Russia-Ukraine War: Peace talks expected to resume as forces seize key Ukrainian port

KYIV, Ukraine - Delegations from Russia and Ukraine are expected to hold talks in Belarus on Thursday, a second round of face-to-face discussions since the Russian invasion eight days ago.In a video address to the nation early Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Ukrainians to keep up their resistance, but didn’t comment on whether the Russians have seized any cities."They will have no peace here," Zelenskyy said, calling on the Russian soldiers to "go home" and describing them as "confused children who have been used."His comments come as Russia acknowledged for the first time since the start of the invasion that nearly 500 Russian troops have been killed in the fighting and around 1,600 wounded.

Ukraine has not released a similar casualty figure for its armed forces.The U.N. human rights office says at least 227 civilians have been killed and 525 wounded in Ukraine since the start of the invasion on Feb.

24. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service has said more than 2,000 civilians have died, though it was impossible to verify the claim.Meanwhile, the U.N.

refugee agency said 1 million people have fled Ukraine since Russian forces invaded last week. Also, the U.N. General Assembly has condemned the invasion and called on Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine.Here’s a look at key things to know about the conflict:Russia’s foreign minister says Moscow is ready for peace talks as another meeting by Ukrainian and Russian officials is expected to take place in Belarus Thursday.Ahead of the meeting, Sergey Lavrov told reporters in Moscow that Russia will press its military action in Ukraine until achieving its goals, chiefly the "demilitarization of Ukraine" but added that it will be up to Ukrainians to.