MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/. It is too early to talk about a potential meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Vladimir Zelensky of Ukraine, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said earlier that he did not rule out the possibility of a meeting between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine in the event of success of peace talks.
"It is too early to make such conclusions," Peskov said.
On Monday, Russian-Ukrainian talks took place in the Gomel region of Belarus. The meeting lasted about five hours. According to Russian Presidential Advisor Vladimir Medinsky, who headed Russia’s delegation, the parties "thoroughly discussed all issues on the agenda and found some points on which a common position is possible," and agreed to continue negotiations. According to a TASS source, the next round of talks is expected to be held on March 2, as agreed by the parties.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation based on a request from the heads of the Donbass republics. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans to occupy Ukrainian territories and the goal was to demilitarize and denazify the country. Russia’s Defense Ministry reported later that the Russian Armed Forces were not delivering strikes against Ukrainian cities. The ministry emphasized that the Ukrainian military infrastructure was being destroyed by precision weapons and there was no threat to civilians.