The much-anticipated trilateral meeting between the foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine and Turkey has concluded in Turkey's resort town of Antalya. Following two weeks of war, the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine on Thursday held their first face-to-face talks, which Ukraine's Dmytro Kuleba said made "no progress" on achieving a cease-fire to the fighting that has caused 2.2 million refugees to flee across Ukraine's borders. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow wanted to continue negotiations with Kyiv.

Turkey stressed that humanitarian corridors in Ukraine should be kept open without any obstacles, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also said underlining the need for a sustainable cease-fire.

The meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers was civil despite all the difficulties and the most important outcome of the talks was establishing contact, he added.

"Turkey is one of the countries that Ukraine is looking to among guarantors for a possible sustainable peace agreement," the minister underlined.

Speaking after the talks in southern Turkey, Kuleba told a news conference that the most difficult situation was in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, and that Lavrov did not commit to a humanitarian corridor there.

Kuleba called on Russia to allow the evacuation of civilians from the besieged city of Mariupol through a "humanitarian corridor."

Kuleba said he wanted to emerge from the meeting with an agreement on a humanitarian corridor from the besieged city but "unfortunately Minister Lavrov was not in a position to commit to it."

Kuleba said Lavrov "will correspond with respective authorities on this issue."

"We also talked on the cease-fire but no progress was accomplished on that," Kuleba told reporters after his meeting with Lavrov in Antalya, describing the meeting as "difficult" and accusing his counterpart of bringing "traditional narratives" to the table.

"It seems that there are other decision-makers for this matter in Russia," Kuleba said, in an apparent reference to the Kremlin.

Kuleba said that it appears Russia will continue its offensive as it pushes Kyiv to surrender, which will not happen.

He repeated his vow that the country "will not surrender" and said: "I want to repeat that Ukraine has not surrendered, does not surrender, and will not surrender."

He said Ukraine was ready for diplomacy but also able to defend itself.

His impression from the meeting was that Russia is not in a position at this point to establish a cease-fire after invading Ukraine, accusing Lavrov of having a different undering of what foreign ministers do in a crisis.

He added that he would be ready to meet with Lavrov again "if there are prospects or a substantial discussion and for seeking solutions."

But he emphasized: "We are ready for diplomacy, we seek diplomatic decisions but as long as there are none, we go with dedication, sacrificing ourselves, to defend our lands, our people, in the face of Russian aggression."

"Turkish Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu showed high professionalism in a bid to find a solution to the crisis that arose between two sides," he also added.

Russia has presented its proposals to Ukraine and wants a reply, Lavrov said during another media briefing after talks with Kuleba in Turkey.

Lavrov said that the West was behaving dangerously in reaction to the events in Ukraine and that Russia's military operation there was going according to plan.

He said that the West was creating a danger in the region that would persist for many years and that those who supply weapons and mercenaries to Ukraine should understand the gravity of what they are doing.

He accused the European Union and other countries of "dangerously" backing the supply of arms to Ukraine, as it resists an incursion by thousands of Russian troops.

"We see how dangerously our Western colleagues, including in the European Union, are acting now, which, in violation of all its so-called principles and values, encourages the supply of deadly weapons to Ukraine," Lavrov said.

Russia is ready to continue talks with Ukraine within the framework of the existing format in Belarus, Lavrov also said after negotiations with his Ukrainian counterpart.

"Today's meeting has confirmed that the Russian-Ukrainian format in Belarus has no alternative," Lavrov stated.

Russian President Vladimir Putin would not refuse a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss "specific" issues, Lavrov added.

On the possibility of a nuclear war, Lavrov said: "I don’t want to believe that ... only Western representatives have planted this idea of nuclear war in the public discourse."

Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu held bilateral meetings with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov ahead of the meeting.

"At a time of great need for peace, met with my Russian and Ukrainian counterparts Lavrov and Kuleba in a tripartite format on the margins of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum," he said on Twitter.

"We sincerely hope that peace prevails in our region. We will continue our efforts for diplomacy between Russia and Ukraine," he added.

The high-level tripartite meeting was arranged by Turkey as part of its continued efforts to mediate between the warring countries.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will also meet President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Çavuşoğlu on Friday.

Stoltenberg will visit Antalya on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, NATO announced in a press statement.

He will hold talks with Erdoğan and Çavuşoğlu, and participate in the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, the statement added.

The Antalya Diplomacy Forum is a high-level event of political leaders, diplomats, foreign policy experts, and academics. It will be held on March 11-13 this year.

Earlier lower-level talks in Belarus had produced several attempts to get civilians out of cities, many of which have failed after so-called humanitarian corridors came under attack.

Meanwhile, Russian forces neared Kyiv on Thursday, with tanks just a few kilometers from the limits of the Ukrainian capital in some places, raising fears it could soon be encircled.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 35,000 civilians had managed to flee cities under Russian attack on Wednesday.

But there was little relief in the southern port city of Mariupol, where the mayor said over 1,200 civilians had died in nine days of continuous shelling that have left residents without water, heat or communications.

Maintaining its neutral and balanced stance, Turkey continues its diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the Ukraine conflict, urging all sides to exercise restraint. While Ankara has opposed international sanctions designed to isolate Moscow, it also closed its straits to prevent some Russian vessels from crossing the Turkish Straits.

NATO ally Turkey borders Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea and has good ties with both. Since the beginning of the conflict, Ankara has offered to mediate between the two sides and host peace talks, underlining its support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. Having recently called Russia’s invasion an unacceptable violation of international law, Turkey has carefully formulated its rhetoric not to offend Moscow, with which it has close energy, defense and tourism ties.