Ukraine has confirmed that it is sending a delegation to negotiate with Russia on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, along the Pripyat River, the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reported.

“We agreed that the Ukrainian delegation would meet with the Russian without preconditions at the Ukraine-Belarus border near the Pripyat River,” according to Zelensky’s official Telegram channel.

In the same communication, it is emphasized that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko “has taken responsibility for ensuring that all planes, helicopters and missiles stationed on Belarusian territory remain on the ground during the trip, the talks and the return of the Ukrainian delegation” to Kyiv.

Shortly before, Russia reported that its delegation was going to the Gomel region, near the Ukrainian border, to negotiate a possible cessation of hostilities with Ukraine, according to the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinski, adviser to President Vladimir Putin. .

“Our entire delegation is now leaving for the Gomel region,” the Russian negotiator said, quoted by the TASS agency. “At the moment the route is being worked out to choose the place in the Gomel region where maximum security will be guaranteed for the Ukrainian side,” Medinski had said.

For his part, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, stated that the presidents of Belarus and Ukraine, Alexander Lukashenko and Volodymyr Zelenskiy, spoke by telephone and that after that, Lukashenko asked his Russian colleague, Vladimir Putin, not to withdraw the Russian delegation waiting in Minsk.

Russia was waiting for Ukraine’s response on holding negotiations and had given a deadline of 3:00 p.m. local time (12:00 GMT).

This morning, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, refused to hold negotiations on the territory of Belarus, which he accused of being an accomplice in Russia’s aggression against his country.

“Warsaw, Budapest, Istanbul, Baku, we proposed all this to the Russian side, and in fact any other city in any country from which missiles are not launched at us is worth it (as a venue),” Zelensky said in a video message.