By Associated Press
LVIV: A member of the Ukrainian delegation in talks with Russia on ending the month-long war says the two sides have decided to meet in person in Turkey beginning on Monday.
Davyd Arakhamia, the leader in Parliament of the faction of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party, said on Facebook that the in-person talks were agreed upon in a video consultation.
He did not give further details.
However, Russia’s chief negotiator said the in-person talks would begin on Tuesday, rather than Monday.
The two sides have met previously with no deal reached.
Meanwhile, the 16th edition of a popular half-marathon in Warsaw, Poland, on Sunday was dedicated in support of Ukraine.
The annual event was called the ‘Warsaw Half-Marathon of Peace’ this year.
The organisers are donating part of the proceeds and funds raised to a Polish charity and to three hospitals in Ukraine.
Some of the 7,000 participants were also running to raise funds for Ukrainian refugee children.
More than 2.2 million people have fled to Poland since Feb 24, when Russia launched its invasion of Poland’s neighbor, Ukraine.
Ukrainian refugees were among the female runners Sunday.
Valentina Dushko, who belongs to one of Ukraine’s oldest running clubs, said she and her companions were thankful to the organisers for the opportunity to run in the event.
“We thank all the Poles for helping us to get through this difficult period of life. Thanks to the Poles, we feel as much at home here as possible,” Dushko said.
Sunday also saw Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sign a law restricting the reporting on troop and military equipment movement unless such information has been announced or approved by the military general staff.
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The state news agency Ukrinform reported Sunday that the law calls for potential prison terms of three to eight years for violations.
The law bans “unauthorised dissemination of information about the direction, movement of international military assistance to Ukraine, the movement, movement or deployment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine or other military formations of Ukraine, committed in a state of martial law or a state of emergency,” Ukrinform said.
‘No leak of radioactive material’
Ukraine’s energy minister says no leaks of radioactive material have been detected since Russian tanks fired at nuclear power plants in Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia but that nightmares about a nuclear disaster keep him awake at night.
In an interview with one of Corriere della Sera’s correspondents in Kyiv, German Galushchenko was quoted as saying that his country’s nuclear plants “are a constant worry”.
“I haven’t slept for an entire night with the nightmare of nuclear disaster,” said Galushchenko, who is also an official of the state company that manages the nation’s four nuclear power plants.
Referring to the Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia facilities, Galushchenko said “luckily both facilities are still in the hands of our technicians, but Russian armored carriers fired against the facilities.”
In the interview published Sunday, he called those actions “criminal” and “totally irresponsible”.
Without citing a location, Galushchenko said “another gas pipeline was just hit” and “entire areas are left in the darkness and in the cold, especially in the region of Mariupol”.
He said Russian bombs have left 800,000 homes without electricity and 250,000 homes without gas.
Passenger train link from Russia to EU suspended
One of the last remaining passenger train links from Russia into the European Union has been suspended following the departure of the last two Allegro high-speed trains from St Petersburg to Helsinki.
Finland’s state-owned railway company VR said Friday it would suspend services between the Finnish capital and Russia’s second-largest city on Sunday, closing one of the last public transport routes for Russians who want to reach the EU.
Citing the sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, the Finnish railway company said it was no longer appropriate to operate the route.
It added that Finnish citizens and “people who wanted to depart from Russia have had adequate time to leave”.
Only a morning departure from Helsinki to St Petersburg ran on Sunday, while the afternoon train was cancelled.
Two departures from St Petersburg left as scheduled.
Russians wishing to travel to Finland can do so through crossing points on the 1,340-km (830-mile) land border with Russia that remain open for private cars.
Bus services to Finland continue to operate both from St Petersburg and Moscow.
