ANTALYA, Turkey, March 10 (Xinhua) -- The foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine agreed on continuing negotiations over the conflict but failed to make progress in declaring a ceasefire during their meeting in Turkey on Thursday.
Russia wants to continue talks with Ukraine within the current format in Belarus, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after the meeting in Belek, a small resort town on the Turkish Mediterranean coast, which was held on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomatic Forum, in the presence of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
"We had come here not to replace track of negotiations taking place in Belarus. We will not create a parallel track. If there is added value, we are ready to discuss it in different formats," he told reporters.
"Everyone is well aware that President (Vladimir) Putin never refuses contacts. We only want these contacts to be organized not for their own sake, but in order to fix some specific agreements," Lavrov said.
He also criticized "dangerous" arms shipments to Ukraine, saying "We see how dangerously our Western colleagues, including in the European Union, are acting now, in violation of all its so-called principles."
Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba noted the failure to make progress in declaring a ceasefire, saying "I came here firstly for humanitarian reasons, and aimed at the evacuation of civilians," but Lavrov "was not in a position" to give a promise on that.
Lavrov said he would make necessary discussions with Russian authorities, Kuleba said, adding that he was "ready to continue talks to end the war."
The tripartite meeting was the first high-level meeting between Moscow and Kiev since Russia launched a "special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Since last week, Russian and Ukrainian delegations have held three rounds of peace talks in Belarus, though the negotiations ended without a significant breakthrough. ■
