Ukraine has agreed to hold peace talks with Russia “without preconditions,” according to multiple reports. Sunday’s announcement of peace talks was reportedly made by the office of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the fourth day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow will occur on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, near the Pripyat River, according to Sky News. A precise time for the meeting was not provided. “The announcement came hours after Russia announced that its delegation had flown to Belarus to await talks,” the Associated Press reported.
The statement from Zelenskyy’s office noted that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is involved with the peace talks. The talks would be the first to take place since Russia invaded Ukraine. His office said the talks would be held without preconditions.
“We agreed that the Ukrainian delegation would meet with the Russian delegation without preconditions on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, near the Pripyat River,” Zelenskyy said in a statement. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered that Russia’s nuclear deterrence forces be put on high alert.
“I order the defense minister and the chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces to put the deterrence forces of the Russian army into a special mode of combat service,” Putin said in a televised address. The move comes following a wave of sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that look set to cripple the Russian economy.
