Pavel Polityuk and Oleksandr Kuzhukhar

LVIV (Ukraine) – Peace talks between Russia, Ukraine and Turkey are set for this week in Turkey. The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zeleskiy insists on Ukraine’s territorial integrity after previously suggesting he would be open to a compromise.

In his late Sunday video address to Ukrainians, Zelenskiy stated that his government will prioritise Ukraine’s territorial integrity in Istanbul-related talks.

Zelenskiy, however, stated that Ukraine is willing to accept neutrality and make compromises over the status the eastern Donbas as part of any peace agreement.

Zelenskiy stated that any agreement should be guaranteed and subject to referendum in the video conference, which was broadcast by the Kremlin.

“Security garanties and neutrality, the non-nuclear state of our country. “We are willing to go for that,” he said, in Russian.

Talks are afoot, but Kyrylo Budanov (head of military intelligence in Ukraine) said that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to take over the eastern half of Ukraine.

It is an attempt “to create North Korea and South Korea in Ukraine,” Zelenskiy stated, speaking of the Korean division following World War Two. Zelenskiy pleaded with the West for Ukraine to provide planes, tanks and missiles in order to defend against Russian forces.

On Sunday, Turkish President Tayyip Turkey called Putin and agreed to host talks. He also requested a ceasefire, better humanitarian conditions and a ceasefire, his office stated. Both Russian negotiators and Ukrainians confirmed the possibility of in-person discussions.

On Sunday, American officials tried to prove that they do not support regime change in Russia. This was after President Joe Biden had said in a speech that Saturday in Poland that Putin “cannot stay in power”.

Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary-of-State, stated that Biden meant Putin couldn’t be “empowered” to wage war against Ukraine and other countries.

Russia, despite four weeks of war, has not captured any Ukrainian capital. Russia signalled Friday that it is reducing its ambitions to secure the Donbas area, where Russian-backed separatists had been fighting the Ukrainian Army for eight years.

Local leaders in Luhansk People’s Republic declared on Sunday that they could hold a referendum to join Russia soon, as was the case in Crimea when Russia seize the Ukrainian peninsula.

Crimeans voted in overwhelming numbers to join Russia and break with Ukraine – something that most of the rest of the world didn’t recognize.

Budanov foresaw that the Ukrainian army would resist Russian forces and launch a guerrilla warfare attack.

He stated, “There will then be one relevant scenario for Russians. How to survive.”

A spokesperson from Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry also rejected any mention of an eastern Ukraine referendum.

Oleg Nikolenko stated to Reuters that all fake referendums held in temporarily occupied territories were null and void, and would have no legal validity.

“CRUEL AND SENSESS”

Moscow claims that the goal of what Putin refers to as a “specially military operation” is demilitarization and “denazification” of its neighbor. The West’s allies in Ukraine call it a pretext for an unprovoked attack.

Ukraine described prior negotiations that took place in Russian allies Belarus as being “very difficult”.

It has caused major humanitarian crises in several cities of Ukraine and has displaced approximately 10 million people. This is nearly 25% of Ukraine’s total population.

Tatyana Mostek was among the refugees who crossed into Romania via ferry from Odesa on Sunday. Although she said Odesa residents were “very fearful”, Tatyana would still have been there if not for her little girl.

It would have been very hard to give the child basic living conditions. She clutched a dog as a pet and said that this is why she had decided to go.

Pope Francis called on Sunday for the end of “cruel, senseless” conflicts in his Sunday blessing.

HUMANITARIAN CORRIDORS

According to Sunday’s statement by the Ukrainian military, Russia continues to send additional troops to Ukraine and launches missile and air attacks on Ukrainian forces, military infrastructure and personnel, as well as in Kharkiv.

Ukraine raised concern about the safety and security of Chernobyl’s defunct, Russian-occupied nuclear plant. It was also the scene of the worst nuclear accident on record in 1986.

The Russian military has created the risk that the containment vessel built around the damaged fourth reactor of the station could be destroyed, according to Iryna Vereshchuk (Deputy Prime Minister). The Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk urged the United Nations for a mission in order to evaluate the risk.

Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said Russia was destroying Ukrainian fuel stores and storage facilities. Russia claimed that its missiles destroyed a fuel depot in Ukraine on Saturday, as well as the military repair facility near Lviv.

According to a Ukrainian Presidential Advisor, Ukraine is taking small counter-offensive measures as Russian forces attempt to control its eastern Ukraine force.

Although 1,119 deaths of civilians and 1,790 injuries have been confirmed by the United Nations, it is probable that there are more. According to Ukraine, 139 children have been killed in conflict and more than 200 injured.

Vereshchuk claimed that 1100 people were evacuated out of frontline areas including Mariupol in the south after Russia and Ukraine agreed to create two “humanitarian corridors”.

Weeks of intense bombardment have decimated this port, which is situated between Crimea and the eastern territories held by Russian-backed separatists. Tens of thousands of people are living in basements without water, food, or power.