Against a backdrop of soaring fuel prices worldwide and growing concern about the extent and impact of the conflict in Ukraine, Europe's first new nuclear power plant in 15 years was officially opened in Finland on the weekend.

The facility, called Olkiluoto 3, has begun test production for the country's national grid, and should be up to full capacity by the end of July, when it will be on course to meet 14 percent of the country's demand for electricity, allowing it to ease off imports from Norway, Sweden, and Russia.

It is located on Finland's west coast and is the country's first new nuclear facility in more than four decades.

"OL3 significantly improves Finland's electricity self-sufficiency and helps in achieving carbon neutrality goals," said the operating company Teollisuuden Voima, also known as TVO.

The reactor, built by the Frenchled Areva-Siemens consortium, was originally supposed to open in 2009, but technical problems developed into legal disputes and the project was halted.

It was Europe's first nuclear power station since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, with a combination of French and German technical expertise offering higher safety standards and increased production power, before disputes about technical issues, which Finland's nuclear regulator put down to poor management and workmanship, put the project on hold.

According to the 2019 World Nuclear Industry Report, its initial estimate cost of 3 billion euros ($3.27 billion) ended up being closer to 11 billion euros.

The compensation dispute between TVO and Areva was settled in March 2018, and now the plant is ready to become productive.

"When Olkiluoto 3 reaches full output, around 90 percent of Finland's electricity generation will come from clean, low-carbon electricity sources, with nuclear generation supplying around half of that," said Sama Bilbao y Leon, director-general of the World Nuclear Association.

"We congratulate the staff of TVO, the Finnish regulator STUK and all the companies involved for this great achievement."

The Ukraine conflict has made many Europeans see it as a relief to lessen Europe-wide dependence on fuel imports from Russia amid the uncertainty and economic consequences.

Currently, around 40 percent of Europe's gas and more than one quarter of its crude oil comes from Russia, and steps have already been taken to reduce its importance, with Germany, which gets around half its coal and oil from Russia, saying it wants to end both by the end of the year.

VIENNA - External electricity supplies have been restored at Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant, four days after its disconnection from the power grid, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Sunday.

Ukraine's regulatory authorities told the IAEA that Ukrainian specialist teams repaired one of the two damaged power lines at Chernobyl on Sunday, enabling all required off-site power to be delivered to the plant, the United Nations nuclear watchdog said in a daily statement.

The plant will be connected to the Ukrainian electricity grid on Monday morning, according to Ukraine's regulator.

The Chernobyl plant was disconnected from the power grid on Wednesday and has been operating on backup diesel generators. The plant is currently controlled by Russian armed forces.

"This is a positive development as the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has had to rely on emergency diesel generators for several days now," the IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said. "However, I remain gravely concerned about safety and security at Chernobyl and Ukraine's other nuclear facilities."

The Chernobyl nuclear plant, some 110 kms north of Kiev, witnessed one of the worst nuclear accidents in human history on April 26, 1986.

On Feb. 24, advisor to the Head of the President's Office of Ukraine Mykhailo Podoliak said Russian forces have seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Ukraine's neighbors reported a dip in the numbers of new refugees on Saturday as governments struggled to find shelter for those who have fled since Russia's military operation began two weeks ago.

Germany will take in 2,500 refugees who have fled to Moldova from Ukraine, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Saturday after meeting her Moldovan counterpart in Chisinau, the capital.

Britain will pay people to open their homes to Ukrainians. The new program, called Homes for Ukraine, will let refugees from the war travel to Britain even if they do not have family ties, the government said on Sunday.

A senior Russian defense ministry official said on Saturday that the humanitarian situation in Ukraine continued to decline rapidly, and he blamed the actions of Ukrainian fighters, the RIA news agency reported.

"The humanitarian situation in Ukraine, unfortunately, continues to rapidly worsen, and in some cities has reached catastrophic proportions," RIA quoted Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Russian National Defense Control Centre, as saying.

Refugees have aimed for cities with established Ukrainian communities and better chances of finding work. The refugee inflows coincided with another day of shelling. Russian forces launched a missile attack on a large Ukrainian military facility near the Polish border on Sunday, as Kyiv said it was prepared for a "relentless defense" of the capital.

The Russian military launched an airstrike on the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security in Yavoriv, the Lviv regional military administration said.

Reuters quoted regional governor Maksym Kozytskyy as saying that Russian planes fired around 30 rockets, adding that some were intercepted before they hit. At least 35 people were killed and 134 wounded, he said.

The Kremlin did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the reported strike.

The 360-square-km facility less than 25 kilometers from the Polish border is one of Ukraine's biggest such centers and the largest in the western part of the country. Ukraine holds most of its drills with NATO countries there.

US President Joe Biden authorized $200 million in additional military equipment for Ukraine on Saturday. Russia said its troops could target supplies of Western weapons in Ukraine and that the pouring in of weapons would turn convoys transporting foreign weapons into Ukraine "into legitimate targets".

On the diplomatic front, Ukraine is working with Israel and Turkey as mediators to finalize a location and framework for peace negotiations with Russia, Ukrainian presidential adviser and negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak said on Sunday.

Agencies contributed to this story.

MOSCOW/KYIV - Russian and Ukrainian delegations will resume talks on Monday via video link, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday.

"Negotiations go non-stop in the format of video conferences. Working groups are constantly functioning. A large number of issues require constant attention. On Monday, March 14, a negotiating session will be held to sum up the preliminary results," Mykhailo Podoliak, advisor to the Head of the President's Office of Ukraine, tweeted on Sunday night.

Ukrainian and Russian delegations have held three rounds of peace talks in-person in Belarus since Feb. 28, though the negotiations ended without a significant breakthrough.

Exact date for ending Russian energy dependence not agreed within bloc

European Union leaders have failed to agree on a date to end energy dependence on Russia and on granting Ukraine fast-track membership, and French and German leaders are continuing to seek diplomatic resolutions to the conflict.

Leaders of 27 EU member states meeting for an informal summit in Versailles, near Paris, on Thursday and Friday "acknowledged the European aspirations" of Ukraine and vowed to strengthen their ties with Kyiv, but ruled out quick accession to the bloc sought by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who signed a formal application on Feb 28.

"Today we have opened the pathway toward us for Ukraine," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after the meeting. "They are part of the European family."

However, France's President Emmanuel Macron, host of the summit, made it clear that there will be no fast-track accession for Ukraine.

"The answer is no," he said after the summit.

Other major European leaders echoed the view, with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte saying earlier that there was "no such thing as a fast-tracking of accession－that doesn't exist" and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz emphasizing that "it's very important that we continue to pursue the things we have decided in the past", pointing to the association agreement between the EU and Ukraine in 2017 as a way to strengthen ties.

Failing to agree on a date to cut energy dependence on Russia, the EU leaders promised only to "phase out our dependency on Russian gas, oil and coal imports as soon as possible".

The United States has announced a ban on Russian energy, but the EU is the largest buyer of Russian oil and gas, with Germany being the largest importer of Russian energy in the EU.

Irreplaceable role

Scholz indicated days ago that "at the moment, Europe's supply of energy for heat generation, mobility, power supply and industry cannot be secured in any other way".

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday that "there will be no sanctions covering oil and gas, which means that Hungary's energy supply is guaranteed for the next period".

While von der Leyen had proposed 2027 as a firm end date, EU leaders at the summit did not commit to an exact date, and only asked the European Commission to come up with a plan in May.

Zelensky on Friday expressed his disappointment with the EU, saying it should "do more" for Ukraine.

Von der Leyen said on Friday that from the following day the EU would start imposing sanctions on Russia, including banning the exports of any EU luxury goods to it and banning imports of key goods in the iron and steel sector from it.

On Saturday, Macron and Scholz held a joint phone call with Russia's President Vladimir Putin.

Ding Chun, director of the Center for European Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said France and Germany have not stopped their mediation.

"Germany and France are clear that they cannot totally follow the actions taken by the US and the United Kingdom," Ding said, adding that both the US and the UK are not adjacent to Ukraine.

Scholz and Macron know well that Russia is not going to move anywhere, and totally cornering Putin without offering an off-ramp is bad for them and Europe, Ding said.

"German and French leaders want to resolve the conflict as soon as possible because the longer it lasts, the more costly it is for them."

He described Scholz and Macron as rational leaders despite some public pressure for more radical actions.

Lai Suetyi, associate professor in the Center for European Studies at the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, said: "It's nice to see more EU member states being pragmatic regarding Ukraine's accession to the EU. The painful process of integrating the new members from the 2004 big-bang enlargement has been felt strongly in recent years."

Fast-track admission would be "romantic" but "very painful" for the EU, she said.

"The Versailles summit rejected such romantic expectations of the EU and showed that the majority of EU leaders choose to be pragmatic."

On the inconclusive results of cutting off Russian energy, Lai said the summit showed that "many of the EU member states are cautious on the price they would bear in aiding Ukraine".

The second batch of Chinese humanitarian aid to Ukraine has left Beijing on Saturday, including food, sleeping bags and damp-proof mats.

The packs, sent by the Red Cross Society of China, are expected to arrive at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport in Hungary and move from there to Ukraine.

The consignment will be given to Ukraine's Red Cross Society to help local people.

It is the second such consignment sent from Beijing to Ukraine by the society.

The first batch of Chinese humanitarian aid arrived in Ukraine on Friday. The consignment, which includes 1,000 family kits containing daily supplies worth 5 million yuan ($800,000), crossed the Ukraine-Romania border on Friday, having been delivered by plane to Bucharest Airport.

The packs contain blankets, towels, cutlery, damp-proof mats, buckets and torches.

Ukraine's Red Cross Society will receive the consignment when the truck convoy containing the aid arrives in the western Ukrainian city of Chernivtsi.

BEIJING - At 9:16 am on Sunday, a temporary flight carrying Chinese citizens evacuated from Ukraine arrived in Jinan, East China's Shandong province.

Prior to Sunday, eleven temporary flights taking Chinese nationals back from Ukraine have returned to China safely.

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday, and urged them to influence the Kiev authorities to stop "criminal acts" of Ukrainian "nationalist battalions," according to the Kremlin.

Macron and Scholz urged an immediate ceasefire and a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Ukraine, the German government said in a statement, noting the 75-minute talk as part of the ongoing international efforts to end the conflict.

Putin gave a "detailed account of the series of talks held via videoconference by Russian and Ukrainian representatives over the past days," and the three leaders reviewed issues pertaining to the agreements being worked out concerning the implementation of the earlier Russian demands, the Kremlin said in a statement.

Putin informed Macron and Scholz of "the real situation on the ground" in response to the issues raised by them "regarding the humanitarian situation on the territory of the military operation to protect Donbass," the Kremlin said.

Putin cited "multiple facts of gross violations of the international humanitarian law by the Ukrainian army and police: extrajudicial killings of dissenters, hostage taking and the use of civilians as human shields, deployment of heavy weaponry in residential areas, in proximity to hospitals, schools, kindergartens, and so on," according to the Kremlin statement.

"Nationalist battalions regularly sabotage rescue operations and threaten civilians when they attempt to evacuate," the Kremlin said, adding that Putin urged Macron and Scholz to influence the Kiev authorities to stop such "criminal acts."

The three leaders agreed to continue contacts on Ukrainian issues, the Kremlin said.

Scholz spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday morning, and learned about Zelensky's assessment of the current situation. The two agreed to keep in touch, according to the German statement.

MOSCOW -- Russia will publish individual sanctions against the West in the near future, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Saturday.

"The lists are ready," Ryabkov said on Russian broadcaster Channel One, adding that the sanctions will be made public soon.

According to Ryabkov, Moscow sees no indication that the United States was ready to continue dialogue on Ukraine.

The diplomat also warned Washington against transferring weapons to Ukraine, adding that these weapons will become legitimate targets for the Russian forces.

The first batch of Chinese humanitarian aid has reached Ukraine. The consignment, which includes 1,000 family kits containing daily supplies worth 5 million yuan ($800,000), crossed the Ukraine-Romania border on Friday, having being delivered by plane to Bucharest Airport.

The packs contain blankets, towels, cutlery, damp-proof mats, buckets and torches, and were sent from Beijing by the Red Cross Society of China.

Ukraine's Red Cross Society will receive the consignment when the truck convoy containing the aid arrives in the western Ukrainian city of Chernivtsi.

A second batch of materials will leave the Chinese capital on Sunday.

KYIV -- Ukraine established 12 humanitarian corridors in four regions on Friday to allow civilians to leave the conflict-torn areas, the Ukrainian government-run Ukrinform news agency reported, citing Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

The humanitarian corridors were set up to evacuate people from some cities and towns in eastern Donetsk and Kharkiv, southern Zaporizhzhya and north-central Kyiv, Vereshchuk said.

She added that the Ukrainian authorities also have organized supplies of food and water to civilians in several other regions across the country that were affected by the conflict with Russia.

MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that he supported the idea of allowing volunteers from abroad to provide military assistance to Donbass.

Western countries and Ukraine do not hide that they are gathering mercenaries and sending them to Ukraine, Putin said at a meeting with permanent members of Russia's Security Council.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Putin that he had received "a huge number of applications from various kinds of volunteers from different countries" who would like to come to Lugansk and Donetsk in order to "participate in what they consider a liberation movement."

"The largest number is from the Middle Eastern countries. There are already more than 16,000 applications," Shoigu reported.

"If you see that there are people who want on a voluntary basis, especially not for money, to come and help people living in Donbass, you need to meet them halfway and help them move to the war zone," Putin said after listening to his report.

Putin also backed Shoigu's initiative to transfer Western-made weapons captured by the Russian military in Ukraine to the forces of Donbass.

ANTALYA, Turkey -- The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Thursday held meetings with Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers respectively on nuclear security in a town in Turkey's southern province of Antalya, Turkish official sources said Friday.

At the invitation of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi arrived in Belek, a town about 30 km from Antalya's provincial capital, to attend the Antalya Diplomatic Forum that kicked off on Friday, the sources said.

On the sidelines of the international forum, Grossi held separate meetings with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, a source of the Turkish Foreign Ministry told Xinhua.

Following the talks, Grossi wrote in two successive tweets that his meeting with Kuleba was "important and forward-looking," and that with Lavrov was "constructive and important."

"We are making progress on the safety and security of nuclear facilities in Ukraine," he wrote.

Both Kuleba and the Permanent Mission of Russia to the International Organizations in Vienna confirmed via Twitter that safety and security of nuclear facilities in Ukraine were discussed in the meetings.

Lavrov and Kuleba held a meeting on Thursday in Belek in the presence of Cavusoglu, the first high-level meeting between Moscow and Kyiv since Russia's special military operation in Ukraine started on Feb 24.

During the meeting, the two sides failed to make progress on a ceasefire but agreed to continue negotiations over the conflict.

MOSCOW - Russia on Thursday accused the United States of funding research into the development of biological weapons in Ukraine.

Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a televised briefing that "the purpose of this -- and other Pentagon-funded biological research in Ukraine -- was to establish a mechanism for the stealthy spread of deadly pathogens."

Konashenkov claimed the ministry had obtained documents detailing US military-biological activities in Ukraine, including on the transfer of Ukrainians' biomaterial abroad.

He said Washington "planned to carry out research on bird, bat and reptile pathogens", as well as on African swine fever and anthrax.

"Bio-laboratories set up and funded in Ukraine have been experimenting with bat coronavirus samples," Konashenkov added.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in a press conference later Thursday following talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba repeated the claim, saying Washington had funded development of biological weapons in Ukraine.

"The Americans carried out this work in complete secrecy. Just like how they work in other former Soviet states, creating their military-biological labs right along Russia's borders," he said.

Both Washington and Kyiv have denied the existence of laboratories intended to produce biological weapons in the country.

AFP

Premier Li Keqiang said on Friday that the situation in Ukraine is indeed disconcerting and the top priority now is to prevent tensions from further escalating or even getting out of control. 

He made the remark during a news conference after the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress concluded in Beijing.

"We believe utmost efforts should be made to support Russia and Ukraine in carrying forward negotiations of ceasefire by overcoming difficulties in order to achieve peace," he said, adding that China supports and encourages all efforts in this regard.

Li said that China calls for restraint to prevent the occurrence of a massive humanitarian crisis. China has put forward an initiative about the humanitarian situation in Ukraine and will continue to provide humanitarian assistance for the Ukrainian side, he said.

The premier said that while the world economy is already struggling amid the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, relevant sanctions will further hurt the world economic recovery and are not in any country's interest.

The premier stressed that China always follows the independent foreign policy of peace.

Regarding the situation in Ukraine, China maintains that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries should be respected, the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter should be observed, and the security concerns of all countries should also be taken seriously, he said.

"On this basis, China makes its own assessment and will work with the international community to play a positive role for an early return of peace," he said.

Wang Yi calls for show of support for talks between Kyiv and Moscow

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi has renewed a call for the international community to step forward and encourage Russia and Ukraine to stick with negotiations despite the difficulties encountered in three rounds of talks.

Wang made clear China's position in virtual meetings on Thursday with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio. The discussions with his European peers mark the latest stage in China's intensive diplomatic efforts to push forward a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.

Wang, when he met with Di Maio via video link, said dialogue between the parties is the only viable means to achieve a lasting cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine.

Wang also described talks on Thursday between the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine in Turkey as a positive step toward peace. He said the international community should encourage the two sides to strive for peace.

He vowed that China would continue to make efforts to defuse the situation and promote peace.

During his talks with Le Drian, Wang said China hopes the international community will create the necessary environment and conditions for the talks between Russia and Ukraine to make progress.

Wang also noted that China has proposed a six-point initiative to prevent a massive humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.

China would push the United Nations Security Council to form a consensus on avoiding a humanitarian crisis through consultations with all sides, he added.

Given that countries around the world have become a shared community that is indivisible, Wang said unlimited sanctions would damage the stability of the international supply chains, intensify food and energy crises and harm the livelihoods of people amid a sluggish global economic recovery.

With the conflict now in its third week, attention has been focused on the plight of civilians at risk.

At least 35,000 civilians were evacuated from besieged Ukrainian cities on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

In a video address late on Wednesday, the Ukrainian leader said three humanitarian corridors had allowed residents to leave the cities of Sumy, Enerhodar and areas around the capital Kyiv.

The evacuations came after Moscow and Kyiv agreed on Wednesday to open more corridors, offering a glimmer of hope for terrified civilians trapped in bombarded cities.

More than 5,000 people were evacuated a day earlier from Sumy, a city near the Russian border and that has been the scene of heavy fighting.

The International Organization for Migration, the United Nations' migration agency, said more than 2.3 million people had fled Ukraine by Thursday.

In another consequence of the conflict, Ukraine's nuclear regulator Ukrenergo said on Wednesday that power had been cut to the Chernobyl nuclear plant, but the International Atomic Energy Agency claimed there was "no critical impact on safety".

The news from the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster came as the IAEA said data transmission was also lost at the Zaporizhzhia atomic plant, Europe's largest.

Agencies contributed to this story.

MOSCOW - The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday that US-funded biological laboratories in Ukraine worked on establishing a mechanism "for the covert transmission of deadly pathogens".

Experts of the Russian Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops found evidence that bio-materials taken in Ukraine were transferred to foreign countries, as instructed by the United States, the ministry said.

A US project, which was carried out in Ukraine, studied the transfer of pathogens "by wild birds migrating between Ukraine and Russia and other neighboring countries", the ministry said.

"According to the documents, the US side planned to organize work on pathogens of birds, bats and reptiles in Ukraine in 2022," the ministry said, adding that America was studying how they could further transfer the African swine fever and anthrax.

Experiments with samples of coronaviruses found in bats were also carried out in biological laboratories that were created and funded in Ukraine, it added.

The ministry said it will show another set of documents received from Ukrainian employees of the biological laboratories and present the results of assessment in the near future.

On Tuesday, US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland testified before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Ukraine, admitting "Ukraine has biological research facilities".

"We are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach," she said.

Russia and Ukraine failed to make a breakthrough on a ceasefire agreement on Thursday at the first high-level talks since Moscow launched its "special military operation" in Ukraine two weeks ago.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba met in the southern Turkish resort of Antalya and were joined by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

The talks lasted more than one-and-a-half hours, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

Images of the meeting showed the Russian, Turkish and Ukrainian delegations sitting at a table, with each minister accompanied by only two other officials.

Kuleba said after the meeting that he discussed a 24-hour ceasefire with Lavrov, but no progress was made. He described the meeting as "difficult".

"I want to repeat that Ukraine has not surrendered, does not surrender, and will not surrender," said Kuleba, noting that the Russian side insisted a cease-fire could only be achieved after the surrender of Ukrainian forces.

Lavrov, meanwhile, said Russia wants to continue negotiations with Ukraine, and added that President Vladimir Putin would not refuse a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss "specific" issues.

He accused the West of creating a danger in the region that would persist for many years and said those who had supplied weapons to Ukrainian forces and mercenaries should understand the dangers of what they were doing.

"We will come out of this crisis with refreshed views of the world－with no illusions about the West. We will try to never again be dependent on the West," Lavrov said.

The talks in Turkey were one of a number of planned diplomatic initiatives.

Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that Putin will hold a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Moscow on Friday.

Turkey is a traditional ally of Ukraine and has supplied the country with Bayraktar drones, which Kyiv has deployed in the conflict.

But it is seeking to maintain good relations with Russia, on which Turkey depends heavily for gas imports and tourism revenues.

Turkey has for weeks pushed to play a mediation role in the conflict, but analysts had said there was only a slim chance of a breakthrough at the meeting.

Many observers do not believe that talks between Moscow and Kyiv is useful, said Ukrainian political analyst Rostislav Ishchenko.

He added that Ukraine needs these talks in order to agree to a cease-fire and then buy time to regroup and gear up for another military operation.

Agencies contributed to this story.

ANTALYA, Turkey - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, agreed on continuing negotiations over the conflict but failed to make progress in declaring a ceasefire during their meeting in Turkey on Thursday.

The tripartite meeting, held on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomatic Forum, in the presence of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, was the first high-level meeting between Moscow and Kiev since Russia's special military operation in Ukraine started on Feb 24.

READY TO CONTINUE NEGOTIATIONS

Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Kuleba said that he is ready to meet with Lavrov again in the same format with Turkey as a mediator, whereas Lavrov said that Russia wants to continue talks with Ukraine within the current format in Belarus.

"We had come here not to replace track of negotiations taking place in Belarus. We will not create a parallel track. If there is added value, we are ready to discuss it in different formats," Lavrov told reporters.

"Everyone is well aware that President (Vladimir) Putin never refuses contacts. We only want these contacts to be organized not for their own sake, but in order to fix some specific agreements," Lavrov said.

The Russian top diplomat said that the discussions with his Ukrainian counterpart were mostly focused on the "efforts of our friends in Turkey regarding issues related to the humanitarian field," referring to Ankara's mediation efforts.

He also warned that the West was behaving dangerously in reaction to the situation in Ukraine, adding that Russia's military operation there was going on in accordance with the plan.

At a separate press conference, Cavusoglu said that Turkey is ready to continue its "efforts for diplomacy between Russia and Ukraine" and has played a role of "facilitator" during the meeting, adding that both the Ukrainian and Russian sides are not opposed to further meetings in principle.

Ukrainian and Russian delegations have held three rounds of peace talks in Belarus since last week, though the negotiations ended without a significant breakthrough.

NO DEAL ON CEASEFIRE

Kuleba noted the failure to make progress in declaring a ceasefire.

Turkey stressed that humanitarian corridors in Ukraine should be kept open without any obstacles, Cavusoglu said after the meeting.

On Thursday, Ukraine continued evacuating civilians from conflict-torn cities and towns through seven humanitarian corridors in northern, north-central, eastern, and southern Ukraine, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported, citing Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

On Wednesday, more than 40,000 civilians were evacuated from Ukraine in one day.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's state-run energy company Ukrenergo on Thursday also called for a ceasefire to allow repair teams to enter and restore power supply to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

"We have everything ready to immediately repair the lines and resume power supply to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that has been disconnected from power for more than one day. Just stop shelling and give a pass to our repair teams," Ukrenergo said in a statement on Facebook.

Earlier on Thursday, the Belarusian news outlet BelTA said on Telegram that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has instructed specialists to ensure power supply to the Chernobyl plant, though Ukrenergo later reported that Ukraine needs no assistance from Belarus in repairing the plant.

KYIV - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a law to allow the confiscation of Russia-owned property in Ukraine, the press service of Ukraine's parliament said Thursday.

The law stipulates that the property owned by Russia or Russian citizens could be confiscated by the Ukrainian authorities without any compensation.

The legislation was approved by the Ukrainian parliament on March 3.

Russia launched a special military operation against Ukraine on Feb 24.

Delegations of the two sides have held three rounds of talks in Belarus and the two countries' foreign ministers have met in Turkey to seek a solution to the crisis, though the negotiations ended without a significant breakthrough.