Ukraine agrees to hold talks with Russia in Belarus

In a major development, Ukraine has agreed to hold talks with Russia in Belarus, and a Ukrainian delegation is heading to Gomel (Belarus) for negotiations with the Russian side, as reported by the Interfax news agency.

This development comes after reports that Belarusian leader Lukashenko spoke to his Ukrainian counterpart in the last hour.

Ukrainian and Russian officials will meet for talks at a venue on the Belarusian border with Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky's office said on Sunday. 

The talks, the first since Russia unleashed a full scale invasion of Ukraine last week, would be held without preconditions and are the result of a phone call between Zelenskiy and the Belarusian president, Zelensky said.

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“Kyiv “confirmed” the planned talks in the Gomel Region, which is close to the borders of both Russia and Ukraine,” RT news reported quoting Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky.

According to the report, Medinsky, who is an aide to President Vladimir Putin and former culture minister, said that the parties are now deciding on the logistics and the exact location of the summit, with “maximum security” for the Ukrainians. “We guarantee that the travel route will be 100% safe. We will be waiting for the Ukrainian delegation,” Russian chief negotiator told reporters. 

The Russian team had already reached Gomel on Sunday, where it said talks were planned with the Ukrainians.

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Earlier in the day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had rejected the Kremlin’s offer of talks in Belarus on Sunday, saying the country was a staging ground for the Russian invasion, reported agencies. The President, however, had left the door to negotiations open in other locations. 

In a video message, Zelenskiy named Warsaw, Bratislava, Istanbul, Budapest or Baku as alternative venues.

Kyiv said it wanted to negotiate on “neutral ground,” arguing that Russian troops were using Belarusian territory to stage attacks on Ukraine.

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• Russia
• Russia-Ukraine crisis
• Ukraine
• agrees
• hold talks
• Belarus