The Kremlin announced that President Vladimir Putin assured his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in a phone call today that Russia is open to negotiations with the Ukrainian side.
Moscow said the talks began on the Belarus border, while the Ukrainian president's office said the first goal of the negotiations was an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine.
It was not clear whether progress could be made after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an attack on European countries, calling the West a "false empire" and putting Russia's nuclear deterrent forces on high alert on Sunday.
For the settlement, Putin stipulated the unconditional consideration of Russia's legitimate interests in the field of security, the recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea.
The Russian president also stipulated the demilitarization of Ukraine and the guarantee of Ukraine's neutral status.
On the other hand, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesperson as saying that the root cause of the Ukraine crisis lies entirely in the hegemonic policy pursued by the United States and Western countries, which engage in arrogance and arbitrariness towards other countries.
The United States and the West have also allowed many countries of Europe to be bolder to deploy offensive systems, while defiantly seeking to expand NATO eastward.