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Ukraine president’s office says Ukrainian envoys will meet with Russian diplomats at Belarus border as Russian troops draw closer to Kyiv.
The talks are expected to take place in the Gomel region at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, Belta news agency reported.
Ukraine says it will hold talks with Russia at its border with Belarus -near the Chernobyl exclusion zone – after a phone call between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, news agency AFP reported
According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the Russian delegation is ready for the talks and waiting for their Ukrainian counterparts to arrive.
“As you know, President (of Belarus Alexander) Lukashenko had a phone call with President (of Ukraine Volodymyr) Zelenskyy. After that, president Lukashenko turned to the Russian side, to President (Vladimir) Putin, asking him not to recall the Russian delegation, as Ukraine signaled its willingness to come to the talks in the Gomel region,” Peskov said.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his defence chiefs to put the country’s “deterrence forces” on high alert as he accused Western countries of taking “unfriendly” steps against his country amid Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, news agency AFP reported .
