‘TO SAVE OUR GUYS’

Ukraine’s Chief Negotiator: We’re Ready for Special Talks With Russia in Mariupol

Reports of potential face-to-face negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow come after suggestions from inside Mariupol that the city was on its “last days, if not hours”.

Ukraine’s top negotiator said on Tuesday that Kyiv was ready for a “special round of negotiations” with Russian officials over the besieged port city of Mariupol. The statement from Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, came a day after reports emerged from inside Mariupol that the city was on its “last days, if not hours,” according to Ukrainian commander Maj. Serhii Volyna. Podolyak wrote that his team was ready for talks “without any conditions.” They could be held “right in Mariupol,” he continued. “One on one. Two on two. To save our guys, Azov, military, civilians, children, the living & the wounded. Everyone.” Maj. Volyna, speaking to CNN on Tuesday, had described the situation in Mariupol as dire. “We fight to the last,” he said, “but we have very little time left.” Kyiv and Moscow have not held face-to-face negotiations in more than three weeks, with Podolyak saying earlier this week that the siege on Mariupol had significantly heightened diplomatic tensions. “Russia defiantly renounces any manifestations of humanity and humanism when it comes to certain humanitarian corridors,” he told Reuters on Tuesday. “Especially when we talk about Mariupol.”

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AJ McDougallBreaking News Reporter

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