The office of Ukraine’s president has confirmed that a delegation will meet with Russian officials.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said diplomats will meet at an unspecified location on the Belarusian border and did not give a precise time for the meeting.
It is unclear if Zelenskyy will be present.
Zelenskyy said he and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko agreed to meet with the Russians “without preconditions.”
Lukashenko has agreed to keep all planes, helicopters and missiles on the ground while the two countries meet in his country, Zelenskyy’s office said.
Russia had announced hours earlier that it had a delegation already in Belarus, ready to speak with Ukrainian officials.
Because Belarus is a close ally of Russia, Ukraine had previously rejected the idea of meeting in Belarus and said meetings should take elsewhere.
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations commented on the announcement on Sunday, on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Linda Thomas-Greenfield said, "we'll look forward to what comes out of those discussions."
The announcement of the meeting came shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian nuclear forces put on high alert in response to what he called “aggressive statements” by leading NATO powers.
