negotiations on the Ukraine conflict.

Moscow ruler Vladimir Putin, for example, does not believe that the EU countries can become independent of Russian oil and gas.

The Russian President may have meant Germany by that.

“European countries continue to introduce new sanctions in the oil and gas markets.

All of this leads to inflation.

But instead of admitting their own mistakes, they look for culprits," Putin said Tuesday during a meeting of the Russian oil industry.

Putin went on to say: “Europeans are realizing that they cannot completely abandon Russia's energy resources.

And it is also obvious that certain EU countries, where the share of Russian carbon is particularly high, will not be able to do without our energy for a long time.”

Ukraine talks: Efforts to rescue remaining Ukrainian Mariupol soldiers

Update from May 17, 2:55 p.m .:

According to information from Kiev, efforts to rescue the last remaining Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol are continuing.

"We are working on further stages of the humanitarian operation," Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk wrote in the Telegram news service on Tuesday.

The 52 seriously injured men who were brought out of the Azovstal steel mill on Monday would soon be exchanged for Russian prisoners of war, she said.

There was no further confirmation from the Russian side.

The day before, a total of around 260 Ukrainians who had holed up on the factory premises surrendered.

The Ministry of Defense in Kyiv justified the step with the "completion of combat tasks".

It was expected that the rest of the soldiers would also lay down their arms.

Mariupol has been besieged by Russian troops since early March and most recently taken.

Ukraine negotiations: Talks between Kyiv and Russia are again interrupted

Update from May 17, 1:45 p.m .:

According to Russia and Ukraine, negotiations between the countries with a view to the Ukraine war were stopped.

"No, negotiations are not ongoing," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko was quoted as saying by the Russian newspaper

.

Rudenko claimed that Ukraine had withdrawn from the negotiations.

"In no way" are there negotiations, said the deputy minister.

He accused Ukraine of trying to distort the terms agreed during the negotiations.

Advisor to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy Mykhailo Podolyak confirmed Rudenko.

"The negotiation process is actually paused," Podolyak was quoted as saying by the Ukrainian newspaper

.

But he blamed Russia for this.

Moscow has no understanding of the processes and is only using the negotiations as propaganda for domestic political purposes.

"The war is no longer going according to the rules, schedule or plans of Russia," Podolyak said, according to

.

Ukraine negotiations: Azovstal plant evacuation - Russia provides new figures

Update from May 17, 12:20 p.m .:

According to their own statements, the Russian military has captured 265 Ukrainian fighters from the besieged steel plant in Mariupol since Monday.

"In the past 24 hours, 265 militants, including 51 seriously injured, laid down their arms and took themselves into captivity," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Tuesday.

The figures differ slightly from the information from Kyiv.

There was previously talk of 264 prisoners - including 53 seriously injured.

The Russian ministry also released a video purporting to show the Ukrainians being detained, receiving medical treatment and the evacuation of the injured.

The Russian military initially left open whether the prisoner exchange hoped for by Kyiv would actually take place.

Prisoners of the Russian troops: Ukrainian soldiers during the so-called evacuation from Mariupol.

© AFP PHOTO / Russian Defense Ministry / handout

All the injured were taken to the Novoazovsk hospital, Konashenkov said.

Novoazovsk is east of Mariupol, directly on the border with Russia, in territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014.

He gave no information on the whereabouts of the other prisoners.

According to Ukrainian reports, they drove to the village of Olenivka near the front line.

Negotiations in the Russia-Ukraine War: Evacuation of 264 soldiers from the Azov steelworks in Mariupol

First report from May 17th:

Munich/Mariupol – It was images that caused great emotions in Ukraine during the war with Russia.

On Tuesday night (May 17), 264 soldiers were evacuated from the Azov steelworks in Mariupol.

53 seriously injured were taken to Novoazovsk for treatment and 211 other soldiers to Olenivka, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said late Monday evening.

Efforts to evacuate the remaining soldiers should continue this Tuesday, according to Ukrainian sources, sources in Kyiv said.

The Russian Defense Ministry had previously announced a ceasefire in Mariupol on Monday to allow injured Ukrainian soldiers to be taken out of the Azov-Stahl steelworks.

Moscow had named "medical facilities" in Novoazovsk as the target of the evacuation operation.

That means the Ukrainian fighters were taken to Russian-occupied territory - they ended up being prisoners of war.

Negotiations in the Russia-Ukraine war: Hundreds of Mariupol fighters are evacuated

"We hope that we can save the lives of our boys," said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a video message: "I would like to underline: Ukraine needs its Ukrainian heroes alive.

That is our principle.” The general staff of the Ukrainian army had previously declared on Tuesday night that the soldiers had “fulfilled their combat mission”.

The commanders would now have orders to "save the lives" of the remaining soldiers.

Taken to Russian-occupied territory: Ukrainian fighters are evacuated in buses from the Azov steelworks in Mariupol.

© Alexey Kudenko/Sputnik/dpa

Negotiations in the Russia-Ukraine war: Hundreds of soldiers still entrenched in the Azov steelworks

Around 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers, including 600 injured, were still in the tunnel systems last week, according to the Ukrainian authorities.

The fighters were subjected to constant bombardment by Russian troops.

The evacuated soldiers are to be returned to Ukraine at a later date as part of a prisoner exchange, Kyiv said.

What will happen to the remaining marines and national guards at the Azov steelworks?

In this news ticker we keep you up to date on the negotiations in the Russia-Ukraine war.