Ukrainian delegation begins ceasefire talks with Kremlin officials
Ukrainian government officials have arrived at the Belarus border for ceasefire talks with the Russian government, after four days of intense fighting across the country.
The talks are reported to have began just after 9am GMT, with both sides agreeing to meet without “preconditions”.
Ukrainian defence minister Oleksii Reznikov was seen arriving to the negotiations this morning, which Kyiv yesterday said would happen near the Pripyat River.
Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said Kyiv would not “give up a single inch of our territory” in talks and accused Russian troops of committing war crimes against his country.
Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelensky said that he did not have high hopes for the talks.
“Let them try so that later not a single citizen of Ukraine has any doubt that I, as president, tried to stop the war,” he said.
Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said that the Kremlin was interested in coming to an agreement that is in the interests of both sides.
Zelensky this morning called on Brussels to admit Ukraine to the EU immediately, while also urging Russian soldiers to lay down their weapons and go home.
“We ask the European Union for Ukraine’s immediate accession under a new special procedure,” he said.
“Our goal is to be with all Europeans and, most importantly, to be equal. I’m sure that’s fair. I am sure we deserve it.”
Addressing Russian troops, he said: “Abandon your equipment. Get out of here. Don’t believe your commanders. Don’t believe your propagandists. Just save your lives.”
Intense fighting continued over the weekend, with Russian troops still unable to take any major city as Putin’s invasion continues to meet a stiffer resistance than expected.
Residents in the port city of Mariupol have this morning reported that they are encircled by Russian forces and are under heavy attack from artillery fire.
The Ukrainian government yesterday claimed it had repelled a Russian effort to take Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city, as intense fighting was reported on the city’s streets.
Russia is continuing to shell Kyiv, however its ground troops have not yet reached the capital.
Vladimir Putin made shockwaves yesterday as he put Russia’s nuclear forces on a “special regime of duty”, after he told top officials in a televised meeting that the west’s economic sanctions are “illegitimate” and “aggressive statements” against Russia.
It comes after Putin delivered a veiled threat last week to use nuclear weapons against any country that intervened in his invasion of Ukraine.
Thousands of Russians have descended on cash machines across the country this morning, while the Russian Rouble is down by nearly 30 per cent cent against the US dollar after Western nations moved to block Russian banks from the SWIFT global payment system.
There was also a joint decision to block the Russian central bank from accessing hundreds of billions of pounds in international currency reserves over the weekend.
In response, Russia’s Central Bank raised its key rate from 9.5 per cent to 20 per cent this morning, in a desperate attempt to shore up the plummeting Rouble and prevent the run of banks.
London-based stocks with operations in Russia or Ukraine suffered heavy losses during early exchanges today driven by a sharp and sudden weakening in the Russian rouble.
Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, has its London Stock Exchange listing down by a mammoth 67 per cent this morning.
Miner Polymetal International fell over 50 per cent, while steel maker Evraz lost around 30 per cent