A senior Trump administration official is planning to travel to Belarus in the coming days to meet the country`s president, according to four sources briefed on the matter, as ceasefire talks between Ukraine and Russia remain deadlocked, writes Reuters.

"If the official, Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg, meets Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, he would be the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the authoritarian state in years.

The precise agenda of the meeting is unclear, though Kellogg in private has portrayed the trip as a step that could help jump-start peace talks aimed at ending Russia`s war against Ukraine, said two of the sources, who requested anonymity as the trip has not been made public.

The State Department and the Belarusian embassy in Washington declined to comment. Kellogg and the White House did not respond to requests for comment. Planning for such trips requires careful negotiation, and it is possible the trip could be canceled or modified at the last moment".