RUSSIA will continue its special military operation in Ukraine until achieving the main goal of defending itself from Western threats, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said yesterday.

“The main thing for us is to protect Russia from the military threat posed by Western countries that are trying to use the Ukrainian people in the fight against our country,” Shoigu said during a video conference with top defense officials.

The Russian military is not occupying Ukrainian territory and is taking all measures to preserve the lives and safety of civilians, he reiterated.

“I would like to stress that the strikes are carried out only against military targets and exclusively with high-precision weapons,” Shoigu said.

On Monday, Russia and Ukraine concluded their first round of negotiations in Belarus with no clear breakthrough.

The long-awaited negotiations between delegations from Russia and Ukraine was held in the Gomel region in Belarus and lasted for five hours.

The talks are certainly a positive signal, observed analysts, but the negotiation process would be rather complicated.

After the consultations, Russia’s presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, also the head of the Russian delegation, said that the next round of peace talks would take place on the Belarusian-Polish border in the coming days.

Medinsky also said that each one of the delegations would now head back to their capitals to further discuss all negotiation positions to prepare for the next round of negotiations.

As for development of Russia’s military operation, a massive airstrike conducted by Russian forces hit the center of Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv yesterday, the State Service for Emergencies said.

According to the agency, Russian rockets struck residential areas and buildings of the regional state administration.

On Monday, Russian troops shelled residential areas on the outskirts of Kharkiv, killing at least 11 civilians, according to Ukrainian authorities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the shelling a “war crime.”

Zelensky on Monday signed an official appeal for the European Union (EU) asking for an accession of Ukraine via a new special procedure, the presidential spokesman Sergii Nykyforov said.

In a statement on Facebook, Nykyforov said that the document is historical for Ukraine.

Earlier in the day, Zelensky urged the EU to grant Ukraine membership due to Russia’s assault against Ukraine.

The Ukrainian parliament approved in the first reading a bill on including Ukraine’s goal to join NATO and the EU in the constitution in 2019. (Xinhua)