Russian attacks on Ukraine civilians stall peace talks, says adviser to Turkiye’s president

Mounting evidence of atrocities against Ukrainian civilians allegedly by Russian troops has stalled Turkiye’s efforts to mediate a ceasefire and broader settlement between the two countries, a senior Turkish official has said, Report informs via the Financial Times.

Ibrahim Kalin, a senior adviser to Turkiye’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told the Financial Times that the horrific images of dead civilians in towns such as Bucha and Borodyanka had affected Ukraine’s willingness to continue negotiations.

In Ankara’s strongest condemnation yet of the killing of civilians, Kalin said: “We are all outraged by the pictures of . . . human rights violations and possible war crimes.” He added that the atrocities risked stalling the resumption of negotiations, “especially on the Ukrainian side”, saying they would “maybe take a pause for a few days and then regroup”.

“The developments on the ground, pictures coming out of Bucha and now a few other places, make it of course more difficult for the negotiations to continue as before,” Kalin said. “The Ukrainians are devastated, as we all are . . . these are really horrible, completely unacceptable, inhumane actions and whoever has done that should be brought to justice.”

However, Kalin said Turkiye, which has hosted the highest-level Russian-Ukrainian talks since the invasion began on February 24, was encouraging both sides to continue negotiations. Turkiye’s defence ministry was also engaging with its Russian and Ukrainian counterparts to secure the evacuation of civilians from the besieged southern city of Mariupol, he said.