Two people were killed in Russia and three in Ukraine due to drone attacks from both Moscow and Kyiv, just hours after a short third round of ceasefire discussions ended in Istanbul.
Three individuals were discovered deceased among the debris of a home following an attack in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv area, while multiple others were injured in the cities of Cherkasy and Zaporizhzhia.
The renowned Pryvoz market, a UNESCO World Heritage site located in the Black Sea city of Odesa, was also affected, with multiple fires erupting throughout the city after an overnight assault, according to officials.
In the meantime, Russian officials reported that two individuals lost their lives and 11 others were injured in a Ukrainian drone attack that occurred overnight in Sochi, located within Russia’s Krasnodar region.
A separate Russian strike on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Thursday morning resulted in 33 people being hurt.
The Ukrainian and Russian teams convened on Wednesday night in Istanbul for the third round of discussions regarding a ceasefire.
Both sides seemed to have little optimism regarding any advancement before the beginning of the discussions, which, as stated by the leader of the Ukrainian delegation, lasted only about an hour.
The leader of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, stated that both nations reached an agreement to exchange 1,200 captured soldiers and that Russia proposed to return 3,000 deceased Ukrainian troops to Kyiv.
However, no concrete actions were implemented to conclude the conflict, which has now entered its fourth year, with both parties blaming each other for dismissing their proposals.
“We weren’t anticipating a breakthrough. A significant advancement seems unlikely,” stated Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Thursday.
Before the meeting, the leader of the Ukrainian delegation, Rustem Umerov, stated that Kyiv’s main focus was to arrange a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by the end of August.
However, Peskov dismissed the notion, stating that it was “too early” for the two presidents to meet.
“They [Ukraine] are attempting to place the cart a bit before the horse,” he stated, noting that significantly more effort needed to be completed before any such gathering could occur.
Ukrainian parliament member Oleksiy Hocharenko mentioned on Facebook that a private meeting between Umerov and Medinsky occurred behind the scenes during the main discussions.
Hocharenko mentioned that Umerov and Medinsky share a “positive relationship.”
The initial two rounds of ceasefire discussions took place in May and June, following a request from US President Donald Trump, who has consistently expressed his desire to witness the conclusion of the “terrible, violent conflict” that began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
This month, Trump established a 50-day deadline for Russia and Ukraine to conclude the conflict, warning of “significant tariffs” on Moscow if an agreement is not finalized.
Russia has consistently held firm on its demands for peace — specifically, the elimination of the “root causes” of the conflict, which involve Ukraine becoming a neutral country, significantly scaling back its military capabilities, and giving up its ambitions to join NATO.
None of these options are satisfactory to Kyiv, or to its Western partners.
We are committed to doing everything possible to get diplomacy back on track,” Zelensky stated on social media on Thursday following the discussions. “However, it is Russia that needs to bring this conflict to an end, as it is the one that initiated the war.
