Russia is holding peace talks with Ukraine today according to the head of the Russian delegation as the hardship and troublesome fight has been dragged to the fifth day without Russia breaking through into a major city.

Ukraine’s delegation the defense minister, head of the presidential party ‘Servant of the People’, and the deputy foreign minister arrived at the Gomel region of Belarus Monday morning for the peace talk with Russians. Though the Russian delegation came to the meeting location earlier day. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed to have the meeting near the Pripyat River in Belarus, with Russian officials and a delegation of the Ukrainian government. On the other hand, Russia suggested earlier to hold talks in Gomel, a Belarusian city near the border with Ukraine. Zelenskiy was ready to have the talks but rejected Moscow as the location suggestion to hold them in Belarus, which has been used as a staging ground for the invasion.

Finally, the talks will take place near the Prypyat River, flowing from Belarus to Ukraine north of Kyiv between both parties. 

Peace talk begins at Belarus border

The Ukrainian president’s office said Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko pledged that all types of equipment and troops of war including planes, helicopters, and missiles stationed in Belarus will remain on the ground during the Ukrainian delegation’s travel, talks, and return, reported by NPR’s Frank Langfitt.

The Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova said in an interview, the government is ready for any peace talks that would stop the fighting and is looking forward to seeing Russian forces leave Ukraine.

‘Our president from the beginning, even before the war started, always was focused on the diplomatic solution. And even after they started the war, he called for peace talks all the time’, Markarova said.

‘BUT HE ALWAYS SAID, ‘WE ARE READY FOR PEACE TALKS, WE ARE NOT READY TO SURRENDER.’’

Zelenskiy said he had talked with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, a close Russian ally, who assured him that ‘all planes, helicopters, and missiles stationed on Belarusian territory remain on the ground during the Ukrainian delegation’s travel, talks and return.’

On 24 Feb, last week Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a special military intervention in Ukraine, days after recognizing two separatist-held enclaves in eastern Ukraine. 

Putin’s order to take out the intervention was met as an outcry from the international community, with the EU, UK, and US implementing a range of economic sanctions against the Kremlin and different parts of Russia.