MOSCOW, July 24. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday will continue communication with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko, who is currently on a working visit to Russia.

The Belarusian leader arrived in Russia on Saturday evening, and the two presidents’ press services initially announced that Putin and Lukashenko would hold one-day talks on Sunday. However, the Russian president told his Belarusian counterpart at yesterday’s meeting that they would continue negotiations on Monday.

Opening the first day of bilateral talks in St. Petersburg, Putin said that relations between Moscow and Minsk continued to progress even faster than it was expected.

Among other things, Putin and Lukashenko discussed the international agenda and security issues. The Russian president told his Belarusian counterpart that foreign mercenaries fighting for Ukraine had been suffering heavy losses "because of their stupidity." Putin emphasized that Ukraine’s counteroffensive had failed, while irrecoverable losses of Ukrainian forces had exceeded 26,000 troops since it was launched.