IKremlin adviser Vladimir Medinsky chairs the Russian delegation, while Kyiv is led by Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov. “You can feel completely safe,” said Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Meki welcoming him.

The Kremlin announced through the voice of its spokesman Dmitry Peskov that it did not want to “announce” its position during these negotiations, which should be done “silently”.

For Kyiv, “the main issue is the immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of (Russian) troops from Ukrainian territory,” said the Ukrainian president.

The talks are taking place at one of the residences of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border in the Gomel region, not far from the damaged Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which is on Ukrainian territory.

They come as the Russian offensive, launched on 24 February, comes against the resistance of the Ukrainian military and sanctions of unprecedented scale adopted by the West, rocking the Russian economy.