Ukrainian forces claim to have retaken a Kyiv suburb and an eastern town from the Russians. And as negotiators assemble for another round of talks aimed at stopping the fighting, it is becoming a back-and-forth stalemate on the ground.
Ahead of the Istanbul talks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country is prepared to declare its neutrality, as Moscow has demanded. They are also open to compromise on the fate of the Donbas, the contested region in the country’s east.
The mayor of Irpin, a north-western Kyiv suburb that has been the site of some of the heaviest fighting near the capital, said the city has been “liberated” from Russian troops. Irpin gained wide attention after photos circulated of a mother and her two children who were killed by shelling as they tried to flee, their bodies lying on the pavement with luggage and a pet carrier nearby.
A senior US defence official said Washington believes the Ukrainians have retaken the town of Trostyanets, south of Sumy, in the east. The official said Russian forces largely remained in defensive positions near the capital Kyiv, and were making little forward progress elsewhere in the country.
The official said Moscow appeared to be de-emphasising ground operations near Kyiv and concentrating more on the Donbas, the predominantly Russian-speaking region where Moscow-backed rebels have been waging a separatist war for the past eight years. Late last week, with its forces bogged down in parts of the country, Russia said its main goal was gaining control of the Donbas.
That suggested a possible face-saving exit strategy for Russian President Vladimir Putin. It also raised Ukrainian fears that the Kremlin intends to split the country in two and force it to surrender a stretch of its territory.
Ukrainian troops have recently pushed the Russians back in other sectors. In the city of Makariv, near a strategic highway west of the capital, Associated Press reporters saw the carcass of a Russian rocket launcher, a burned Russian truck, the body of a Russian soldier and a destroyed Ukrainian tank after fighting a few days ago.
On Friday, the US defence official said the Russians were no longer in full control of Kherson, the first major city to fall to Moscow’s forces. The Kremlin denied the reports about the southern city.
Russia has long demanded that Ukraine drop any hope of joining Nato, which Moscow sees as a threat. Mr Zelensky has stressed that Ukraine needs security guarantees of its own as part of any deal.
Over the weekend, he said he was ready to agree to neutrality. He also said “Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are beyond doubt”, while suggesting that compromise might be possible over “the complex issue of Donbas”.
The Ukrainian leader has suggested as much before, but rarely commented so extensively. That could create momentum for the talks, for which the Russian delegates arrived in Istanbul on Monday, Turkish media reported.
