Russian and Ukrainian Foreign Ministers fail to reach ceasefire agreement during negotiations in Turkey

The foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine met in Turkey on Thursday in the first high-level meeting since the Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine two weeks ago on February 24.

The negotiations, mediated by Ankara, offered Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov a forum to discuss the establishment of security guarantees for humanitarian corridors and the terms of a 24-hour ceasefire, Reuters reported.

After the meeting, Kuleba told reporters that no progress was made in the negotiations with his Russian counterpart and stressed that the most pressing issue was the establishment of a humanitarian corridor in Mariupol – the southeastern city in which Russian bombs hit an occupied maternity hospital on Wednesday.

"I made a simple proposal to Minister Lavrov: I can call my Ukrainian ministers, authorities, president now and give you 100% assurances on security guarantees for humanitarian corridors," he said.

"I asked him 'can you do the same?' and he did not respond."

Kuleba, who described the meeting as “difficult,” further insinuated that Lavrov was not in a position to make high-level diplomatic decisions, saying, “It seems that there are other decision-makers for this matter in Russia.”

“I want to repeat that Ukraine has not surrendered, does not surrender, and will not surrender,” he added.

For his part, Lavrov told reporters that President Putin would not turn down an invitation to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss “specific” issues and stressed that Russia would not have considered military action had the west not rejected “our proposal on security guarantees.”

“Until the end, we wanted to resolve the situation in Ukraine through diplomatic means,” he said.

The Russian diplomat also stressed that Moscow never wanted to depend on Western countries or businesses again and reiterated the Kremlin’s belief that Washington and its NATO allies are using Ukraine to undermine Russian interests, thus creating a dangerous security situation in the region with no end in sight.

“We will come out of this crisis with refreshed views of the world – with no illusions about the West. We will try to never again be dependent on the West,” he said.

Later, when pressed about Kyiv’s condemnation of Wednesday’s hospital bombing, Lavrov pushed back insisting that the building was no longer used as a hospital but was instead being used by Ukrainian forces.

Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 and fierce fighting on both sides has since led to the mass exodus of more than 2 million Ukrainian residents. Moscow has been firm in stating that it will not consider ending hostilities until the West meets all of its demands – which include a guarantee that Kyiv takes a neutral position and promises never to join NATO.

Several talks between Russia and Ukraine have already occurred, but Turkey, which has a friendly relationship with both parties, recently offered to serve as a mediator between Moscow and Kyiv and Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also participated in the meeting.

Although Turkish officials have publicly condemned Russia’s invasion and called for the declaration of a ceasefire, Ankara has stopped short of supporting sanctions.