Foreign Ministers Of Russia, Ukraine Meet In Turkey For Talks As War Rages On

As Moscow’s all out invasion of its neighbor enters its third week, the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine are meeting in Turkey.

Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, stated ahead of his face-to face meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that his expectations were “limited.”

It comes after Ukraine accused Russia of committing a “war crime” by striking a children’s hospital.

The incident in Mariupol killed three people, including a child, according to officials.

According to the local mayor’s office, seventeen individuals were hurt, including employees and patients.

A structure that once housed a maternity ward has been reduced to a shell, with a massive crater nearby. The Kremlin announced on Thursday that it will seek information from the Russian military on what had occurred.

Overnight, Russian strikes in north  eastern Ukraine claimed the lives of seven more people: four people, including two children, were killed in Kharkiv, and three people, including a 13-year-old boy, were killed on Okhtyrka in the Sumy region.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister announced that seven evacuation routes would open on Thursday, including routes out of Mariupol and Sumy.

“Frankly… my expectations of the talks are low,” Mr Kuleba said ahead of the talks in Antalya, southern Turkey.

Also read: No water, Dead Bodies on streets Of Ukrainian Port City Of Mariupol

Kyiv is demanding an immediate “cessation of hostilities and the Russian war against Ukraine,” according to Ukraine’s foreign ministry.

Meanwhile, Russia demands that Ukraine forsake its claimed ambitions to join the Nato military alliance and adopt a neutral position.

In eastern Ukraine, Russia is pressuring Kyiv to recognize two self-proclaimed rebel areas.

Two earlier rounds of discussions held in recent days failed to produce any results, despite the fact that the warring parties agreed to build humanitarian corridors.