excessive-stage Russia-Ukraine talks start in Turkey a day after Russia accused of "atrocity" with bombing of maternity health center

Antalya, Turkey — Russian foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba met Thursday in Turkey within the first such excessive-degree contact given that Moscow invaded its neighbor. talking after the talks, Kuleba told reporters there changed into "no development" toward a stop-hearth.

"We additionally talked on the cease-fire however no progress was achieved on that," Dmytro Kuleba mentioned, describing the discussion as "elaborate" and accusing his counterpart of bringing little more than "typical narratives" to the desk.

the head of the overseas Atomic power company referred to past he became also heading to Antalya for meetings amid mounting difficulty over the security of Ukraine's nuclear energy plant life, nevertheless it become doubtful when he become because of arrive or who he could meet with.

Even before the talks all started, analysts feared there have been slim possibilities of any leap forward. photos of the assembly showed the Russian, Turkish and Ukrainian delegations sitting around a table, with every minister accompanied via just two different officials.

Turkish, Russian and Ukrainian Foreign Ministers meet in Antalya

Turkish overseas Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (2nd from left), Russian international Minister Sergey Lavrov (left) and Ukrainian international Minister Dmytro Kuleba (correct) attend a meeting in Antalya, Turk ey, March 10, 2022. Turkish foreign Ministry/Handout/REUTERS

The assembly took place in opposition t the historical past of Ukrainian and international outrage after a Russian assault on a children's and maternity clinic in the besieged Ukrainian metropolis of Mariupol which, according to Kyiv, killed as a minimum three americans, including a young lady. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky referred to as the strike an "atrocity."

talking after his talks with Kuleba on Thursday in Antalya, Russia's Lavrov brushed aside the health facility attack as lies and propaganda.

"It isn't the primary time we see pathetic outcries over so-referred to as atrocities by using Russia," Lavrov said, claiming the medical institution turned into getting used as a base by using an "extremely-radical" Ukrainian battalion. He said Russia had submitted records to the United nations "days ago" to prove its declare, and accused overseas media of manipulating counsel on the strike. Lavrov claimed no patients or group of workers had been at the facility, which he insisted had "long ago become a base for extremists."

Ukrainian emergency personnel and volunteers elevate an injured pregnant woman from the maternity clinic in Mariupol, March 9, 2022. Evgeniy Maloletka/AP

CBS news senior overseas correspondent Charlie D'Agata noted the large airstrike on the health facility in Mariupol shattered a fragile stop-fire in Mariupol late Wednesday afternoon that changed into presupposed to enable civilians to flee the battered metropolis. Emergency teams and soldiers scrambled to evacuate the wounded, including pregnant ladies, from the health center. The blast destroyed the complicated inside and out, and the measurement and depth of the crater and the surrounding debris have been clear evidence of its ferocity.

As D'Agata stated, Mariupol, a key port city on Ukraine's southern coast, has come under heavy Russian bombardment for days, removing energy and water to more than four hundred,000 americans. officials say as a minimum 1,200 civilians have been killed in the city in view that the battle all started, and pictures exhibit metropolis workers placing bodies into a mass grave.

Ukraine authorities say Russian missiles hit a Mariupol clinic and power became reduce from Chernobyl power plant 05:02

Ukrainian officials said at the least seven greater civilians have been killed in extra Russian artillery assaults overnight.

After his discussion with Lavrov on Thursday, Ukraine's Kuleba mentioned he turned into prepared to satisfy his counterpart again to "proceed engagement" geared toward first organising a cease-fireplace and humanitarian corridor for Mariupol, calling the metropolis probably the most dire humanitarian crisis in his country, after which to end the warfare.

The White residence warned on Wednesday that Russia may additional strengthen the war both through the use of biological or chemical weapons, or through claiming Ukrainian forces had performed so in a so-referred to as "false flag" attack to use as a pretext for extra violence.

Russian officers started accusing the U.S. of engaged on covert organic and chemical weapons programs interior Ukraine earlier this week. On Thursday, the Russian protection Ministry claimed documents supplied with the aid of Ukrainian lab people showed Washington "planned to arrange work on pathogens of birds, bats and reptiles in Ukraine in 2022."

"in accordance with the files, experiments with samples of bat coronavirus have been conducted in biological laboratories created and funded in Ukraine," the protection Ministry claimed. "The aim of those and different Pentagon-funded organic researches in Ukraine changed into the advent of mechanism for the covert unfold of the deadliest pathogens."

White apartment press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday brushed aside Russia's claims as "preposterous" and stated they may well be a part of an attempt by means of Russia to put the groundwork for the use of such weapons itself. "here is all an glaring ploy by way of Russia to try to are attempting to justify its further premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified assault on Ukraine."

global sanctions influence daily life in Russia 01:49

"Now that Russia has made these false claims, and China has seemingly recommended this propaganda, we should still all be searching for Russia to might be use chemical or organic weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation the use of them," she said.

With the violence on the ground in Ukraine and the dueling claims and warnings from Washington and Moscow, hope for any principal step forward in the talks in Turkey changed into at all times low, however that meeting become only 1 of a few diplomatic initiatives.

Israel is in search of to broking service a solution via direct talks with President Vladimir Putin, and French President Emmanuel Macron is also frequently phoning the Kremlin chief.

"there's these days a very slim hope and we should trap it ... with out being naive," France's Europe Minister Clement Beaune advised France Inter radio. "The aim is an identical; that the fighting stops, but we should put great pressure on Russia."