‘No miracles’: Russia downplays Ukraine talks as deadly attacks continue

“We intend to pursue our interests, we intend to ensure our interests and fulfil the tasks that we set for ourselves from the very beginning.”

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy‘s announcement late on Monday that talks would take place generated some hope that negotiators would deliver progress on ending the war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. United States President Donald Trump has been putting more pressure on Russia to hold talks, which have stalled as Russian President Vladimir Putin stood his ground on his demands.

The third round of talks in recent months is expected to be held in Istanbul on Wednesday. Previous negotiations led to a series of exchanges of prisoners of war and the bodies of fallen soldiers, but produced no breakthrough on a ceasefire.

On Tuesday, Zelenskyy announced on social media that Rustem Umerov, the former defence minister and current secretary of the security council, will head Ukraine’s delegation.

He also said Ukraine was ready to “secure the release of our people from captivity and return of abducted children, to stop the killings, and to prepare a leaders’ meeting”, outlining potential topics for discussion.Russia has not yet announced the composition of its team for the talks. Its delegation at the previous round was led by a hawkish historian and the current head of the Russian Union of Writers, Vladimir Medinsky, whom Ukraine described as not a real decision-maker.

Asked on Tuesday if he could give a sense of how the Kremlin saw the potential timeframe of a possible peace agreement, Peskov said he could give no guidance on timing.

“There is a lot of work to be done before we can talk about the possibility of some top-level meetings,” Peskov added, a day after Zelenskyy renewed a call for a meeting with Putin.

Despite the upcoming talks, Russia’s offensive continues, with its forces driving hard to break through at eastern and northeastern points on the 1,000km (620-mile) front line.Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched 426 drones and 24 missiles overnight, making it one of Russia’s largest aerial assaults in months. It said it had downed or jammed at least 224 Russian drones and missiles, while 203 drones disappeared from radars.

In one of the attacks, a 10-year-old boy was killed and five people were wounded when guided glide bombs hit a residential building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, according to Mayor Alexander Goncharenko.

Kramatorsk is part of a metropolitan area in Donetsk that remains under Ukrainian control three years after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

A barrage of Russian strikes was also reported in the capital, Kyiv, sparking several fires and damaging an underground air raid shelter where civilians had taken refuge. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region came under multiple waves of attacks, according to regional authorities. A drone hit a petrol station in the town of Putyvl, wounding four people, including a five-year-old boy, the regional military administration reported. A second drone hit the same location less than two hours later, wounding seven people.