New round of talks with Ukraine set for Thursday morning, says Russia

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ANKARA (AA) – The second round of talks between Russia and Ukraine will be held on Thursday morning, a Russian official announced on Wednesday evening.

The two sides will meet in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha area in Brest, a city in Belarus near the Polish border, according to Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation.

He said the Russian team has “arrived for talks in the same composition,” while the Ukrainian delegation has left Kyiv and is expected to arrive Thursday morning, Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency reported.

Medinsky said discussions will focus on “issues related to a cease-fire and the need for a humanitarian corridor.”

“We discussed our positions at our previous meetings. Russia put forward a number of initiatives related to an immediate cease-fire,” he was quoted as saying.

The first round of talks between Russia and Ukraine was held on Monday, with no concrete result after discussions that lasted for some five hours.

Both sides, however, did agree to hold a second round of negotiations to achieve a cease-fire.

Over 2,000 civilians have been killed since Russia launched its war on Ukraine on Feb. 24, according to Ukrainian authorities, while the UN Refugee Agency estimates more than 874,000 people have fled from Ukraine to neighboring countries.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 498 Russian soldiers have been killed and 1,597 wounded in the fighting.

Over 2,870 Ukrainian soldiers and “nationalists” have also been killed, the ministry said on Wednesday evening.