Russia and Ukraine have agreed to emergency talks on ways to resolve their five-day war, with Kyiv officials saying the Kremlin’s agreement to talk is already a sign things aren’t going as planned for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukrainian forces are said to be putting up an unexpectedly tough fight against the larger and better-armed Russian invading force, with sharp fights still being waged around the capital of Kyiv and other major cities.
On a day when Mr. Putin ordered a higher level of alert for Russian nuclear deterrence forces, the two sides agreed to send official delegations to neighboring Belarus for talks.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said just agreeing to talks without preconditions was a concession for the Kremlin, which is still far short of Mr. Putin’s stated goals for launching a full-scale invasion last week.
“As long as Russia continues to suffer, as long as the Russian army experiences one defeat after the other, Russia’s conditions and ultimatums [have] abated. Now they give us a signal that they just want to talk,” the minister said, according to the Ukrainian news website Ukrinform.
Ukraine’s presidential office said the government of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said all Belarusian forces would stand down while the Ukrainian delegation travels there for talks. Belarus was a major staging ground for Russian troops prior to last Wednesday’s invasion and Mr. Lukashenko is one of the few world leaders not to condemn the Russian incursion.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video Sunday he was willing to hold talks with Russia, but was not optimistic they would lead to a quick breakthrough.
“I do not really believe in the outcome of this meeting, but let them try so that later not a single citizen of Ukraine has any doubt that I, as president, tried to stop the war, when there was even a small, but still a chance,” Mr. Zelenskyy said.
The Kremlin’s chief spokesman said Ukrainian officials had suggested the locale for the meeting, but that Russia’s military campaign would proceed despite the talks.
“For our part, we have warned the Ukrainian side that this time the actions suggested by the military operation will not be suspended,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the TASS news service.
• This article was based in part on wire service reports.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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