President Volodymyr Zelensky has categorically rejected the possibility of holding peace talks with Russia on the territory of Belarus. He stated this at a closed meeting with Ukrainian journalists, Glavkom reports.
According to the head of state, Moscow's proposal regarding Minsk as a potential venue for negotiations is unacceptable, since it was from Belarusian territory that Russia launched missiles at Ukraine at the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Russian troops also entered from Belarus.
"For us, Belarus is today the country from which the missiles flew, and accordingly it is an ally of the country that attacked us. This is simply impossible with regard to Belarus," Zelensky emphasized.
He also added that such a proposal looks like an attempt to delay the process and emphasized: if the Russian side is truly not ready to end the war, it should state this directly, and not imitate dialogue through unacceptable formats.
Zelensky named Turkey, the Vatican, and Switzerland as acceptable neutral venues for possible negotiations.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that Moscow was preparing a document on the "settlement of the war", which was planned to be handed over to Kyiv after the exchange of prisoners according to the "1000 for 1000" formula. At the same time, he noted that Russia, "regardless of provocations", continues to work on the so-called "peace process".
The context for this latest informational push from the Kremlin is the preparations for a peace summit in Switzerland in June. Moscow is not invited to it, but is persistently promoting alternative scenarios.
