Diplomacy and demands for air cover: Ukraine on 14 March 2022

What were Ukraine's leaders asking for, and what did the diplomatic picture look like, on 14 March 2022? Reports from that day and the days just before it show a government pressing for protection of its airspace while talks with Russia continued.

Appeals over the skies

On 13 March 2022, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again called for a no-fly zone over Ukraine. He said it was only a matter of time before Russian rockets fell on NATO territory.

Talks and their purpose

The same day, Zelenskyy said the purpose of the talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations was to open the way to direct talks between himself and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ukrainian negotiator and presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliyak and Russian delegate Leonid Slutsky both said there were signs of progress. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Russia was willing to engage in negotiations aimed at a ceasefire.

A day earlier, on 12 March 2022, Zelenskyy had proposed Jerusalem as a venue for ceasefire negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. He said Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett could have a positive impact on the talks.

A mayor taken, power restored

On 13 March 2022, the eighteenth day of the invasion, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Russian forces had kidnapped Yevhen Matveyev, the mayor of Dniprorudne.

There was one piece of practical news as well. Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko announced that power had been restored to the former power plant in Chernobyl.

A separate track in the South Caucasus

Elsewhere, on 14 March 2022, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan asked the OSCE Minsk Group to help start peace talks with Azerbaijan, with the aim of normalising relations after the conflict between the two countries.

Taken together, the reports from those days show Ukraine's leadership pursuing two tracks at once: negotiation with Russia, and an appeal to the West to close the skies over the country.