Ibrahim Kalin, a senior adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told the Financial Times that horrific images of dead civilians in cities such as Buca and Borodyanka had affected Ukraine’s willingness to continue negotiations. In Ankara’s strongest condemnation of the killing of civilians, Kalin said: “We are all outraged by his photos. . . human rights violations and possible war crimes “. He added that the horrors were in danger of halting the resumption of negotiations, “especially on the Ukrainian side,” adding that “they may pause for a few days and then reorganize.” “Developments on the ground, the images coming out of Bucha and now some other places, of course make it more difficult to continue the negotiations as before,” Kalin said. “Ukrainians are as devastated as we all are. . . “These are really horrible, completely unacceptable, inhumane acts and whoever did it should be brought to justice.” However, Kalin said Turkey, which has hosted high-level Russian-Ukrainian talks since the invasion began on February 24, encourages both sides to continue negotiations. The Turkish Defense Ministry is also working with its Russian and Ukrainian counterparts to ensure the evacuation of civilians from the besieged southern city of Mariupol, he said. “We must give diplomacy a chance and it is important that we continue to talk to the Russian side,” he said. “I personally do not expect a major breakthrough in the next two days or even a week or so. “But maybe in a week or two we will see some movement again.” Turkey, a NATO member with close ties to both Kyiv and Moscow, hosted face-to-face talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials last week in Istanbul after the first round in Antalya. “After these talks, the parties agreed to meet again in Istanbul,” Kalin said. Ibrahim Kalin: “We must give diplomacy a chance” © Ozan Kose / AFP / Getty Images After Russian troops stopped advancing on Kyiv from Ukrainian forces on the outskirts of the capital, Moscow said in talks last week that it would limit its military activities in the region to what it described as a “confidence-building” effort. But as Russian forces withdrew from the outskirts of the capital, Ukrainians discovered the bodies of many civilians killed on the streets of cities such as Bukha, northwest of the capital. The United States and the European Union – which are skeptical of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s willingness to take part in peace talks – have responded by imposing more sanctions on Moscow. Kalin, who is also the president’s spokesman, said Russia seemed concerned about the economic implications of both Western sanctions and its military operations. “They suffered a lot of losses there [in Ukraine]”But the financial losses are starting to have an impact on the overall economic situation and the political way of thinking, probably,” he said. He added that there would need to be “some sort of reciprocal, gradual process of managing the sanctions package”, suggesting that Moscow would want to ease sanctions if it took steps to end the conflict. “From the Russian point of view, this is the only way they will probably make concessions,” Kalin said.

The talks focused on the neutral status for Ukraine and the security guarantees it expects in return. Ukraine insists on guarantees from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and other countries, including Turkey and Germany, to prevent future attacks. Kalin said security talks were still at an early stage, but said “at first we see it favorably because we want to support Ukraine and we want to end this war.” “We had this discussion with Ukrainians, with Russians,” he said. “We had some discussion with the Americans and the French, but there are a lot of military details that our soldiers have to work on before we can sign.”

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Are you from Ukraine? Do you have friends and family in or from Ukraine whose lives have been disrupted? Or maybe you’re doing something to help these people, such as raising funds or housing people in your homes. We want to hear from you. Tell us through a short survey. Kalin said that while details of Ukraine’s demilitarization were still being worked out, there was a “big gap” between the Kiev and Moscow positions on the issue. “Russia’s main concern is that Ukraine should not have any firepower that could pose a threat to Russia,” he said, adding that this meant “things like long-range missiles.” “Ukraine wants a strong, serious army, with the normal capabilities of any army of any sovereign country,” he said. Kalin said security guarantees and territorial issues concerning Crimea and the eastern Donbass region “are the other two main issues”. He said Russia had not clarified its demands other than recognizing the annexation of Crimea, which Turkey considered an “unrealistic, maximalist demand” that neither Ukraine nor the international community would accept. “But if the de facto situation in Crimea is not going to change – and it seems that it is not going to change at this point – then we can accept it as a reality on the ground and try to resolve something about how it can bring some degree. “to resolve the situation in Crimea,” said Kalin.