Ukrainian delegation arrived at Belarusian border for talks with Russian representatives amid military operations, Ukraine's Presidential Office confirmed Monday.
The delegation included the head of Servant of the People party David Arahamiya, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office Mykhailo Podolyak, First Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Delegation to the Tripartite Contact Group Andriy Kostin and lawmakers Rustem Umerov and Mykola Tochytsky. The key issue of the talks is an immediate cease-fire and the withdrawal of troops from Ukraine, the office said.
Russia wants to reach agreement with Ukraine to put an end to their conflict, a Kremlin negotiator said Monday, as Moscow's assault on the pro-Western country entered a fifth day.
"We definitely have an interest in reaching some agreements as soon as possible," Russian President Vladimir Putin's aide, Vladimir Medinsky, who traveled to Belarus for the talks, said in televised remarks. "We are waiting for the arrival of the Ukrainian delegation," he said, adding he expected the talks to start at noon local time.
The Kremlin on Monday said it hoped talks with the Ukrainian side would start imminently, but declined to comment on Moscow's aim in negotiations.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia regretted that talks had not started a day earlier. Russian forces ran into stiff resistance elsewhere in Ukraine as Moscow's diplomatic and economic isolation deepened.
