NEWS: Russia has dispatched a delegation to Belarus in preparation for talks with Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address to his people that he was willing to begin talks, but not in Belarus, a close Russian ally that acted as a staging ground for the invasion.

Warsaw, Bratislava, Istanbul, Budapest, and Baku were listed as possible alternatives, but he made it clear that other locations may be examined as well.

Despite Zelensky’s clear statement, Russian authorities have been despatched to the Belarusian city of Gomel.

Visit our live blog for the most up-to-date information on the Russia-Ukraine conflict: Russia-Ukraine live

‘The Russian delegation is ready for negotiations, and we are now waiting for the Ukrainians,’ said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

Mykhailo Podolyak, Ukraine’s presidential adviser, claimed the Russian delegation has arrived knowing it will be ‘pointless’ because his country refuses to meet on hostile soil.

‘They knew it was worthless when they landed in Gomel. “We are waiting,” they say now, he says.

‘Zelensky’s position is unchanged: there will be no ultimatums, only genuine dialogue.’

After being irritated by the lack of progress in the first few days of the invasion, Russia launched a new wave of attacks on major infrastructure facilities in Ukraine overnight on Saturday.

There has also been street violence in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, which is only 12 miles from the Russian border.

The night had been horrible, Zelensky claimed, with shelling of civilian infrastructure and strikes on ‘everything, including’ civilian infrastructure.

But in his video message he remained defiant. ‘We have withstood and are successfully repelling enemy attacks. The fighting goes on,’ he said.

The United States and its allies have imposed a range of sanctions on Russia in response to the assault.

On Saturday, they moved to block certain Russian banks’ access to the SWIFT international payment system. They also said they would impose restrictions on Russia’s central bank to limit its ability to support the rouble and finance Putin’s war effort.