Ukraine has agreed to meet Russian officials for peace talks, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Sunday — before quickly admitting he expects any discussions to prove futile.
“We agreed that the Ukrainian delegation would meet with the Russian delegation without preconditions on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, near the Pripyat River,” Zelensky said in a statement, with a top Ukraine official adding that the talks are set for Monday.
But within hours of making the announcement, Ukraine’s defiant president openly questioned the chances of success.
“I do not really believe in the outcome of this meeting, but let them try,” Zelensky said in his latest video address. “So that later not a single citizen of Ukraine has any doubt that I, as president, tried to stop the war, when there was even a small, but still a chance.”
The planned talks — which Ukraine’s ambassador to the US told CNN were set for Monday — came after Zelensky said he had an encouraging discussion with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, one of the Kremlin’s main allies and one of the nation’s from where Russain troops swept in from Thursday.
Lukashenko promised that “all planes, helicopters and missiles stationed on Belarusian territory remain on the ground during the Ukrainian delegation’s travel, talks and return,” Zelensky said.
