(Reuters) – Ukraine is willing to discuss becoming neutral as part of a peace deal, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said even as another top Ukrainian official accused Russia of aiming to carve the country in two.
FIGHTING
* Russia is trying to split Ukraine in two to create a Moscow-controlled region after failing to take over the whole country, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence said.
* The Russian-backed eastern Ukrainian rebel region of Luhansk said it may hold a referendum on joining Russia, drawing a warning from Kyiv that any such vote would have no legal basis and trigger a stronger international response.
* Russia continued its “full-scale armed aggression”, while Ukrainian forces had repulsed seven attacks in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said.
TALKS AND DIPLOMACY
* The next round of face to face talks between Ukraine and Russia will take place in Turkey on March 28-30, Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said on social media.
* Top American officials said the United States does not have a policy of regime change in Russia, ramping up efforts to clarify President Joe Biden’s statement that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power.”
* French President Emmanuel Macron called for restraint in both words and actions in dealing with the Ukraine conflict, following Biden’s remarks.
* Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Russian President Vladimir Putin that a ceasefire and better humanitarian conditions were needed following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
CIVILIANS
* The United Nations human rights office said 1,119 civilians had so far been killed and 1,790 wounded since Russia began its attack on Ukraine.
* Ukraine has asked the International Committee of the Red Cross not to open a planned office in Russia’s Rostov-on-Don, saying it would legitimise Moscow’s “humanitarian corridors” and the abduction and forced deportation of Ukranians.* Mourners crammed into the ornate Ukrainian Greek Catholic church in Lviv to bury Ukrainian soldiers.
QUOTES
* “More than a month has passed since the invasion of Ukraine, since the start of this cruel and senseless war, which, like every war, is a defeat for everyone, for all of us,” Pope Francis said, speaking to thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square for his Sunday blessing.
(Compiled by Frances Kerry)
