A Russian delegation has travelled to Belarus for negotiations with Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Sunday, although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky again rejected Minsk as a location for talks.
Representatives from the Foreign Ministry, Defence Ministry and presidential administration have arrived in the city of Gomel, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday, according to the TASS news agency.
"We are ready to start these negotiations in Gomel," Peskov said.
Zelensky expressed his willingness to talk but repeated his refusal to meet in Belarus, a nation which he said is participating in combat operations against Ukraine.
The Ukrainian leader said he was open to all places "from which no missiles are fired at Ukraine." He has suggested Warsaw, Budapest, Istanbul and Baku as possible host cities.
An advisor to Zelensky has rejected the Russian side's statements on the matter as tactically driven.
