Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko has said that she expects nothing from today's talks – except perhaps a reprieve from the Russian barrage.
After four days of fighting and a Russian advance that has gone more slowly than some expected, talks between Ukraine and Russia started on Monday at the border with Russian ally Belarus, a senior Ukrainian official told Reuters via text message.
The goal was an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian forces, the Ukrainian president's office said earlier.
It was not clear whether any progress could be achieved after president Vladimir Putin on Thursday launched the biggest assault on a European state since World War II and put Russia's nuclear deterrent on high alert on Sunday.
Ready, set, GO - negotiations starting in 3-2-1. I’m already grateful that the guns are relatively silent for the time the politicians will talk. pic.twitter.com/uirjiGEqa2
— Lesia Vasylenko (@lesiavasylenko) February 28, 2022
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Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast Ms Vasylenko said she doubted there would be any developments from the talks.
“Ukrainians are fighting for freedom. We are fighting for our right to our independence which was acknowledged by Russia back in 1991, and then they decided in 2014 to change their mind. It just doesn’t work like that.
“I am confident that our president, president Zelenskyy, is in those talks explaining exactly the same thing to Putin.
“I doubt that Putin and his entourage are ever going to understand what we are saying, and they are just going to continue with their nuclear blackmail, and they are going to continue with their threats.
“I think the most valuable thing that can be gotten out of those negotiations is the fact that our army is getting a bit of a breather because while those talks are taking place, it is quiet time.”
'Help us close the skies'
When asked whether Ukrainians would continue to stand against the invasion, Ms Vasylenko said they would as they had no other choice.
“If we want to live in a free and independent country - and we do, God we do - then we will continue to fight.
“I have three children. I want all of them to grow up as Ukrainians, speaking Ukrainian, in their Ukrainian Ukraine that is independent and free. Part of the EU. Part of Nato. Part of the big European family in which we belong.
“I don’t want them to be slaves in a Russian Empire. So, this is what I fight for.”
Ms Vasylenko said she was in a town near Kyiv where sirens had sounded four times during the night, she feared that the Russians were now regrouping to attack again.
“This is a worrying fact. This is a fact that makes us sit down and think about what else can we do to call on the international community to come into Ukraine right here, right now and help us close the skies.”
-Additional reporting by Reuters
