Zelensky asks Putin to 'sit down at the negotiating table' to 'stop the dying' as Russian forces strike Kyiv

• Zelensky asked Putin on Friday to "sit down at the negotiating table" to "stop the dying."
• His remarks came as Russian forces continued their assault on Kyiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked Russian President Vladimir Putin for negotiations to "stop the dying" as Russian forces struck Kyiv, the country's capital.

"Let us sit down at the negotiating table in order to stop the dying," he said in a video address on Friday, a translation by The New York Times said.

Zelensky added: "I want to turn again to the president of the Russian Federation. Fighting is taking place across the entire territory of Ukraine."

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin's spokesperson, told reporters on Friday that Putin was ready to send officials to the Belarusian capital of Minsk for discussions, said Russian news agencies translated by The Wall Street Journal.

Peskov told reporters, "In response to Zelensky's offer, Vladimir Putin is ready to send to Minsk a Russian delegation," The Wall Street Journal reported, citing Russian news agencies.

Peskov said officials from the defense and foreign ministries, as well as from the president's office, would be part of the delegation, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing Russian news agencies.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called the overnight strikes on Kyiv horrific and compared the situation to attacks from Nazi Germany in 1941.

"Last time our capital experienced anything like this was in 1941 when it was attacked by Nazi Germany," he tweeted. "Ukraine defeated that evil and will defeat this one. Stop Putin. Isolate Russia. Severe all ties. Kick Russia out."

Kyiv was rocked by explosions early on Friday morning, though it was not immediately clear how many people were injured or how much damage the city had sustained.

Putin launched a war against Ukraine on Thursday, after Russia said for weeks that it had no plans to invade despite amassing tens of thousands of troops on the border.

Though Russia instigated this conflict, Putin blamed the situation on NATO and the West.

The Russian leader also baselessly claimed that Ukraine was committing genocide against Russian speakers. Putin employed similar rationales to justify Russia's invasions of Ukraine in 2014 and Georgia in 2008.

Russia has demanded that Ukraine and Georgia be permanently banned from NATO. The alliance and the US have repeatedly called this demand a nonstarter, but they have expressed a willingness to negotiate on issues such as military exercises and missile deployments.

The US and its allies have imposed harsh sanctions on Russia in response to the invasion, but the Biden administration has ruled out sending US troops to Ukraine because it is not a NATO member.