Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine promising but too optimistic
The Ukrainian military authorities say that Russia’s promise to scale down military operations around Kyiv is a sham. During the night the Russian artillery continued to bombard the capital of Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated, in his nightly address, that the initial signs at the Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul could be called positive but that they did “not drown out the explosions or Russian shells”.
In a telephone conversation with France’s President Emmanuel Macron, the President of Russia Vladimir Putin rejected France’s request for a humanitarian operation for rescuing civilians from the besieged town of Mariupol. Putin stated that this can only happen if the Ukrainian fighters in the city lay down their arms.
At the UN Security Council Russia was accused of having caused a “global food crisis” by waging war in Ukraine, which is one of Europe’s breadbaskets. 94 ships of food are blocked in Ukrainian ports and 30% of the world export of wheat and 75% of sunflower oil come from the Black Sea region.