Ukraine and Russia set for fresh peace talks, Zelensky says

Russia and Ukraine will hold a new round of peace talks in Istanbul on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

"Today, I discussed with [Ukrainian Security Council chief] Rustem Umerov the preparations for a prisoner exchange and another meeting in Turkey with the Russian side," Zelensky said in his daily address on Monday. "Umerov reported that the meeting is scheduled for Wednesday."

Zelensky proposed fresh talks at the weekend, days after US President Donald Trump threatened Russia with "severe" sanctions if there was no ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv within 50 days.

Washington has also pledged new weapons for the Ukrainian military, after Russia intensified attacks.

A child was killed overnight into Tuesday, when a Russian glide bomb hit an apartment block in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, local officials said. Six areas of the capital Kyiv had earlier come under a combined drone and missile attack.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces said they had pushed back more than 50 attacks in the Pokrovsk area of eastern Ukraine, where Russia has concentrated much of its firepower in recent months. Russian sabotage groups have already tried to enter the city, according to Ukraine's military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi.

Moscow has not commented on the peace talks planned to take place in Istanbul. Two rounds took place in the city in May and June and led to a series of prisoner exchanges.

Russia's RIA news agency, quoting a source, said the latest round of talks would take place over two days, on Thursday and Friday.

A Turkish government spokesperson said Wednesday's talks would take place in the same venue where previous negotiations in May and June failed to work towards a ceasefire, the Agence France-Presse news agency reported.

This week's talks will be yet another attempt to bring an end to the war that has been going on for more than three years, and will come after Trump expressed frustration with Vladimir Putin. The US president told the BBC he was "disappointed" but "not done" with the Russian leader.

The Istanbul talks could focus on further prisoner exchanges and a possible meeting between Zelensky and Putin, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP.

Moscow, however, has downplayed the likelihood of reaching any concrete outcome anytime soon.

Commenting on the prospects for a breakthrough, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that the two sides were "diametrically opposed" and "a lot of diplomatic work lies ahead".

Russia has intensified its drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, causing record civilian casualties. It launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour in 2022.

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