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.
