The Russian presidency confirmed that it does not mind talks with Ukraine while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is in power, despite public questioning of the legitimacy of his rule. The Ukrainian foreign minister said that Kiev and Beijing will work to find suitable common ground to end the Ukrainian crisis, while Turkey is conducting open negotiations on a settlement in Ukraine.
“Russia is generally open to the negotiation process (with Ukraine), but first we need to understand how ready the Ukrainian side is for this, and how much permission the Ukrainian side has for this from its superiors,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday. While the Kremlin has signaled it is willing to hold talks on its own terms, it has publicly questioned the legitimacy of Zelensky’s rule, noting that his five-year term ended in May and that he should have called elections.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said at the end of a visit to China that China and Ukraine agreed on the need to work together to find common ground on the path to resolving the Ukrainian crisis.
“Kiev needs lasting peace, not just an illusion,” he said. Kuleba praised China’s “active and constructive role in promoting peace and preserving the international order,” after his regime faced criticism and accusations that Beijing was “biased toward Moscow and supported Russia’s war on Ukraine.”
For his part, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced that Ankara will continue its efforts to resolve the Ukrainian conflict through open and confidential negotiations with the parties to the conflict. “We are ready to do everything in our power to reach a settlement in Ukraine,” Fidan was quoted as saying by Sozcu TV. “Of course, negotiations and meetings continue, whether open or closed, with the parties to the conflict and with those who support the settlement process through dialogue,” he added.
In March 2022, Istanbul hosted negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, which ended with agreements to resolve the conflict, but the Ukrainian side subsequently refused to implement them. On the ground, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that an Abrams tank and five American-made Bradley armored vehicles were among the Ukrainian military equipment destroyed by its forces within 24 hours.
According to the ministry, the Ukrainian army’s losses reached about 2,025 soldiers during the past day.
The Ukrainian Air Force commander said on Thursday that the air force had destroyed 25 of the 38 drones launched by Russia during the night before last.
A Russian Mi-28 military helicopter crashed in the Kaluga region in southwestern Russia, killing its crew. The Defense Ministry said that “initial information indicates that the cause of the disaster was a technical failure.”
Three soldiers were killed and four others seriously wounded in an exchange of fire between Ukrainian soldiers stationed in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian army’s Khortitsa division said. “Soldiers used firearms in one of the units within the framework of personal relations. Three soldiers were killed and four others were wounded,” it said. The Russian defense ministry said a Russian Su-27 fighter jet intercepted three British aircraft over the Black Sea, an RC-135 strategic reconnaissance aircraft and two Typhoon fighters. (Agencies)