"No development" toward cease-hearth in excessive-degree Russia-Ukraine talks after Russia accused of bombing a clinic

Antalya, Turkey — Russian foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba met Thursday in Turkey within the first such high-degree contact in view that Moscow invaded its neighbor. speakme after the talks, Kuleba told newshounds there become "no progress" toward a cease-hearth.

"We additionally talked on the stop-hearth however no growth became achieved on that," Dmytro Kuleba mentioned, describing the dialogue as "problematic" and accusing his counterpart of bringing little greater than "common narratives" to the desk.

the head of the international Atomic energy agency talked about earlier he changed into also heading to Antalya for conferences amid mounting issue over the safeguard of Ukraine's nuclear power flowers, however was uncertain when he changed into due to arrive or who he could meet with.

Even before the talks begun, analysts feared there have been slim probabilities of any step forward. photos of the assembly confirmed the Russian, Turkish and Ukrainian delegations sitting round a desk, with each minister accompanied through just two other officials.

Turkish, Russian and Ukrainian Foreign Ministers meet in Antalya

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

The meeting took region towards the history of Ukrainian and foreign outrage after a Russian attack on a children's and maternity health facility within the besieged Ukrainian metropolis of Mariupol which, based on Kyiv, killed as a minimum three individuals, together with a young lady. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the strike an "atrocity."

talking after his talks with Kuleba on Thursday in Antalya, Russia's Lavrov dismissed the medical institution assault as lies and propaganda.

"It isn't the first time we have seen pathetic outcries concerning the so-called atrocities" through Russia, Lavrov pointed out, claiming the health center become getting used as a base by means of an "extremely-radical" Ukrainian battalion. He observed Russia had submitted facts to the United nations "days ago" to prove its claim, and accused overseas media of manipulating assistance on the strike. Lavrov claimed no sufferers or body of workers had been at the facility, which he insisted had "lengthy ago develop into a base for extremists."

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

CBS news senior foreign correspondent Charlie D'Agata spoke of the big airstrike on the sanatorium in Mariupol shattered a fragile stop-hearth in Mariupol late Wednesday afternoon that turned into speculated to permit civilians to flee the battered metropolis. Emergency groups and troopers scrambled to evacuate the wounded, including pregnant ladies, from the sanatorium. The blast destroyed the complex internal and out, and the size and depth of the crater and the encompassing debris had been clear facts of its ferocity.

As D'Agata suggested, Mariupol, a key port city on Ukraine's southern coast, has come under heavy Russian bombardment for days, removing power and water to greater than four hundred,000 americans. officers say as a minimum 1,200 civilians had been killed in the city due to the fact that the struggle started, and pictures exhibit metropolis laborers putting our bodies into a mass grave.

Ukraine authorities say Russian missiles hit a Mariupol health facility and power became cut from Chernobyl energy plant 05:02

Ukrainian officials pointed out at the least seven more civilians had been killed in further Russian artillery assaults overnight.

After his dialogue with Lavrov on Thursday, Ukraine's Kuleba said he was organized to meet his counterpart again to "continue engagement" aimed at first organising a cease-fireplace and humanitarian corridor for Mariupol, calling the metropolis essentially the most dire humanitarian crisis in his country, and then to end the battle.

Lavrov indicated that separate talks between lessen-stage delegations from Ukraine and Russia, which have been taking region for days in Belarus, had been the center of attention of efforts to obtain a cease-fireplace.

"we might like to conduct our negotiations on the Belarusian aspect in a very critical approach," the Russian envoy spoke of.

The White condo has warned this week that Russia may additional strengthen the warfare either by using organic or chemical weapons, or by claiming Ukrainian forces had performed so in a so-known as "false flag" attack to use as a pretext for extra violence.

Russian officials began accusing the U.S. of engaged on covert organic and chemical weapons programs inner Ukraine previous this week. On Thursday, the Russian defense Ministry claimed documents offered by way of Ukrainian lab workers showed Washington "deliberate to prepare work on pathogens of birds, bats and reptiles in Ukraine in 2022."

"in keeping with the files, experiments with samples of bat coronavirus had been conducted in organic laboratories created and funded in Ukraine," the protection Ministry claimed. "The aim of these and other Pentagon-funded organic researches in Ukraine changed into the creation of mechanism for the covert spread of the deadliest pathogens."

White condo press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday dismissed Russia's claims as "preposterous" and mentioned they can be a part of an effort by means of Russia to put the groundwork for the use of such weapons itself. "this is all an obvious ploy by Russia to try to try to justify its extra premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified assault on Ukraine."

world sanctions affect lifestyle in Russia 01:49

"Now that Russia has made these false claims, and China has reputedly counseled this propaganda, we may still all be looking for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation using them," she observed.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby additionally refuted the claims as "absurd" and "classic Russian propaganda."

"they are laughable. and also you comprehend, in the words of my Irish Catholic grandfather, a bunch of malarkey," Kirby told journalists on Wednesday. "We aren't, no longer developing organic or chemical weapons inner Ukraine. or not it's not occurring."

With the violence on the floor in Ukraine and the dueling claims and warnings from Washington and Moscow, hope for any most important breakthrough in the talks in Turkey changed into at all times low, but that assembly became only one of a few diplomatic initiatives.

Israel is in quest of to broker an answer via direct talks with President Vladimir Putin, and French President Emmanuel Macron is additionally commonly phoning the Kremlin chief.

"there is nowadays a extremely slim hope and we should catch it ... devoid of being naive," France's Europe Minister Clement Beaune instructed France Inter radio. "The goal is an identical; that the combating stops, but we deserve to put exquisite power on Russia."