Vladimir Putin says Russia ready to negotiate with Ukraine in ‘high-level talks’
Russian forces have advanced into Kyiv
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Russian president Vladimir Putin told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in a call on Friday that Russia is willing to hold high-level talks with Ukraine, Chinese state television CCTVreported.
“The United States and Nato have long ignored Russia's reasonable security concerns, repeatedly reneged on their commitments, and continued to advance military deployment eastward, challenging Russia's strategic bottom line,” Mr Putin told Mr Xi.
“Russia is willing to conduct high-level negotiations with Ukraine.”
He made his statement as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continued at breakneck speed with Mr Putin’s troops advancing into Kyiv on Friday.
Sirens sounded out across the city since the early hours of Friday, with residents forced to take shelter in underground metro stations following a series of Russian aerial attacks that hit the densely populated Pozniake neighbourhood, in which at least eight people were reportedly injured.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken said Kyiv “could well be under siege” in what US officials believe is a brazen attempt by Russian president Vladimir Putin to install his own regime.
In a Twitter post from the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, residents of Obolon were urged “to inform about the movement of equipment”.
The post added: “Make Molotov cocktails, neutralise the occupier! Peaceful residents - be careful! Do not leave the house!”
Meanwhile, Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad has called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and supported his position regarding Ukraine, Damascus said in a statement on Friday.
Syria has been a staunch ally of Moscow since Russia launched a military campaign in 2015 that helped to turn the tide in a civil war in favour of President Assad with massive aerial bombardment of opposition-held areas.
Mr Assad during the call described the Russian offensive in Ukraine as a “correction of history”.
“His Excellency (Assad) stressed that Syria stands with the Russian Federation, based on its conviction of the correctness of its position,” the statement said.
Syria on Tuesday had recognised two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine that Mr Putin has said he was seeking to protect via a “special military operation.”
President Putin’s comments to Xi Jinping come as Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow would be ready to hold talks with Kyiv, only after Ukraine’s ministry had laid down its arms.
He also said that Moscow did not want “neo-Nazis” to govern Ukraine.
He added that Russia wants the Ukrainian people to be independent and have the possibility to freely define their destiny, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.
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