Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to sit down for peace talks with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, despite the latter accusing him of committing a war crime on his territory.

Since the conflict began on February 24, the diplomatic parties of the two nations have been talking, but have not yet reached some sort of agreement. International newspapers report that the two presidents have therefore decided to meet in person.

Putin has agreed on the fact that he will have to lead the negotiations at some point in the future, said the BBC's Lyse Doucet, quoted by the Daily Mail.

Doucet said that the Ukrainian president has been requesting a meeting with Putin since January. "Putin finally agreed to meet at some point with Zelensky."

Zelensky declared yesterday that Russia "will go down in history of responsibility for war crimes," and admonished the invaders' bombing and siege of the southern port city of Mariupol, which has been pounded for weeks by air and missile strikes.

Mariupol, a key link to the Black Sea, has been a target since the war began on February 24, when Putin launched what he calls a "special military operation" to demilitarize and "denazify" Ukraine.

Kyiv insisted on the inclusion of one or more Western nuclear powers in future negotiations with the Kremlin and on legally binding security guarantees for Ukraine.