Russia has been accused of refusing to stop an attack on Ukraine in order to obtain aid and allow civilians to flee.
Moscow Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met his Ukrainian counterpart Dmitro Kuleba in Turkey at the highest level talks since President Vladimir Putin ordered the offensive on February 24.
And after the meeting, Mr Kuleba said there was no sign of any agreement and that Russia was insisting that its campaign was being planned, reiterating a claim that Ukraine was a threat to its national security.
Ukraine war latest – ‘significant reduction’ in Russian air activity
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This claim – disputed by Kyiv and the West – was made by the Russian president when he ordered the invasion.
And in the 15 days since, Moscow has insisted that it did not invade Ukraine and that civilians were not being targeted by its troops – despite reports of thousands of casualties.
Mr Putin called the offensive a “special military operation” in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine.
After the talks, Sky’s Dominic Waghorn asked Mr Lavrov why Ukraine and the rest of the world could believe what Russia was saying amid these false statements.
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“Till the last moment we wanted to resolve the matter diplomatically,” he said.
“Putin explained very clearly why he decided to conduct a particular military operation and even if you are not allowed to talk to your audience about it, you can read this document yourself and it will explain.”
Mr Lavrov insisted the West agreed that “Ukraine is ours”.
Ukrainian emergency workers and volunteers take an injured pregnant woman to a hospital in Mariupol. photo: Associated Press
after wednesday Attack on a maternity hospital in MariupolThe World Health Organization (WHO) said it had confirmed 18 attacks on medical facilities during the war.
But Mr Lavrov dismissed concerns about Russian military attacks on civilians as a “pathetic scream” from his enemies.
They claimed that the site had previously been confiscated by Ukrainian far-right radical fighters who were using it as a base.
Although there were many photographs of civilians injured in the attack, Mr Lavrov claimed that all patients and nurses had been taken out of the hospital before the attack.
This came just hours after another official Denial Russia bombed hospitalDescribing such claims as “fake news”.
Screenshot of a tweet from the Russian Embassy in Britain about the attack on the maternity hospital in Mariupol
He also claimed that the US was developing biological weapons in Ukraine.
US Press Secretary Jen Psaki called the claim “absurd” and said it could be part of Moscow’s effort to pre-emptively justify its own use of such weapons of mass destruction against Ukraine.
In Thursday’s talks, Mr Kuleba said Russia had “other decision-makers” who needed to be consulted, adding that he had agreed with Mr Lavrov to continue to seek solutions to humanitarian issues caused by the war.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ukrainian counterpart Dmitro Kuleba meet in Antalya, Turkey
He said Moscow was unwilling to offer an armistice, adding: “They demand the surrender of Ukraine. That is not going to happen.”
Mr Kuleba said the “last thing” he wanted was to destroy hope for Ukrainians in their search for a safe passage from cities beset by Russian bombings and attacks.
