Photo by Emrah Yorulmaz/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
- Ukrainian foreign minister warned peace negotiators not to eat, drink, or touch anything on Tuesday.
- Ukrainian negotiators and Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich were reportedly targeted in a poison attack earlier in March.
- Russian and Ukrainian peace talks continued in Istanbul on Tuesday.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba warned peace negotiators on Tuesday to avoid eating, drinking, or touching anything after reports of suspected poison attacks earlier this month.
“I advise anyone going for negotiations with the Russian Federation not to eat or drink anything and preferably, to avoid touching any surface,” Kuleba said during an interview with television channel Ukrayina 24.
Kuleba’s remarks come after reports surfaced on Monday that Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian peace negotiators experienced symptoms from a suspected poison attack earlier in March.
Russia has long been accused of poison attacks, including the attempted killing of top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny in August 2020 with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Abramovich has tried to help Ukraine during Russia’s ongoing war against the country, and he was spotted at Tuesday’s peace talks in Istanbul.
Tuesday’s deliberations were a notable step forward in the effort to end the war that has lasted over a month and claimed thousands of lives — many of them civilians.
Ukraine offered to never join NATO and remain neutral in exchange for significant security guarantees, while Russia said it will pull back on assaults near the capital city Kyiv.
Russia’s advance on Ukraine has largely stalled across multiple fronts, and its defense ministry previously said forces would focus on eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.
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