Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that he did not believe the Russian-Ukrainian peace talks on the border with Belarus will bear fruit but gave diplomats the go-ahead to open dialogue.
Zelensky's office announced in a statement on the instant messaging app Telegram earlier Sunday that Russian and Ukrainian diplomats will soon meet for a round of peace negotiations without mentioning a specific location on the Belarusian border or a precise time for the meeting.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin
(Photo: EPA, Reuters)
Russia said it would be willing to hold talks with Ukraine in Belarus but Zelensky rejected the idea, saying Minsk itself was complicit in the Russian invasion.
Meanwhile, in a dramatic escalation of East-West tensions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian nuclear forces put on high alert Sunday in response to what he called "aggressive statements" by leading NATO powers.
The Russian leader also cited hard-hitting financial sanctions imposed by the West against Russia, including Putin himself.
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations responded to the news from Moscow while appearing on a Sunday news program.
"President Putin is continuing to escalate this war in a manner that is totally unacceptable," Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said. "We have to continue to condemn his actions in the strongest possible way."
The Russian leader this week threatened to retaliate harshly against any nations that intervened directly in the conflict in Ukraine, and he specifically raised the specter of his country's status as a nuclear power.
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Ukrainian civilians gather Molotov cocktails for guerilla warfare against Russian forces
(Photo: AP)
Earlier Sunday, the Kremlin said that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett offered to mediate between Ukraine and Russia to end hostilities.
Bennett's office said the prime minister made the offer in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a Cabinet meeting which the Israeli leader had to leave for 40 minutes.
The offer followed months of Ukrainian appeals to Israel to serve as an intermediary. Israel has good ties with both Moscow and Kyiv, and Bennett has been publicly restrained in remarks about the fighting in Ukraine.
During the weekly Cabinet meeting, the prime minister said he hoped the fighting in Ukraine would end quickly and warned that the humanitarian implications of the war would be worse than anyone could imagine.
An Israeli official said Bennett told Putin that Israel "was prepared to assist at any time, and as requested, to assist in resolving the crisis and bringing the sides closer together."
According to the report, Putin told Bennett that Russia was ready to negotiate with Ukraine in Belarus but Kyiv has not seized the opportunity.
First published: 16:39, 02.27.22