In Antalya, Lavrov demanded Ukraine's surrender

Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people have a much wider impact and substantially go beyond the two countries. The world's largest economies are severely affected, a humanitarian catastrophe is developing, and hundreds of peaceful people are dying every day.

It is in this context that the world rejoiced when, at the suggestion of Turkey, the representatives of Russia and Ukraine agreed to meet in Antalya. The meeting of the heads of Russian and Ukrainian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov and Dmitro Kuleba, took place on Thursday, March 10, after several rounds of inconclusive negotiations in Belarus. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba announced after negotiations that lasted about an hour and a half that the Russian side did not support Kiev's peace initiatives.

Kuleba said from the beginning that Ukraine "came here for a humanitarian purpose, to leave the meeting with a decision to organize a humanitarian corridor to and from Mariupol. The most tragic situation is now in the city of Mariupol, which was bombed and hit by artillery. "

The Ukrainian foreign minister said no agreement had been reached with Lavrov. "Russia is not in a position to accept a ceasefire at this time. They want a capitulation from Ukraine. They won't get it. Ukraine is strong, Ukraine is fighting. "

There were also some positive moments, the very fragile ones. The two sides agreed to continue their efforts to find a solution to humanitarian problems on the ground in Ukraine. "I am ready to continue this commitment in order to end the war in Ukraine, to end the suffering of Ukrainian civilians and to liberate our territories from Russian occupation," the head of Ukrainian diplomacy said.

Sergei Lavrov, in a very harsh manner, mentioned in a press conference organized after the meeting that he reminded Kuleba that Russia had presented its proposals for the ceasefire. Lavrov was even sharper when he said that Russia was ready to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine and that Russia would emerge from the crisis with a fresh view of the world and no illusions about the West.

The icing on the cake was the Russian foreign minister's statement that Russia did not intend to invade other countries and that, in fact, it had not invaded Ukraine either. The Russian diplomat also spoke about the pediatric hospital in Mariupol, bombed by Russian forces, saying that it was a base of Ukrainian nationalists.

The representative of Moscow criticized the deliveries of weapons to Ukraine, which he considered dangerous, but did not mention anything about the use of Belarusian territory to launch missiles against Ukraine.

The behavior of both foreign ministers at the press conference was analyzed by psychologists. They mentioned that Lavrov avoided looking the journalists in the eye throughout the conference and that he was constantly awkward and awkwardly finding something inappropriate for his hands. He was playing with the papers and with the headphones. He was very upset because he had to lie obviously. However, Kuleba looked the journalists in the eye throughout the conference and answered all the questions honestly. The communication competition was won brilliantly by the representative of Ukraine.

In the end, it is very difficult to predict what the prospects for the next negotiations will be. Analysts are inclined to believe that everything depends on what is in Putin's head. If Russia is engaged in a total war, until the alleged capitulation of Ukraine, then such negotiations do not even make sense.