Ukraine on Sunday agreed to hold talks with Russia in Belarus, the Russian state media said quoting officials in Moscow.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office said the two sides would meet at an unspecified location along the Belarusian border and did not give a precise time for the meeting.
This came amid reports that President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian nuclear forces to remain on high alert in response to what he called “aggressive statements” by leading NATO powers.
Ukraine's move to agree to negotiations came hours after Zelensky said Ukraine was willing to meet with Russia for peace talks, but not in a country that served as a staging ground for invasion. He said Ukraine was open for negotiations at other locations that were not showing aggression towards his country.
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Later, he took to his Telegram channel to state that he had spoken with Belarus' leader Alexander Lukashenko. He provided no further details so far.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukrainian authorities of wasting "an opportunity" for negotiations after Moscow's invasion of its pro-Western neighbour.
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Russia said its delegation was ready to meet Ukrainian officials in the Belarusian city of Gomel, a location Kyiv rejected as Zelenskiy said Minsk itself was complicit in the Russian invasion. Ukrainian officials had called the Kremlin’s move a propaganda.
{{/usCountry}}Russia said its delegation was ready to meet Ukrainian officials in the Belarusian city of Gomel, a location Kyiv rejected as Zelenskiy said Minsk itself was complicit in the Russian invasion. Ukrainian officials had called the Kremlin’s move a propaganda.
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