Just before the expected talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, Moscow carried out attacks on Sumy and Odessa. The Kremlin is not backing down from its maximum demands from Kiev, which Ukraine refuses to fulfill.
On the eve of the third round of talks between Russia and Ukraine, which is scheduled to take place in Istanbul, Russian troops attacked several Ukrainian regions - in particular Odessa and Sumy. At around 2 a.m. local time, drones were launched from the Black Sea towards Odessa. "As a result of the attack in one of the districts of the city, windows of high-rise buildings were broken, cars burned in a nearby parking lot", Odessa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov wrote on Telegram.
In Sumy, the local regional military administration reported 12 people injured in strikes by Russian drones. "One person is in serious condition. He is a 24-year-old man", a message on Telegram said. Five multi-storey buildings, a shopping mall and 18 cars were damaged, the message on the official channel of the regional military administration also specified.
New negotiations in Istanbul this week
A third round of talks between Ukraine and Russia is coming up in Istanbul: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the two sides will discuss the prisoner exchange again on Wednesday. Moscow is not backing down from its maximum demands. No significant breakthrough was achieved at the previous talks in Istanbul between Ukraine and Russia.
It is not surprising that only a marginal aspect of the war will be discussed - the exchange of prisoners of war. Zelensky made it clear earlier that neither a ceasefire nor an end to the war will be on the agenda of the next round of talks with Russia. For Kiev, the meeting is primarily aimed at encouraging the return to Ukraine of its own prisoners of war and children abducted by Russia, and to prepare a meeting at the presidential level, Zelensky said at a meeting with Ukrainian diplomats. The Kremlin continues to reject direct talks between the presidents, arguing that in order to bring results, they would require thorough preparation. The necessary conditions must first be created at a lower level.
Even a temporary ceasefire, which the United States, among other countries, is being pushed for, has not yet been achieved. Moscow is demanding that the government in Kiev cede the four Ukrainian regions declared annexed by Russia but not fully occupied, acknowledge the loss of the Crimean peninsula, and renounce Western military aid and NATO membership. Ukraine rejects these maximum demands as unacceptable.