On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected a Russian offer of talks in Belarus, saying Minsk was complicit in the Russian invasion but leaving the door open to talks elsewhere.

On Sunday, the Kremlin said its delegation was ready to meet with Ukrainian officials in the Belarusian city of Gomel.

Ukraine is willing to hold talks with Russia, but not in neighbouring Belarus, which is being used as a launchpad for Moscow’s invasion, according to Zelenskyy.

“Warsaw, Bratislava, Budapest, Istanbul, and Baku, to name a few.” “We proposed all of them,” Zelenskyy said in an online address.

“And any other city in a country where missiles do not fly would suit us,” said the 44-year-old president.

“That’s the only way talks can be honest. And could put an end to war.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, claiming 200 civilian lives and drawing international condemnation.

Moscow demands that Kyiv’s forces surrender and that the country agree to become a “neutral” territory, both of which are widely regarded as unacceptable by Ukraine.

According to Western sources, Russian ground forces have pushed into Ukraine from the north, east, and south, but have met fierce resistance from Ukrainian troops, the intensity of which has likely surprised Moscow.

Putin on Sunday congratulated members of special forces, saying they fought “heroically” in Ukraine.

“Special gratitude to those who these days are heroically fulfilling their military duty in the course of a special operation to provide assistance to the people’s republics of Donbas,” Putin said in a televised address.