On March 7, local time, the third round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine was officially concluded, this negotiation lasted for three hours, but the progress was not smooth, and the Russian side believed that the expected effect of the negotiations was not achieved.
The Russian side hopes to sign at least one agreement, but the Ukrainian side only said that it will bring the documents back to study, and no documents were signed at the scene. The only result achieved was the Ukrainian side's pledge to reopen the humanitarian route on March 8 to help evacuate people. However, whether this commitment can be counted is also unknown.
In the previous negotiations, the Russian and Ukrainian sides have reached an agreement on the evacuation of civilians, but in practice, in several major cities, including Mariupol and Kharkiv, the Ukrainian army still does not allow civilians to leave through the humanitarian passage of the Russian army. The Ukrainian army's move was to use the people as a shield to block the Russian offensive and delay time. This time, the Ukrainian representatives agreed again, but will the Ukrainian army really let the civilians go? It's hard to tell.
Before the negotiations began, the Ukrainian side had loosened its grip on "joining NATO," but that was more of a delaying tactic. On March 7, Arahmia, chairman of the parliamentary caucus of the Ukrainian People's Public Servants Party and a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the Russian-Ukrainian negotiators, said in an interview that in view of NATO's hesitation on the Ukraine issue, Ukraine will not be committed to applying for NATO membership in the next 5 to 10 years, and Ukraine will talk to many countries to discuss a certain "non-NATO" model.
This was the first time since the beginning of the war that Ukraine had relaxed on the issue of "joining NATO", and the words of the negotiators seemed to bring light to peace. The main reason for Russia's "special military operations" against Ukraine is NATO's five eastward expansions, which have greatly reduced Russia's security space and even placed missiles on Russia's doorstep, posing a serious threat to Russia's national security. Once Ukraine joins NATO, there will be no buffer space between Russia and NATO. Therefore, on the issue of joining NATO, there are fundamental differences between Russia and Ukraine. Russia opposes it, ukraine insists that even after the war began on February 24, Zelenskiy organized resistance while also demanding that NATO open the door to accept Ukraine. However, in this negotiation, the Ukrainian side did not propose a solution to the so-called "abandonment of NATO".
After the Ukrainian representative made a statement, Putin also gave a very clear ceasefire condition.
Before the third round of talks, Russian presidential press secretary Peskov said in a telephone interview with Reuters that Russia could terminate "special military operations" at any time if Kiev could meet some conditions. There are three conditions: first, that Ukraine should amend its constitution, remain neutral and renounce membership in "any group"; ukraine recognizes Crimea as Russian territory and recognizes the independence of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic.
Compared with before, the Russian standard has been lowered. However, the Ukrainian side still refuses to release its sincerity at the negotiating table, or it is still a "drag" word to the end.
In fact, the Current Plan of the Ukrainian Military is to delay and wait for Western support. Although NATO does not intend to intervene directly by force, the United States and other countries have been secretly transporting weapons to Ukraine through a secret airport on the Ukrainian border, up to 17 daily flights at most.
According to CNN, the location of the airport is currently confidential, and the United States is coordinating allies to protect "weapons such as anti-armor missiles shipped into Ukraine", and even Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, is also going to the secret airport.
At present, it is not clear whether the change in the attitude of the Ukrainian side is intentional or instigated by the United States behind it, but what is not available at the negotiating table must be realized on the battlefield, and now Ukraine can still rely on the support of the United States to resist stubbornly, but once it is impossible to delay, Ukraine will really be in trouble.