Ukraine agrees to hold talks with Russia at Belarus border after initial refusal

Ukraine on Sunday agreed to hold talks with Russia in Belarus, the Russian state media said quoting officials in Moscow.  The Russian delegations are heading to the place where the talks are to be held, head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, said in a statement.“Kyiv “confirmed” the planned talks in the Gomel Region, which is close to the borders of both Russia and Ukraine,” RT news reported quoting Russian chief negotiator Vladimir MedinskyAccording 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.Peskov, earlier in the day, had announced that Russia's delegation for the peace talks with Ukraine arrived in the Belarusian city of Gomel.Representatives of the presidential administration, foreign and defense ministries were included in the delegation, Peskov told reporters in Moscow.Earlier in the day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had rejected a Russian offer of talks in Belarus saying that Minsk was complicit in the Russian invasion