The Latest Breaking News from Donetsk

Joe Biden and Tony Blinken claim they want a diplomatic solution in Ukraine. A path to reach one already exists

Viktor, a pensioner, goes to sleep in breakaway eastern Ukraine, listening out for shelling in case he needs to take cover. In the city of Kharkiv, Viktoria Makarova, a building firm manager, is learning to fire a rifle in case of an invasion.

Elderly couple Kateryna and Dmytro Shklyar are among the last residents of Nevelske, a village near the frontlines in east Ukraine where years of fighting have left them without running water, electricity or neighbours.

The top U.S. and Russian diplomats made no major breakthrough at talks on Ukraine on Friday but agreed to keep talking to try to resolve a crisis that has stoked fears of a military conflict.

The Russian-Ukrainian war began in 2014 after pro-European protesters toppled the government of the Moscow-backed president Victor Yanukovych. This led to a rapid escalation of a crisis that resulted in the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014 and the establishment of two Russian-protected de facto states in eastern…