Russia and Ukraine say there could be ‘a positive result’ to peace talks within DAYS

Russian and Ukrainian officials gave their most upbeat assessments yet on Sunday of progress in their talks on the war in Ukraine, suggesting there could be positive results within days.

Ukraine has said it is willing to negotiate, but not to surrender or accept any ultimatums.

‘We will not concede in principle on any positions. Russia now understands this. Russia is already beginning to talk constructively,’ Ukrainian negotiator and presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in a video posted online.

Separately, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Russia was showing signs of willingness to engage in substantive negotiations about ending a conflict in which thousands have died. More than 2.5 million people have fled. 

‘I think that we will achieve some results literally in a matter of days,’ Mr Podolyak added.

RIA news agency quoted a Russian delegate, Leonid Slutsky, as saying the talks had made substantial progress.

‘According to my personal expectations, this progress may grow in the coming days into a joint position of both delegations, into documents for signing,’ Slutsky said.

Neither side indicated what the scope of any agreement might be.

Their public comments were issued almost at the same time. Today was day 18 of the war that began when Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what the Kremlin calls a special military operation.

In a tweet, Podolyak said Russia was carefully listening to Ukraine’s proposals. ‘Our demands are – the end of the war and the withdrawal of [Russian] troops. I see the understanding and there is a dialogue,’ he said.

Last Monday, the Kremlin’s chief spokesman said Russia was ready to halt military operations ‘in a moment’ if Kyiv met a list of conditions.

Among the demands were for Ukraine to acknowledge Crimea as Russian territory, and recognise the separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk as independent states.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told ABC last week that ‘we can discuss and find a compromise on how these territories will live on’ while adding ‘we’re not ready for capitulation’.

Three rounds of talks between the two sides in Belarus, most recently last Monday, had focused mainly on humanitarian issues and led to the limited opening of some corridors for civilians to escape fighting.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday there had been some ‘positive shifts’ in the talks, but did not elaborate. On Saturday the Kremlin said the discussions between Russian and Ukrainian officials had been continuing ‘in video format’.

Talks between the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers produced no apparent progress towards a ceasefire last Thursday but analysts said the fact they were even meeting left a window open for ending the war.

There has also been disagreement between the two sides as to whether talks were ongoing on Sunday.

The Kremlin said next Russia-Ukraine talks to take place Monday but are not happening right now.

However, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said Ukraine and Russia were actively conducting talks on Sunday, with the situation around the besieged city of Mariupol a particular focus for the Ukrainian authorities.

‘Talks are continuing right now,’ he said in an interview on national television.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday that Britain would continue to pursue more options for bolstering Ukraine’s self-defence. 

Mr Johnson said Russian president Vladimir Putin’s ‘barbaric actions’ were ‘testing not just Ukraine but all of humanity’.

The Prime Minister spoke to the Ukrainian president on Sunday afternoon, according to No 10.

‘He commended the president and the Ukrainian people on their fortitude. The Prime Minister said Putin’s barbaric actions were testing not just Ukraine but all of humanity,’ a Downing Street spokesman said.

‘The leaders condemned the murders of Brent Renaud and countless innocent Ukrainians, and the abduction of the mayors of Dniprorudne and Melitopol.

‘The Prime Minister outlined the support the UK continues to deliver to Ukraine. He said the UK would continue to pursue more options for bolstering Ukraine’s self-defence, working with partners including at Tuesday’s meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force in London.

‘The Prime Minister said the UK would continue to stand behind Ukraine in all their efforts to bring an end to this disastrous conflict.’

President Zelensky said he spoke to Boris Johnson and Petr Fiala, the prime minister of the Czech Republic.

He tweeted: ‘Held talks with PM Boris Johnson and PM P-Fiala. 

‘Talked about people’s struggle against Russian aggression, about Russia’s criminal attacks on civilians.

‘Thanked the partners for their important support. We appreciate it. Stop Russia’.

It came as Electricity supply was restored at Ukraine‘s retired Chernobyl nuclear power plant that was seized by Russian forces in the first days of the invasion, energy officials in Kyiv said Sunday.

The restoration of power at the decommissioned site means that cooling systems will now operate normally and not have to use backup power. 

Ukraine’s nuclear company Energoatom had earlier warned that radioactive substances could be released if a high-voltage power line to the plant were not repaired after it was damaged in fighting.

‘Today, thanks to the incredible efforts of Ukrainian energy specialists, our nuclear power engineers and electricians managed to return the power supply to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which was seized by the Russian occupiers,’ Ukraine’s Energy Minister German Galushchenko said in a statement.  

Zelensky visited wounded soldiers at a military hospital in Kiev on Sunday to boost their morale and award them medals for their bravery.

‘Guys, get well soon. I believe that the best gift for your statement will be our common victory!’ said Zelensky, according to an English translation of a tweet posted by the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine.

He awarded 106 servicemen of the armed forces in Ukraine the title of ‘Heroes of Ukraine’, 17 of which were awarded posthumously. 

Among them was Senior Lieutenant Hutsul Volodymyr Olesksandrovych, who received the title for his actions in the Kherson region destroying 25 units of enemy equipment and ‘about 300 invaders’. 

In a speech on Sunday, Zelensky warned against the formation of a ‘pseudo-republic’ in the south of his country.

Zelensky said Russians were using blackmail and bribery in an attempt to force local officials to form a break-away region in the south, much like those in Donetsk and Luhansk – which Putin declared as ‘independent’ at the start of the war.

Protection for the two eastern regions where pro-Russian separatists began fighting Ukrainian forces in 2014 was used as a pretext by Russia to start the invasion.

Kherson, a vital Black Sea port of 290,000 residents, was the first major city to fall earlier this month.

‘Ukraine will stand this test. We need time and strength to break the war machine that has come to our land,’ Zelensky said in his address.

Ukrainian officials on Sunday also accused Russia of organizing a ‘fake referendum’ in the south of the country now partially under control by Russian forces. 

‘Following 2014 playbook, Russians now desperately try to organize a sham ‘referendum’ for a fake ‘people’s republic’ in Kherson,’ said Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s minister of foreign affairs.

‘Given zero popular support, it will be fully staged. Severe sanctions against Russia must follow if they proceed. Kherson is & will always be Ukraine.’  

Russia bombarded cities across Ukraine on Saturday, pounding Mariupol in the south, shelling the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv, and thwarting the efforts of people trying to flee the violence.

Moscow expanded its offensive on Sunday, as waves of Russian missiles pounded a military training base in western Ukraine, killing 35 people.  

The International Center for Peacekeeping and Security, which lies not far from the border with NATO member Poland, served as a crucial hub for cooperation between Ukraine and the NATO countries supporting it in its defence against Moscow’s grinding assault.  

More than 30 Russian cruise missiles targeted the sprawling facility, which has long been used to train Ukrainian military personnel, often with instructors from the US and other countries in the western alliance.

Poland is also a transit route for Western military aid to Ukraine, and the strikes followed Moscow’s threats to target those shipments. 

An attack so close to the border was heavy with symbolism in a conflict that has revived old Cold War rivalries that gave birth to NATO and threatened to rewrite the current global security order. 

Putin’s forces strike close to Nato border: Explosions are heard in Ukraine’s western city of Lviv that is haven for refugees fleeing war-torn nation as 30 Russian missiles hit military base and kill 35 just 12 MILES from Poland

BY LAUREN LEWIS, JACK NEWMAN AND MATTHEW LODGE FOR MAILONLINE

Explosions have been heard on the outskirts of the western Ukrainian city of Lviv after Russian forces launched an attack on a military base just 12 miles from the Polish border, killing at least nine people and injuring dozens more.

According to Ukrainian sources, Vladimir Putin‘s forces had launched a missile strike on the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security, also known as Yavoriv military complex, just before 6am this morning. 

Initial reports suggested the base had been targeted by eight missiles, but Maksym Kozytskyi, Governor of the region later confirmed 30 cruise missiles had been fired, killing 35 people and injuring 134.  

The base has previously been used to host Nato drills and housed foreign military instructors, but Nato has said none of its personnel were on the base at the time.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov renewed calls for a ‘no-fly zone’ over the country following the attack.’Russia has attacked the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security near Lviv,’ he wrote on Twitter. 

‘Foreign instructors work here. Information about the victims is being clarified. This is new terrorist attack on peace and security near the EU-NATO border. Action must be taken to stop this. Close the sky!’

Lviv’s mayor said the missiles used in the attack are thought to have been fired by Russian planes located over the Black Sea, which had in turn flown out of the southern Russian city of Saratov.   

Ukraine’s Air Force Command West said on Facebook two cruise missiles were destroyed by air defence systems. 

Michael Gove called the rocket attack a ‘significant escalation’, adding that Putin was ‘pushing the boundaries’.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: ‘We know that Vladimir Putin has no moral limits when it comes to the actions he’s willing to take and he’s pushing the boundaries in military terms.

‘We’ve already seen the abuse of humanitarian corridors. The Russians say on the one hand they are allowed to leave but when they seek to leave they are then killed and bombed.’

Photos emerging from the air base show the facility in ruins, with wounded service personnel being attended to by medics.

Mr Kozytskyi said the strike had demolished a large part of a vault on the site, with emergency crews dealing with the aftermath, and urged anyone who can to help doctors at the hospital by providing equipment.

He said: ‘On behalf of the whole Lviv region, I express my sincere condolences to the families of the deceased. We will not forget any Hero and will not forgive any occupant!’

In a statement released this afternoon, Russian Defence Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov told Reuters it had attacked two separate bases and killed ‘up to 180 foreign mercenaries’. 

He added ‘a large amount of foreign weapons were destroyed’. 

Reuters could not independently verify the statements. 

It comes a day after Russia said it considered convoys of weapons from Western nations into Ukraine as legitimate targets. 

This morning there were reports on social media that explosions could be seen and heard from the outskirts of Lviv nearly 30 miles away.

The city has been a haven for refugees in recent weeks, with hundreds of thousands going through as they travelled west toward Poland and other EU countries.

During the night air raid sirens went off in the city, which is home to more than 700,000 people and has been largely spared the violence seen in other major settlements such as Kyiv, Mariupol and Kharkiv. 

The attack has not stopped the flow of refugees, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky confirming nearly 125,000 people have been evacuated from conflict zones through humanitarian corridors. 

Meanwhile an Associated Press journalist in Mariupol witnessed tanks firing on a nine-story apartment building and was with a group of hospital workers who came under sniper fire on Friday. 

A worker shot in the hip survived, but conditions in the hospital were deteriorating, with electricity reserved for operating tables, and people with nowhere else to go lined the hallways. 

In the northern city of Chernihiv, less than 80 miles from Kyiv, emergency crews have been dealing with the damage caused by Russian bombs.

Dramatic video shows firefighters in the city trying to put out a burning housing block, which is alleged to have caught alight when it was hit by a bomb. 

Another video from the city shows an unexploded bomb being lifted out of another building in the city, with the State Emergency Service of Ukraine saying three OFAB-500 air bombs have been removed from residential buildings in on day. 

According to the manufacturer, these bombs which have been found in civilian areas are designed to ‘destroy military industrial facilities, light-armoured and soft-skin targets, railway junctions and military fortifications’.

And Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs in Ukraine, said another mayor had been abducted by Russian forces. 

He said Yevhen Matveyev, the mayor of Dniprorudne in southern Ukraine, was taken days after Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of the nearby city of Melitopol, was also kidnapped. 

Mr Kuleba tweeted:  ‘Today, Russian war criminals abducted another democratically elected Ukrainian mayor, head of Dniprorudne Yevhen Matveyev. Getting zero local support, invaders turn to terror. I call on all states & international organizations to stop Russian terror against Ukraine and democracy.’

In other developments: 

Kyiv says it has a two-week supply of food in case there is a Russian blockade, after a Russian tank column began to encircle the city;Nine people were killed in air strikes in the Black Sea port city of Mykolaiv, with the UK Ministry of Defence saying forces from Crimea will attempt to go round the city to reach Odessa;Residents took to the streets of the occupied city of Melitopol to protest against the abduction of its mayor by Russian forces, while another mayor in the nearby city of Dniprorudne was also abducted;A humanitarian supply convoy is on its way to Mariupol to provide water, food and medical supplies to the city of 400,000 people which has been blockaded for days;It has been confirmed that the eastern town of Volnovakha has been completely destroyed after days of Russian bombing. 

Polish president Andrez Duda has told the BBC he fears Russia could use chemical weapons in an effort to break the deadlock. 

Speaking on Sunday Morning with Sophie Raworth, he said: ‘Actually, politically, he has already lost his war and internally he is not winning it’, adding that if Putin uses these types of weapons Nato will have to consider its next move. 

However, he added that he thought putting a no-fly zone in place would mean ‘the opening of a third world war’. 

Also speaking on Sunday morning, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he was focusing on the situation in Ukraine, instead of calls for Boris Johnson to resign as Prime Minister following recent scandal. 

Talking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge, he said: ‘I haven’t changed my mind on Boris Johnson. I think he has lost the moral authority to lead. I don’t think he is fit to be our Prime Minister.

‘I can’t force him to resign. Only Tory MPs can do that. But I have to say that just at the moment, my total focus is on the Ukraine and what we have to do in response to the Russian aggression there.

‘I think everybody will understand that my focus is on that vital issue just at the moment.’

Meanwhile, Michael Gove, the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary, said more than 3,000 UK visas have been issued to fleeing Ukrainians.

Yesterday it was confirmed Russian forces have ‘completely destroyed’ the eastern Ukrainian town of Volnovakha following a days-long bombing campaign – but fighting continues for territory there to prevent a Russian encirclement as citizens refuse to accept Moscow’s rule.  

Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko confirmed the town had been destroyed late on Saturday, saying that Volnovakha ‘no longer exists’ after Moscow’s ‘war of annihilation’ that has left the smouldering remains of the town ‘in the hands of Russian-backed separatists’.   

Images and videos posted on social media showed Russian forces, complete with the tell-tale Z markings on their vehicles, entering the burnt out town that now primarily consists of rubble. 

Moscow’s troops continue to use indiscriminate shelling to encircle key Ukrainian cities and are said to be bearing down on Kyiv for an ‘all-out assault’ in the coming days. 

Satellite images taken on Saturday morning showed extensive damage to civilian infrastructure and residential buildings throughout the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, a private US company said. 

Maxar Technologies said fires were seen in the western section of the Black Sea port city and dozens of high-rise apartment buildings had been severely damaged. 

Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of shooting children and said Putin’s forces will only take Kyiv if they ‘raze the city to the ground’, with Kremlin troops inching closer to the capital and conflict raging nearby on Saturday, endangering attempted evacuations. 

And Vlodymyr Zelensky has slammed the West for its inaction, saying on Saturday that he ‘doesn’t see any bravery from NATO’ as he pleaded for more involvement from allies in peace negotiations and offered to pay for more anti-missile systems. 

In response, the US made lukewarm promises of taking ‘diplomatic steps’ to help the Ukrainian government.

Zelensky, who claimed 1,300 Ukrainian troops have been killed so far and 500 Russians surrendered yesterday, added: ‘If they decide to carpet bomb (Kyiv), and simply erase the history of this region, the history of the Kyivan Rus, the history of Europe, and destroy all of us, then they will enter Kyiv. 

‘If that’s their goal, let them come in, but they will have to live on this land by themselves.’ 

But there appear to be signs of slight progress in negotiations, with Zelensky saying the warring countries have begun discussing ‘concrete’ proposals rather than just ‘exchanging ultimatums’, although he said any negotiations must begin with a ceasefire.

The conciliatory tone was not resonating in the Kremlin though, with Putin raging after a 75-minute call with Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz that Ukraine was guilty of ‘extrajudicial reprisals against dissidents, taking civilians hostage, using them as human shields, [and] putting heavy armaments in civilian areas near hospitals, schools, kindergartens’.

Scholz and Macron implored Putin to end the war and stop the brutal siege of Mariupol but a French official said he did not show any willingness for calling off his inhumane invasion. 

Meanwhile Russia has made dire threats to the West that any military shipments to Ukraine will be seen as ‘legitimate targets’, prompting fears there could be an escalation of conflict that could suck in other countries. 

Deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov warned the US ‘that pumping weapons from a number of countries it orchestrates isn’t just a dangerous move, it’s an action that makes those convoys legitimate targets’, after Joe Biden personally intervened to stop a shipment of Polish MiG fighter jets to Kyiv, fearing the move could lead to ‘World War Three’. 

And senior Russian officials incredulously flipped the narrative on its head on Saturday, warning that the humanitarian situation was deteriorating because of the actions of the country’s armed forces – and even accusing Ukraine of shelling its own people.   

‘The humanitarian situation in Ukraine, unfortunately, continues to rapidly worsen, and in some cities has reached catastrophic proportions,’ RIA quoted Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Russian National Defence Control Centre, as saying on Saturday. 

Mizintsev, who said Russian forces were observing ceasefires, said Ukrainian forces had mined residential neighbourhoods and destroyed bridges and roads. 

Ukraine has complained repeatedly that Russian forces do not always respect ceasefires so civilians can leave through evacuation corridors. 

Russian armoured vehicles are still slowly advancing on Kyiv’s northeast after being stalled for days, and a military airfield south of the city in Vasylkiv has been hit by missiles, destroying the runway, a fuel depot and an ammunition store. 

The bulk of Russian ground forces are now around 15 miles from the centre but elements of the large column have dispersed in a bid to encircle the city, after pummelling the northwest suburbs including Irpin and Bucha.

A column of thick black smoke was seen rising from the eastern suburbs of Kyiv this morning, but there is still no sign of ground forces moving into the outskirts. 

But a former NATO official said she is ‘sceptical’ that Russian forces will ‘gain much success’ from an expected brutal onslaught of Kyiv, as Ukrainians warned Putin to prepare for his own Stalingrad battle. 

Former deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller says she believes current tactics betray a sign of weakness from Putin’s forces, saying she is ‘sceptical’ of any success in the capital. 

She slammed their poor logistics saying she does not believe they have enough fuel supply for battle in the city which has faced constant shelling but is still bracing for an all-out assault.

Three Russian generals out of 20 have been killed so far in Putin’s botched invasion, which has also seen the loss of 173 tanks, 12 aircraft and 345 troop carriers.  

In an address to the nation on Saturday, Zelensky said Ukraine has inflicted Russia’s heaviest losses in decades, claiming 31 battalion tactical groups have been rendered incapable of combat.

The president also demanded the release of the kidnapped mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, who was seized after he ‘refused to cooperate with the enemy’, sparking protests of 2,000 people in the southern city. 

It comes as Russian attacks are continuing throughout the county on Saturday despite a supposed ceasefire to allow trapped citizens to escape in evacuation routes.

Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said: ‘Humanitarian cargo is moving towards Mariupol, we will inform you how it develops… The situation is complicated, there is constant shelling.’

Putin’s troops have also shelled a mosque housing 86 people including 34 children in the besieged city of Mariupol, whose eastern outskirts have now fallen into Russian hands. It is not yet known if there are any casualties. 

A convoy loaded with 90 tonnes of food and medicine left the town of Zaporizhzhia for Mariupol on Saturday, according to local officials, with hopes that it will be able to evacuate civilians on the way back. Ukraine’s emergency services said 487,000 people had been evacuated over the past 24 hours, including 102,000 children.

Mykolaiv remains under heavy bombardment, while new artillery and air attacks have targeted Dnipro and Kropyvnytskyi.