New York, March 15, 2020 – Bloomberg has reported that Ukraine and Russia will resume talks Wednesday as a key adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called negotiations to end Vladimir Putin’s war on his country “difficult and vicious.”
But they acknowledged there’s room for compromise. The Kremlin contends Ukraine isn’t serious about the talks. Next week, U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to Europe to take part in NATO and European Union summits.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg became the latest official to warn that Russia may try to stage a “false-flag operation” involving chemical weapons after Moscow made “absurd claims” about bio-weapons labs in Ukraine.
Slovakia’s parliament approved the presence of 2,100 NATO troops in the country. The nation bordering Ukraine will host U.S., German, Czech, Dutch, Polish and Slovenian troops, as well as a Patriot missile-defense system, Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad said.
On the ground in Ukraine, the evacuation of civilians from the besieged port city of Mariupol continues, with another 2,000 private cars leaving via a humanitarian corridor to the Ukrainian-government-held city of Zaporizhzhia.
