KYIV: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has invited his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for direct talks. “I need to talk to Putin. The world needs to talk to Putin. There is no other way to stop this war”, Zelenskyy said in his message to Putin. “What are you afraid of?”, he asked.

Meantime, the second round of Russia-Ukraine peace talks has been completed. The talks did not yield expected results, said the Ukraine delegation. Russia did not agree with Ukraine’s demand to end the war and withdraw its troops.

Zelenskky had made it clear on the very first day that he did not have any faith in the peace talks. The second round of talks did produce a solution for the organization of human corridors for evacuating civilians. The third round of talks will be held in Belarus, next week.

Putin has informed that the war will continue. He alleged that the Ukraine authorities have kept 3,000 Indian nationals hostage in Kharkiv. The Russian attacks in Ukraine is continuing for the ninth day in a row.