Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian negotiation delegation and assistant to President Vladimir Putin, said the two sides were "where the middle" on the issue of de-militarizing Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukraine's neutrality and its non-membership in NATO are topics that Moscow and Kiev have brought together to link up views, Medinsky said.
According to the head of the Russian negotiation delegation, managing Donbass was a key issue in negotiations, but the two sides viewed it differently.
"Ukraine believes that the issue of managing this territory should be decided by the Kiev government. We think the issue should be decided by the people of Donbass. The Donbass people have spoken out about this issue for 8 years, and since then, they have been forced to fight for 8 years to protect their own decisions," Sputnik quoted Medinsky as saying to reporters.
The head of the Russian delegation said that there could only be talk about a potential meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after the agreement between the two countries was ratified.
"I am not ready to comment on this, I just say that before talking about the meeting of leaders, the negotiating delegations need to prepare and agree on the agreement, then the agreement that we propose needs to be signed by foreign ministers and approved by the governments, only then can we talk about the summit between heads of state" - Mr. Medinsky told reporters when answering questions about the possibility or not of a meeting between President Putin and President Zelensky in the near future.
Earlier, in a speech to the people, Mr. Putin announced a special military campaign in Donbass. He stressed that Moscow's plans do not include occupying Ukraine, but only aim to de-militarize Ukraine, and protect the people of the two self-proclaimed union countries of Donetsk and Lugansk in Donbass, Eastern Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry affirmed that it did not attack civilian targets in Ukraine but only targeted military infrastructure. The ministry noted that there was no threat to civilians.
