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The first day of Russian-Ukrainian talks held on Monday in the Gomel region, on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, to seek a cessation of hostilities from the Russian offensive against Ukraine ended with the intention to meet again in the coming days after having identified some points to be able to progress, both sides said.
The meeting has ended after five hours of talks, reported Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the Duma (Russian lower house) International Affairs Committee and one of the members of the Russian delegation.
“The next meeting will take place in the coming days,” he noted in statements to the Russian public television Rossia-24.
The deputy assured that in the course of the meeting several points were identified on which progress can be made.
“The main result is that the negotiations took place, the parties listened to each other. We found a number of important points where progress is possible,” Slutsky said.
He added that Russia’s position on the results of negotiations with the Ukrainian side will be agreed with the country’s leadership within the next 24 hours.
“For now, I will say no more because this needs to be cross-verified with our leadership, with the leadership of our country, which will be done over the next 24 hours. Thereafter we’ll return to contact with the Ukrainian side and be now definitely able to set a date and time of the next round of talks,” Slutsky said.
For Ukraine, adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office Majail Podolyak noted that the more than five-hour meeting achieved “some progress” in the negotiations.
“The parties have identified some priority issues on which there has been some progress,” he said, in a video broadcast on Telegram.
“The Ukrainian and Russian delegations held the first round of talks today, the main purpose of which was to discuss the issues of a ceasefire on the territory of Ukraine and hostilities,” he says in the video.
It adds, “in order for these decisions to get some opportunities for implementation, logistical solutions, the parties leave for consultations in their capitals. The parties discussed the possibility of holding a second round of negotiations in the near future, at which these topics will receive concrete development practice.”
