Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that if negotiations between Russia and Ukraine resume, Minsk could serve as a venue. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
Putin made the statement in an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin. "I am confident that if it ever comes to negotiations, Belarusian opportunities can also be used," Putin said.
According to him, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is ready to support any initiatives aimed at a peaceful resolution of the conflict. "I know Alexander Grigorievich's position; he is ready to support everything aimed at resolving controversial issues by peaceful means," Putin noted.
He also recalled that the first Russian-Ukrainian negotiations after the start of the conflict in 2022 took place precisely in Minsk. The Minsk agreements, concluded in 2014, were also signed there.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian publication Insider UA, citing sources in the office of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, reports that the Ukrainian president himself, through Alexander Lukashenko, proposed to Vladimir Putin to start peace negotiations.
According to the publication's sources, Lukashenko also assured Ukraine and the United States that repeaters on the territory of Belarus would no longer resume operation.
There has been no official confirmation of this information from Kyiv, Minsk, or Moscow so far.
Earlier, Kursiv wrote that Zelenskyy gave Lukashenko a one-week ultimatum to remove the repeaters, which, according to the Ukrainian leader, are used to adjust strikes by Russian drones on Ukrainian territory. In addition, Zelenskyy called on Minsk to stop supplying petroleum products to the Russian army.
At the G7 summit in France, Zelenskyy stated his desire to hold negotiations with Putin before winter.
And the day before, US President Donald Trump said that Washington intends to achieve an end to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.