Ukrainian Foreign Minister 'Wants to Punch Russian Foreign Minister in the Nose'

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he felt like punching his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in the face during talks in the early stages of the conflict between the two countries, Reuters reported.

Mr. Kuleba made the statement in an hour-long interview with a Ukrainian blogger. The interview was published on January 15.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba attends a press conference with his Japanese counterpart Yoko Kamikawa in a bomb shelter in Kyiv on January 7.

Asked about his most difficult series of negotiations, Mr. Kuleba said: “The most difficult conversations are the ones where you feel like you just want to punch the other person in the nose, but you really can’t do it.”

“And I can say that this has happened two or three times. Once was with Mr. Lavrov (in the Turkish resort of Antalya) in the spring of 2022,” he added, according to The Independent .

Ukrainian and Russian negotiators have held several rounds of talks in the first weeks since the conflict erupted in February 2022, first near Ukraine's border with Belarus and then in Türkiye.

Mr Kuleba said at the time that the talks in Türkiye were difficult because of the need to resolve the ceasefire and arrange humanitarian corridors. No agreement was reached during those talks, and the sides have not sat down to talk since.

The US is worried that Ukraine will have difficulty formulating a new strategy because of the division between the President and the Commander-in-Chief.

Responding to the Ukrainian Foreign Minister's words, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the Izvestia daily that such statements showed the "weakness" of Ukraine's leadership.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/ngoai-truong-ukraine-muon-dam-vao-mui-ngoai-truong-nga-18524011616102303.htm