Tomorrow new talks in Türkiye between Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and US envoy Steve Witkoff. Announcing his presence in Turkey to “relaunch” peace talks and resume prisoner exchanges with Russia was Ukraine’s own president, who was in Madrid today, after previously being in Athens and Paris. “We are preparing to relaunch negotiations and we have developed a solution that we will propose to our partners – wrote the Ukrainian president on social media – We are also working to restore the exchange of prisoners of war and repatriate them”.
“US Envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to arrive in Türkiye tomorrow to participate in talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky”, said Reuters, reported by Turkish media.
However, Russia will not send an official representative. “No, tomorrow there will be no Russian representatives in Turkey,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, explaining that “for now these contacts are taking place without Russia’s participation.” Moscow, he added, “is waiting for information on what exactly will be handled in Istanbul.”
Later commenting on the signing of an agreement guaranteeing the delivery of one hundred Rafale fighter planes to Ukraine by France, Peskov stated: “Paris does not contribute to peace at all, but rather fuels militaristic tendencies and incites war.”
Russia claims control of two other locations in Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk
There Meanwhile, Russia claims new advances in Ukrainian territory and controls two locations in the Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions.. Moscow’s Defense Ministry, Russian media reports, stated that the areas of Tsegelnoye, in the Kharkiv region, and Nechayevka, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, were in the hands of Russian forces.
Russian raids on public TV, three people killed in Chernihiv and Kharkiv
The death toll from Russia’s new attack in Ukraine is at least three people. Two women aged 72 and 75 were killed in an attack in the town of Gorodnia, in the northern Ukrainian province of Chernihiv, while a seventeen year old girl was killed and nine others were injured in a rocket attack in Berestyn city, Kharkiv Oblast. The attack came a day after a Russian missile attack on the town of Balakliia killed three people and injured 15 others, including three children. Local authorities announced this, while Kiev reported that they had shot down 101 of the 114 drones launched by Russia.
Additionally, Ukrainian public television Suspilne reported that Russian drones attacked and damaged the building housing their editorial office and Ukrainian radio Dnipro, in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
