Kyiv announces aid corridors, Moscow gas talks restarted
Russia yesterday said it welcomes Kyiv’s decision to establish humanitarian corridors in its separatist east, but stressed that Moscow has yet to see an easing of the Ukrainian crisis.
“We’ve heard that [Ukrainian] President [Petro] Poroshenko spoke in favor of the creation of corridors for refugees. We welcome this,” Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov said after talks with his German and Polish counterparts.
However, Lavrov took issue with German Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s statement about a reduction in fighting, saying that “in some places we are witnessing an escalation of military operations.”
Poroshenko ordered the creation of the corridors in a bid to advance his plan to end nearly two months of fighting by this week.
The fromer tycoon’s initiative meets a major demand put forward by Moscow and helps address growing concern among rights groups about Kyiv’s use of tanks and air power in heavily populated areas to suppress the pro-Russian insurgency.
Yet the 48-year-old chocolatier stopped far short of accepting the Kremlin’s request to allow Russian aid into Ukraine’s eastern rustbelt, a move Kyiv fears could be a ruse to arm the rebels.
He also told his government to provide transportation, food and medical supplies to local officials so they can handle the expected inflow of displaced persons.
Also yesterday, Ukraine and Russia resumed efforts to resolve a gas pricing dispute after a Kremlin deadline for Kyiv to pay some of its debts passed without Moscow cutting off supplies.
Kyiv had until yesterday to pay some of the billions of US dollars it owes, but Russia pulled back after officials said talks brokered by the European Commission would continue in Brussels.