Moscow regrets that the talks with the Ukrainian side did not start a day earlier, there was such an opportunity. Spokesman for the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday, TASS News Agency reports.

“The only thing we are very sorry for is that the talks did not start a day ago, but there was such an opportunity, you know, our delegation has been waiting there for a long time, in Belarus. “The talks could have started at night. Our delegation was ready at 12 o’clock at night, at 1 or 2 o’clock at night, but the opponents have just arrived. Let’s hope that these talks will start at this moment,” the Kremlin spokesman said.

Earlier in the day, the head of the Russian delegation, Assistant to the President Vladimir Medinsky, said that an agreement had been reached with the Ukrainian side on Sunday to hold a meeting in the Gomel region of Belarus.

The delegation included Head of the “Servant of the People” Faction Davyd Arakhamia, Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov, Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podoliak, First Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Delegation to the TCG Andriy Kostin, MP Rustem Umerov and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Mykola Tochytskyi.

The key issue of the talks is an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of troops from Ukraine.

It should be reminded that in the early morning of 24 February, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a message announcing the decision to launch a special military operation in Donbas.

“Circumstances require us to take decisive and immediate action. The Donbas People’s Republics have appealed to Russia. I have decided to launch a special military operation in this regard,” Putin said in a televised address to Russian citizens.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that from 05:00 (07:00 Yerevan time) on Thursday, the Russian Armed Forces carried out intensive attacks on Ukrainian military facilities and airports.

The Verkhovna Rada has declared martial law in Ukraine. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine announced the preliminary number of victims and wounded.