Ukraine rejects Russian offer of talks in Belarus; open for other locations

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected Russia‘s offer of talks in Belarus on Sunday, saying the country was itself complicit in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Zelenskyy, however, kept the door for talks open in other locations. In a video message, he named Istanbul, Warsaw, Baku, Bratislava, and Budapest as other possible regions for negotiations.  

The Kremlin had earlier said its delegation was ready to meet Ukrainian officials in the Belarusian city of Gomel, according to news agencies.

Minsk, the capital of Belarus, is the place where two ceasefire agreements had been signed between Ukraine and Russia – both of which have still not been fully implemented. 

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The offer of negotiations came in the backdrop of Russian troops entering Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkivm, and put increasing pressure on strategic ports in the country’s south following a wave of attacks on airfields and fuel facilities elsewhere that appeared to mark a new phase of Russia’s invasion, according to a report by Associated Press.

Until Sunday, Russia’s troops had remained on the outskirts of Kharkiv, which is around 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) south of the border with Russia.

Oleh Sinehubov, the head of the Kharkiv regional administration, told civilians not to leave their homes.

Videos posted on Ukrainian media and social networks showed Russian vehicles moving across Kharkiv and a light vehicle burning on the street.

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Russia launched a massive invasion of Ukraine by land, air and sea on Thursday, after months of military build-up at the border and heightening suspicion of war by the West. Moscow’s aggression is considerably the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War II.

Russian forces on Friday closed in on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv in an apparent encircling movement after a barrage of airstrikes on cities and military bases around the country. More than 190 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the four days of the invasion, Ukraine’s health ministry said. The United Nations has said at least 240 civilians have died in the country so far.

Both death tolls are likely to be higher. 

After reports started doing the rounds that the Ukrainian president had fled, Zelensky released a video from central Kyiv on Friday where he is heard saying, “We’re all here. Our military is here. Citizens in society are here. We’re all defending our independence, our country, and it will stay this way.”

The Armed Forces of Ukraine have called on citizens to join the war. “All those who are ready to take up arms, join the ranks of the area defence forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We simplified procedures. Only your ID is needed. We give weapons to all patriots!” Many Ukrainians have reportedly been training for this moment for months. “We will never surrender…We are using every opportunity to train. So I think Putin should be afraid of us,” Denys Semyroh-Orlyk told The Wall Street Journal earlier this month.