Ukrainian authorities proposed to hold negotiations with Russia in the Polish capital Warsaw instead of Minsk, and then broke off contact, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to his Russian counterpart on Thursday to sit down for talks in order to stop «people’s deaths».
Moscow said it is ready for talks and suggested the Belarusian capital Minsk as the host for negotiations. Dmitry Peskov said that Kiev had expressed its desire to negotiate in Warsaw and then took a pause and ended communication. “This pause lasts quite a long time”, the Kremlin spokesman told journalists.
The statement comes amid a special operation that Russian forces are conducting in Ukraine. It was ordered on Thursday by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said he made the decision after two Ukrainian breakaway regions – the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics – requested help from Moscow.