ANKARA
\nAir raid sirens sounded across Ukraine before dawn on Tuesday as Ukrainian and Russian negotiators met in Turkey for the first face-to-face talks in nearly three weeks, with Kyiv seeking a ceasefire without compromising on territory or sovereignty.
\nTurkish President Tayyip Erdogan welcomed delegations from both sides saying that \u201cstopping this tragedy\u201d was up to them.
\nUkrainian television reported the talks had begun with \u201ca cold welcome\u201d and no handshake between the delegations.
\nUkraine and the United States hold little hope of an immediate breakthrough. But the resumption of face-to-face talks is an important first step towards a ceasefire in a Russian invasion that is stalled on most fronts but inflicting horrible suffering on civilians trapped in besieged cities.
\nMore than a month into the war, the biggest attack on a European nation since World War Two, more than 3.8 million people have fled abroad, thousands have been killed and injured, and Russia\u2019s economy has been pummelled by sanctions.
\nIn the besieged southern port city of Mariupol nearly 5,000 people have been killed, including about 210 children, according to figures from the mayor. Such figures cannot be verified.
\nSurvivors have told harrowing tales of people dying from lack of medical treatment, bodies being buried wherever space could be found, and women giving birth in basements.
\nUkrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said of the talks in Turkey: \u201cWe are not trading people, land or sovereignty.\u201d
\n\u201cThe minimum programme will be humanitarian questions, and the maximum programme is reaching an agreement on a ceasefire,\u201d he said on national television.
\nA senior U.S. State Department official said Russian President Vladimir Putin did not appear ready to make compromises to end the war.
\nKremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said talks so far had not yielded any substantial progress but it was important they continued in person.
\nFootage from inside the Dolmabahce palace in Istanbul where the talks took place showed Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich in attendance, though it was not immediately clear in what role. Abramovich appears to have tried to act as a go-between, including during a trip to Ukraine early in the conflict when he and several Ukrainian negotiators are said to have fallen ill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ANKARA Air raid sirens sounded across Ukraine before dawn on Tuesday as Ukrainian and Russian negotiators met in Turkey for the first face-to-face talks in nearly three weeks, with Kyiv seeking a ceasefire without compromising on territory or sovereignty. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan welcomed delegations from both sides saying that \u201cstopping this tragedy\u201d was up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-252080","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n