War: Russia, Ukraine reach agreements on cease-fire

 

As the battle between the two countries enters its ninth day, Ukrainian and Russian negotiators have struck some cease-fire agreements.

On Thursday, Russia and Ukraine met for the second time near the Belarusian border, agreeing to address a number of humanitarian concerns.

During their negotiations, representatives from the two countries agreed to a temporary cease-fire to allow residents to be evacuated and relief to be delivered to regions where there has been heavy fighting.

Mykhailo Podolyak, one of the Ukrainian officials and a presidential adviser, said the second round of cease-fire talks had not delivered the outcomes Kyiv had hoped for.

He said that both sides had agreed to meet again sometime next week to continue the peace talk.

“To our great regret, we did not get the results we were counting on,” Podolyak said, according to Belta, a Belarusian news agency.

According to him, cease-fires would only take place in designated humanitarian corridor areas.

Also speaking after the meeting, one of the leading Russian representatives, Vladimir Medinsky claimed the negotiations yielded “substantial progress,” in contrast to his Ukrainian counterpart.

“The main issue we decided on today was the issue of saving people, civilians, who are in the zone of military clashes,” Medinsky said.

“Russia calls on civilians who find themselves in this situation, if military actions continue, to use these humanitarian corridors,” he said.

Russian negotiator Leonid Slutsky said the agreements in the second round of talks will be “implemented in the near future.”

The last time both nations met at the same venue, they ended the meeting only agreeing to meet again on Thursday as talks on a cease-fire failed.

Russians forces have continued to bombard Ukraine in a war that has lasted for over a week now with Ukrainian forces also being commended for their resistance so far.

Although President Vladimir Putin said the war is going as planned, his Ukrainian counterpart said his forces have killed over 9000 Russian soldiers. The United States of America has also commended the Ukrainians, saying they are fighting bravely and are thwarting Moscow’s original plans.