No breakthroughs during the third round of negotiations in Belarus

On Monday, for the third time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian and Russian negotiating delegations met in Belarus.

Shortly after 3 pm, Swedish time, the delegate Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, tweeted that the meeting would begin "in a few minutes".

Just over 3.5 hours later, it was over.

Previous demands from Russia

"Small, positive" signals, Podolyak tweets.

But no real breakthroughs have taken place and no agreements have been reached, reports Reuters.

And according to Russia, the talks did not lead to anything that "significantly improves the situation".

"We did not get where we wanted and hope for results next time," said Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation, according to AFP.

Prior to the talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters that Russia would stop the invasion immediately if Ukraine made a number of demands.

It is about the same demands in the past: that Ukraine lay down its arms, amend its constitution to guarantee neutrality, recognize the Crimean peninsula as Russian territory, and recognize the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent and autonomous states.

- The main thing is that Ukraine ceases its military actions.

Then no one will shoot, Peskov said.

Ukraine has not officially responded to the statement, but the demands have previously been rejected.

"Not acceptable"

In any case, both parties confirm that humanitarian corridors were discussed during the meeting.

This is to enable civilians to flee fighting and heavy Russian shelling of the city centers of southern and eastern Ukraine.

The Kremlin has also proposed safe passage, but not to neighboring countries in the west but to Russia and Belarus, something Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshuk has completely rejected.

- This is not an acceptable alternative, she said earlier in the day.

Vereshchuk was supported by French President Emmanuel Macron, who in an interview with the French television channel LCI called the proposal hypocrisy.

- I do not know many Ukrainians who want to go to Russia.

This weekend's attempt on a temporary humanitarian corridor from the port city of Mariupol was suspended by the Ukrainian authorities following reports of continued shelling from Russia.