Second Round of Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks Set 'in Coming Days'

Despite the failure of five hours of peace talks Monday between delegations from Russia and Ukraine in Belarus, a second round is expected to take place "in the coming days," according to an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Daily Mail reported.

Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky told the publication Monday, "Another round of talks was agreed to."

"The next meeting will take place in the coming days on the Polish-Belarusian border, there is an agreement to that effect," he told the Daily Mail.

Medinsky is representing Russian interests in the talks with Ukraine because "he possesses certain vital, professional qualities and extremely profound expertise," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the government-run news agency Tass on Monday.

"Medinsky has certain business-like qualities and is proficient in the most profound expert analysis," Peskov said in the Tass report. "He is a top-level representative. He is a presidential aide. All that is needed for holding negotiations and this is what the president took into account in the first place."

Negotiations between the sides to bring an end to Russia's attack on the former Soviet bloc country took place Monday in the Gomel region in Belarus, but ended five hours later without resolution, according to the Daily Mail.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, gave few details about the failed first round of talks, saying only that they focused on a cease-fire, and a second attempt could take place "in the near future."

In a televised address to Russians on Thursday, Putin said the military operation in Ukraine came following requests of separatists in the Donbass republics "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years," Tass reported.

In the address, Putin said he had no intention of occupying Ukraine territories, and the Russian military was not "targeting Ukrainian cities."

Despite the address, satellite images taken by Maxar Technologies on Monday show columns of Russian military vehicles, stretching 40 miles long, continuing their convoy toward Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, CNN reported.

Maxar told CNN that the convoy consisted of tanks, armored vehicles, towed artillery, and other logistical vehicles.

The company also said the images showed "plumes of smoke" rising from homes and buildings near the convoy, according to CNN.

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