New Delhi, Feb 27 (IANS): Ukraine will not "capitulate" to Russia, Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said on Sunday ahead of negotiations, RT reported.

The two delegations are due to meet at an undisclosed location in Belarus, close to the borders of both countries.

"There is nothing bad in talks as such and, if the outcome of these talks will be peace and the end of war, that should be welcomed. But I want to make it very clear: we will not surrender, we will not capitulate, we will not give up a single inch of our territory," Kuleba said in Kyiv.

He said that Ukraine agreed to send a delegation to the border "to listen to what Russia wants to say" and to say what Ukraine thinks of "this war and Russia's actions".

Russian President Vladimir Putin explained the military offensive against Ukraine by the urgent need to "demilitarise" the country, to protect the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, and to ensure that Russia would not be placed under threat by NATO from Ukrainian territory. Ukraine and the West consider the attack completely "unjustified" and "unlawful".