UKRAINIAN President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called again for talks with Russia today, saying they are the “only chance for Russia to minimise the damage done with their own mistakes” after invading.

The two sides are currently holding remote negotiations but so far, like previous rounds, they have yielded little progress. None have been at the presidential level.

“This is the time to meet, to talk, for renewing territorial integrity and fairness for Ukraine,” said Zelenskyy in a video posted on Facebook.

“Otherwise, Russia’s losses will be such that several generations will not recover.”

He said Ukrainian authorities have been able to rescue more than 9,000 people from the port city of Mariupol, which is under siege by Russian forces.

There is still no information about the number of people who died when a theatre in the city sheltering civilians was bombed, he said.

More than 180,000 Ukrainian citizens have been rescued via humanitarian corridors across the country, he added.

He accused Moscow of blocking aid around hotspot areas, saying “they have a strict order to do everything, so the humanitarian catastrophe in Ukrainian cities turned into reason for Ukrainians to work together with the occupiers”.

“This is a war crime,” he added.

Several rounds of negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow have taken place both in-person and virtually since the invasion began on February 24.

The latest set of talks, the fourth, opened on Monday.

Russia’s top negotiator said Kyiv and Moscow have brought their positions “as close as possible” on a proposal for Ukraine to become a neutral state.

But Zelenskyy’s adviser, Mikhailo Podolyak, who is taking part in the negotiations, said his country’s position has not budged.

“Negotiation status. The statements of the Russian side are only their requesting positions,” he wrote on Twitter.

“All statements are intended, inter alia, to provoke tension in the media. Our positions are unchanged. Ceasefire, withdrawal of troops and strong security guarantees with concrete formulas.”

Russia, which has been conducting a military operation in Ukraine since February 24, has requested that its neighbour never join the Western Nato military alliance and demanded its “demilitarisation” and “denazification”. – AFP, March 19, 2022.