Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday rejected the offer from Russia to hold talks in Belarus, reported AFP.
In a video message, Zelenskyy said that Belarus was itself complicit in the Russian invasion of his country. The president, however, said he was open to negotiations in other locations.
He named Istanbul, Warsaw, Baku, Bratislava or Budapest as alternative venues, adding that other locations except Belarus were also possible, reported the Associated Press.
The Russian invasion has entered its fourth day even as its forces made their way into Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
On Friday, Ukraine had proposed holding peace talks. However, later, the Kremlin had said that the prospects for a possible dialogue seemed uncertain due to differences over a venue.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov had said that President President Vladimir Putin agreed to send a delegation to Minsk in Belarus. He had added that after the parties discussed Minsk as a possible venue, Ukrainian officials changed course and said would prefer to meet in Poland, a member of the The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, reported PTI.
Later on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had said that his country was ready to talk to Kyiv if the Ukrainian military surrendered.
“We are ready for negotiations at any moment, as soon as the armed forces of Ukraine respond to our call and lay down their arms,” Lavrov said.
The next day, Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Zelenkskyy, said that Kyiv was open to talks with Moscow, but that Russia has been putting forward “categorically unacceptable conditions”.
Read today’s developments on the Ukrainian crisis here
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