Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivers an address in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 1, 2022. /CFP
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday said he is ready to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine crisis, Russia's Sputnik news agency reported, citing Zelenskyy's remarks in an interview with CNN.
"You have to speak first of all. Everybody has to stop fighting and to go [back] to that point from where it began five, six days ago," Zelenskyy said. "It's important to stop bombing people and then we can move on and sit at the negotiation table."
He said as long as Moscow's attacks on Ukrainian cities continued, little progress could be made in talks between the two countries.
Putin authorized a "special military operation" in the Donbas region last Thursday, but Ukraine confirmed that targets across the country were under attack. Putin said the operation aimed for "demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine."
Russia and Ukraine conducted their first round of negotiations in Belarus on Monday, with both sides failing to reach a breakthrough.
"Most importantly, we agreed to continue the negotiation process. The next meeting will be held in the coming days on the Polish-Belarusian border," Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation, said after the talks.
Russian and Ukrainian delegations hold peace talks in the Gomel region in Belarus, February 28, 2022. /Xinhua
The second round of talks could take place on Wednesday, the TASS news agency reported citing sources.
Read more:
Ukraine-Russia negotiations do not rely on power politics
Russia-Ukraine conflict: What went wrong?
Gennady Gatilov, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, said Russia sees "no desire on the part of Ukraine" to try to find a legitimate and balanced solution to the problems between the two countries.
Russia "supports diplomacy based on respect for the positions of all countries and equality, but for now we don't see that," Gatilov told Lebanese television in an interview aired on Tuesday, according to the Russian news agency RIA.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday stressed diplomatic efforts to solve the Ukraine crisis, calling for an immediate stop of the conflict and pullout of Russian forces.
In a phone conversation with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Tuesday, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on Ukraine and Russia to find a solution to the issue through negotiations, adding that China supports all constructive international efforts conducive to a political settlement.
(With input from agencies)