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Kyiv and Moscow are still far apart on how to end the war and the fighting is stepping up
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Five people have been killed and six others injured in Russian attacks on Ukraine overnight, ahead of peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv in Istanbul later today.
Russian shelling and air attacks killed five people outside the south-east Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, while a drone attack on the northeast region of Sumy injured at least six early on Monday, including two children, regional officials said.
Ivan Fedorov said three women died in a series of Russian shelling incidents targeting the village of Ternuvate. A man died in a nearby district in a Russian strike by a guided aerial bomb, Fedorov said.
The strikes came just before Ukrainian and Russian delegations arrived in Istanbul for the second round of direct peace talks since 2022.
The two sides are still far apart on how to end the war and the fighting is stepping up, despite calls from US president Donald Trump and European allies to call a ceasefire.
The first round of talks on 16 May yielded the biggest prisoner swap of the war but no sign of peace – or even a ceasefire as both sides merely set out their opening negotiating positions.
The number of people who have been injured during one of two bridge collapses on Saturday has risen, according to Russian media reports.
Russian state-owned news agency Tass reported the number of those injured in the bridge collapse in the Bryansk Region has risen to 104.
In total, seven people were killed.
The first bridge, in the Bryansk region on the border with Ukraine, collapsed on top of a passenger train on Saturday, causing casualties. The train’s driver was among those killed, state-run Russian Railways said.
Hours later, officials said a second train derailed when the bridge beneath it collapsed in the nearby Kursk region, which also borders Ukraine.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, the country’s top criminal investigation agency, said explosions had caused the two bridges to collapse without giving more detail. Several hours later, it edited the statement to remove the words “explosions”, but did not explain why.
Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in Lithuania with leaders from Nato’s eastern flank for a meeting ahead of the Hague Nato summit later in June.
This includes the Bucharest Nine – Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia – and the Nordics – Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte is also in attendance.
There will be a joint press conference later today. We will bring you the latest lines.
After keeping the world guessing on whether Ukraine would even turn up for the second round, president Volodymyr Zelensky said his Defence Minister Rustem Umerov would meet with Russian officials in Istanbul.
The Russian delegation will be headed by Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky, who after the first round invoked French general and statesman Napoleon Bonaparte to assert that war and negotiations should always be conducted at the same time.
According to Trump envoy Keith Kellogg, the two sides will in Turkey present their respective documents outlining their ideas for peace terms, though it is clear that after three years of war, Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart.
Mr Medinsky said on Sunday that Moscow had received Ukraine’s draft memorandum and told Russia’s RIA news agency the Kremlin would react to it on Monday.
Mr Kellogg has indicated that the US will be involved in the talks and that even representatives from Britain, France and Germany will be too, though it was not clear at what level the United States would be represented.
Ukraine’s delegation will also include its deputy foreign minister, as well as several military and intelligence officials, according to an executive order by Mr Zelensky on Sunday.
The last round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine took place earlier this month in Turkey.
Both countries agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each in their first talks for more than three years.
However, the two sides fell short of negotiating a ceasefire as Kyiv said Moscow had presented conditions that were “non-starters”.
The negotiations were held in Istanbul’s Dolmabahce Palace and mediated by a Turkish team.
It took place after a turbulent two days cast doubt over whether the meeting would take place at all. The talks lasted under two hours.
Ukraine said its next goal is for Vladimir Putin to meet directly with Volodymyr Zelensky; Russia said it had “taken note” of the request.
Neither Mr Zelensky nor Mr Putin are attending the second round of peace talks starting today.
Below is a video of the prisoner swap that was agreed by both sides:
Sir Keir Starmer has warned that Britain “cannot ignore the threat Russia poses”.
The prime minister said the UK has to prepare itself to fight a war to deter Russian aggression and avoid a conflict with Vladimir Putin.
He said the world is facing the greatest instability it has for years, and kept the door open to Britain going to war with Russia if it invades a European Nato member such as Lithuania.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “In order to make sure that that isn’t the case, we need to prepare. But we cannot ignore the threat that Russia poses.”
For context,
The UK government will build up to 12 new nuclear-powered attack submarines and invest £15 billion in its warhead programme, Sir Keir will announce today as the government unveils its strategic defence review.
Ukraine destroyed at least 13 planes during an attack on Russian air bases, Ukraine’s national security and defence council official said.
Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation, said some other planes were also damaged in the attack, in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
Five people have been killed and six others injured in Russian attacks on Ukraine overnight, ahead of peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv in Istanbul later today.
Russian shelling and air attacks killed five people outside the south-eastUkrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, while a drone attack on the northeast region of Sumy injured at least six early on Monday, including two children, regional officials said.
Ivan Fedorov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said three women died in a series of Russian shelling incidents targeting the village of Ternuvate, east of Zaporizhzhia late on Sunday. A shop and several homes were badly damaged.
A man died in a nearby district in a Russian strike by a guided aerial bomb, Fedorov said. A total of nine people were injured in the Russian attacks and a private home was destroyed.
Two children were among those injured in a Russian drone attack on the Sumy region, Oleh Sinehubov, the governor of the region, said on Monday on Telegram.
“A 7-year-old boy is among the victims,” Sinehubov said. He added that several buildings throughout the regions were damaged.
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