The world watched in horror as Ukraine burned in what is being called the biggest war Europe has seen since 1945 after Russia invaded its European neighbor 3 days ago. Amidst worldwide condemnation and repeated failures of negotiation attempts, the two countries have finally agreed to talk with an intent to end the war, without any preconditions, according to Reuters.
On the fourth day of the invasion, the Ukrainian president's office said Zelenskyy is ready to hold negotiation talks with Putin at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border. The two heads of leaders would meet without any preconditions, Reuters reported.
However, Russian President Putin, on the other hand, ordered his nuclear-armed forces to be put on high alert on Sunday as Russian troops faced tough resistance from Ukrainian soldiers while invading the city of Kharkiv. The United States condemned Putin's decision and called it 'unacceptable.'
'We will Not Succumb to this Pressure'
According to a Ukrainian outlet, The Kyiv Independent, Ukraine's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba noted that Putin's nuclear threat was an attempt to put pressure on Ukraine ahead of the negotiations talks. "We will not succumb to this pressure," Kuleba said.
Notably, Putin's order came shortly after the negotiation talks were confirmed between the two delegations, according to Kuleba.
'We will Not Give Away [even] a Centimeter of Our territory'
"We will be happy if the result of these negotiations is peace. But, and I emphasize this again, we will not give up, we will not capitulate, we will not give away a centimeter of our territory," Kuleba added in his statement, according to The Kyiv Independent.
'Impeccable Service'
Putin, on the other hand, thanked his forces for their 'impeccable service' in a televised message on February 27. "I want to thank the command, the personnel of the special operations forces, veterans of the special forces units for their loyalty to the oath, for their impeccable service in the name of the people of Russia and our great motherland," he said.
