A new development took place between Ukraine President Voldymyr Zelensky and Belarus’ Alexander Lukashenko, as Ukraine said on Sunday that it was ready to hold talks with Russia at Ukraine-Belarus border near Chernobyl exclusion zone.

“The politicians agreed that the Ukrainian delegation would meet the Russian one without preconditions at the Ukraine-Belarus border, near the Pripyat River,” Zelensky’s office said in a statement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that a Russian delegation was currently in the Belarusian city of Gomel.

Zelensky has said he will not hold talks with Russia on the territory of Belarus, where some Russian troops were stationed before invading on Ukraine’s northern border.
But Kyiv said Lukashenko assured Zelensky that “all planes, helicopters and missiles stationed on Belarus territory will remain on the ground during the travel, negotiations and return of the Ukrainian delegation”.

Moscow has wanted to hold the talks in Kremlin-aligned Belarus.

Zelensky, refusing to travel to Minsk, said Kyiv had proposed “Warsaw, Bratislava, Budapest, Istanbul, Baku” as options to Russia.

Ukraine fought off an incursion by Russian troops into its second city Kharkiv on Sunday, the fourth day of the invasion, but Putin raised international alarm by putting nuclear forces on alert.