No breakthrough at Ukraine talks, second round could happen soon

PanARMENIAN.Net - The first round of Ukraine-Russia talks aimed at ending the fighting between Moscow and its neighbor have concluded with no immediate agreements, Al Jazeera reports.

The talks took place near the Belarus-Ukraine border on Monday as Russian troops continued their attack on Ukrainian cities – including the second-largest, Kharkiv – on the fifth day of Russia’s invasion.

An aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin said talks with Ukrainian officials lasted nearly five hours.

Vladimir Medinsky, who headed the Russian delegation, said the two sides “found certain points on which common positions could be foreseen”. Another round of talks was agreed to, Medinsky said.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, gave few details except to say that the talks focused on a possible ceasefire and that a second round could take place “in the near future”.

“The next meeting will take place in the coming days on the Polish-Belarusian border, there is an agreement to that effect,” Medinsky said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he is analyzing the results of the talks with a Russian delegation, CNN reports.

"There can be fair negotiations if one side does not hit the other side with rocket artillery at the time of negotiations. So far, we do not have the result we would like to get," Zelensky zaid.

"Russia has stated its position, and we have declared counterpoints to end the war. We received some signals. When the delegation returns to Kyiv, we will analyze what we have heard and then we will decide how to proceed to the second round of talks," Zelensky said in a message posted to his Facebook page.