Ukrainian and Russian delegations ended the second round of talks yesterday without a truce agreement.
However, reports by The Epoch Times and Reuters quoting a top Ukrainian official stated that the two sides agreed to set up humanitarian and evacuation corridors.
Presidential adviser for Ukraine, Mykhailo Podolyak said the two parties will provide humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians, deliver food, and medicine to areas with heavy fighting across the country.
“The second round of negotiations is over,” Podolyak wrote on Twitter. “Unfortunately, the results Ukraine needs are not yet achieved. There is a solution only for the organisation of humanitarian corridors.”
The Ukrainian delegation had previously said they were seeking an immediate ceasefire, a temporary peace agreement, and the humanitarian or evacuation corridors for civilians.
The first round of talks held in Belarus on Monday resulted in no progress.
The announcement comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country’s military has offered safe corridors to civilians to allow them to leave.
During a call with members of his Security Council, Putin alleged without evidence or details that Ukrainian nationalist groups are preventing civilians from leaving areas.
Putin again said the Russian military is fighting “neo-Nazis,” while asserting that some Ukrainians were “fooled by nationalist propaganda.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, at a news conference yesterday, said the prospect of another round of talks between the two sides lacks promise.
He added that the two still need to negotiate because “any words are more important than shots”.
