Russia, Ukraine To Hold Second Round Of Peace Talks

• Russia’s aim is to demilitarise Ukraine and render it neutral

• It is also asking that two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine – the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic – are formally recognised

EKO HOT BLOG reports that a Ukrainian delegation said Thursday it was en route for a second round of ceasefire talks with Russia on the Belarus-Poland border on the day Ukraine lost its first major city to Russian forces.

“On our way to negotiations with the Russian Federation. Already in helicopters,” presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter, posting a photo of himself with lawmaker David Arakhamia in what appears to be a helicopter cabin.

Read also: US Sends Anti-aircraft Missiles To Ukrainian Govt

Russia had launched a military assault on neighbouring Ukraine last Thursday after several weeks of laying seige on its border.

Russian forces have taken control of Kherson in the south – the first major Ukrainian city to fall. If they capture more southern cities, Ukrainian forces could be cut off from the sea.

In Mariupol, a strategic port near the Russian border, residents are trapped in by intense shelling.

Kyiv still remains under government control and a large Russian armoured convoy is on standby some distance away.

More than one million people have already fled the country and hundreds of civilians are believed to have been killed.

Russia’s negotiating position – according to the country’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov – is that:

Ukraine must “demilitarise” and “deNazify”

Crimea – Ukrainian southern peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014 – is recognised by Kyiv as part of Russia

Two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine – self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic – are formally recognised

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