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The Kremlin sends a delegation to one of its allied countries to try to talk with Ukraine, but Zelensky leaves the chair empty
Ukraine’s presidency said on Sunday that it agreed to hold talks with Russia and that they would take place on the border with Belarus, near the Chernobyl exclusion zone, a decision made after the mediation of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
“The Ukrainian delegation will meet with the Russian (delegation) without setting preconditions on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, in the Pripyat River region,” the presidency said in a statement.
Zelensky said he would not hold talks with Russia in Belarus, where some Russian troops were stationed before invading Ukraine’s northern border.
The Kremlin spokesman, Dimitri Peskov, had announced early this Sunday the arrival of a Russian delegation to the Belarusian city of Gomel, in the south of the country, to attempt a rapprochement with the Ukrainians.
The offer of dialogue comes after Russia has failed to completely take over any of the large cities of the Slavic country or overthrow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after four days of military offensive.
But the Ukrainian government said Lukashenko assured Zelensky that “all planes, helicopters and missiles stationed on Belarusian territory will remain on the ground during the trip, the negotiations and the return of the Ukrainian delegation.”
Zelensky, who refused to travel to Minsk, said his government had offered Russia “Warsaw, Bratislava, Budapest, Istanbul and Baku” as options.
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