Ukraine said on Sunday it had agreed to talks with Russia after four days of conflict, as Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his defence chiefs to put nuclear “deterrence forces” on alert.
The conflict has already killed dozens of civilians, forced hundreds of thousands to flee.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said a Ukrainian delegation would meet the Russian one at the border with Belarus, which has allowed Russian troops passage to attack Ukraine. The meeting is set to take place near Chernobyl – the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
“The politicians agreed that the Ukrainian delegation would meet the Russian one without preconditions,” Zelensky’s office said in a statement after the president spoke to his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.
UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY MEETING: After a deadlock in its last meeting on Friday due to Russia’s veto even as the situation in Ukraine worsens, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Sunday called for a rare emergency special session of the 193 member-strong UN General Assembly (UNGA).
The decision to take a United States (US)-backed resolution deploring Russian aggression and calling it to withdraw forces from Ukraine to the GA was backed by 11 members, while India — along with China and United Arab Emirates (UAE) — abstained from the vote. Since this was a procedural vote, Russia’s veto was not applicable.
The UNGA emergency session will be held on Monday.
