After days of bitter feuds, Russia and Ukraine finally held the first peace talks on Monday (28/2). Unconditional talks were held for hours in the Gomel region of Belarus.
Although the Ukrainian people have high hopes for these negotiations, unfortunately there have been no significant results achieved by both parties. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was impressed with the way the first talks went.
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Russian offensive continues as peace talks take place
The Ukrainian President's pessimism about Russia's call for talks has finally materialized. After briefly refusing an invitation to negotiate in Belarus, Ukraine finally agreed to its first peace treaty with Russia. However, the negotiations which took five hours did not produce the results as expected.
Reporting from AA.com, Volodymyr Zelensky said he was disappointed with Russia's attitude which continued to bombard Ukrainian territory during peace negotiations. According to him, the attack was a tactic to pressure Ukraine.
“Talks are taking place against the backdrop of the bombings and shootings in our region. The synchronization of the bombing with the negotiation process was evident. I believe Russia is trying to put pressure on us simply," Zelensky was quoted as saying by UKRinform.
However, President Zelensky admitted to receiving signs of hope from the first meeting and agreed to hold further meetings in the following days.
"We will analyze what we have heard and then we will decide how to proceed with the second round of these talks." Zelensky said.
Ukrainian President Explains Difficulties in Reaching Deal with Russia
President Zelensky said that the negotiation process with Russia was not easy. The full-scale Russian offensives that continue to hit cities in Ukraine make peace talks difficult to achieve. According to him, the conflict will be difficult to subside if the atmosphere is still cloudy.
"Everyone needs to stop fighting and get back to where it all started, which was five, six days ago," he said.
"It's very important to stop bombing people to be able to sit at the negotiating table," he added.
In addition, Zelensky considers that the Russian side is still not aware of how destructive the military aggression is being deployed against Ukraine. The differences in the viewpoints of the two countries in interpreting aggression hinder the achievement of a solution.
“Negotiations are difficult. Although there is no mandatory ultimatum. Unfortunately, the Russian side is still very biased about its destructive process." Zelensky adviser Mikhail Podolyak wrote on Twitter.