Second round of Russia-Ukraine talks to be held tomorrow

A second round of talks between Russia and Ukraine will be held tomorrow, two days after the first round of negotiations proved futile. The first round of talks between the two sides were held in the border town of Gomel in Belarus on Monday, this amid intermittent fighting in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday spoke to the father of Naveen Shekharappa Gyanagoudar, an Indian student, who died in shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine, earlier in the day. The PM convened another high-level meeting later in the day in the wake of the tragedy. 

The meeting was attended by Union ministers S Jaishankar and Piyush Goyal and foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla among others. The PM has been holding similar meetings over the past few days as the government undertakes a massive evacuation process to bring back stranded Indians from the war-hit nation.Earlier, Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, mourning the death of 21-year-old final-year medical student from Haveri in the state, said all efforts would be made to bring the deceased’s body back to the country. He further said two persons were with the deceased at the time of shelling. “One of them also got injured. They are also from Chalageri and Ranebennur taluk of Haveri district,” Bommai was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.