Hopes for continuing Ukraine-Russia talks fade

These developments come as hopes waned for an evacuation of civilians from the besieged city of Marioupolis as Russia continues its offensive east of Ukraine. On 30 April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces were making tactical advances in the region.

Zelensky's office earlier said an operation was planned to evacuate civilians from the Azovstal steel factory, where 2,000 Ukrainian forces and close to 1,000 civilians have remained blocked.

Meanwhile, in the second - largest Ukrainian town of Harkiv, there were reports of mortar and artillery attacks on April 30th. During a televised address the night before, Zelensky said Ukrainian forces have regained control of a strategic village near the city and have managed to evacuate hundreds of civilians.

Zelensky said on April 29th that the ongoing bombings and “brutal” on infrastructure and residential areas “indicate that Russia wants to empty the Donba region and remove all residents”, adding that “the loss of our land, our people, is fighting for life”.

He added Marioupolis has now been transformed into “concentration amid ruins”.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavorov has rejected the UN's request for the need for humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians from Ukrainian cities, urging the West not to offer weapons to Ukraine, as he said it is causing <x0->x1> negotiations with Kiev to continue.

On April 29th, he declared for Saudi television that he appreciates UN chief Antonio Guterres' proposals to help evacuate civilians, but said “does not need anyone to provide help with the opening of humanitarian corridors”.

Meanwhile, on 30 April, he claimed to the Chinese Xinhua agency that talks with Kiev are continuing on a daily basis, while Moscow insists on the recognition of new geopolitical realities, the removal of Western sanctions and on Russian language status.

Ukrainian and Russian negotiators have not met eye-to-face since late May, as Russian troops have been accused of committing war crimes, meanwhile, Western states have stiffened sanctions against Moscow and have added military assistance to Kiev.

Lavrov said that if the United States and NATO are interested in solving the crisis in Ukraine, first of all, they should stop supplying Kiev's regime with weapons and ammunition”.

Russia's Defence Ministry has also confirmed that it has carried out an air strike in Kiev on 28 April, during Guterrez's visit to the Ukrainian capital. In this attack, which hit residential buildings, journalist Vira Hyych, who has worked for the Ukrainian Radio Service Free Europe, was killed. / REL