Ukraine rejects Belarus as venue for talks as Russian troops enter Kharkiv

Speaking in a video message on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy named Warsaw, Bratislava, Istanbul, Budapest or Baku as alternative venues. Picture: Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP

Ukraine’s president has said his country is ready for peace talks with Russia but not in Belarus, which was a staging ground for Moscow’s invasion.

Speaking in a video message on Sunday, he named Warsaw, Bratislava, Istanbul, Budapest or Baku as alternative venues.

Speaking in Russian, he said Ukraine wants peace talks and will “accept any other city in a country that hasn’t been used for launching missiles. Only then, the talks could be honest and put an end to the war.”

He said other locations are also possible but made clear that Ukraine does not accept Russia’s selection of Belarus.

He also said Russia should be thrown out of the United Nations Security Council.

In a video message on Sunday he said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine amounts to an act of genocide, adding that “Russia has taken the path of evil and the world should come to depriving it of its UN Security Council seat”.

Russia is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, giving it veto power over resolutions.

Mr Zelensky said Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities should be investigated by an international war crimes tribunal and denounced the Russian invasion as “state terrorism”.

He dismissed as lies Russia’s claims that it is not targeting civilian areas.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has not disclosed his ultimate plans, but Western officials believe he is determined to overthrow Ukraine’s government and replace it with a regime of his own, redrawing the map of Europe and reviving Moscow’s Cold War-era influence.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a Russian delegation of military officials and diplomats arrived in the Belarusian city of Homel, also known as Gomel, for talks with Ukraine.

On Friday, Mr Zelensky offered to negotiate a key Russian demand: abandoning ambitions of joining Nato.

Mr Peskov said: “The Russian delegation is ready for talks and we are now waiting for the Ukrainians.”

Street fighting broke out in Ukraine’s second-largest city on Sunday and Russian troops put increasing pressure on strategic ports in the country’s south following a wave of attacks on airfields and fuel facilities elsewhere which appeared to mark a new phase of Russia’s invasion.

Videos posted on Ukrainian media and social networks showed Russian vehicles moving across Kharkiv and Russian troops roaming the city in small groups.