BREAKING NEWS FROM KYIV, UKRAINE READY TO TALK ABOUT THE NEUTRAL STATUS: Encouraging news, THIS IS A TURNING POINT!

- If talks are possible, they should take place. Even if they say that they want talks in Moscow, including about the neutral status, we are not afraid of them - Podolyak told Reuters.

He added that "Ukraine's readiness to talk is part of their persistent pursuit of peace."

Ukraine is currently not a member of NATO or the EU, although it wants to join both alliances, which Russia opposes, the agency reminds.

Ukraine renounced nuclear weapons after gaining independence from the former Soviet Union, in exchange for security guarantees from European countries.

After pro-democracy protests in which pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown in 2014, Moscow annexed the Black Sea island of Crimea and began supporting rebels in the east of the country who are fighting against the central government in Kyiv. 

Seven years later, Russian President Vladimir Putin started the invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, and his troops entered Kyiv on 25 February.