Where Putin’s forces are making gains in eastern Ukraine - Ukrainian forces fighting around Velyka Novosilka claim its Russian takeover will amount to nothing more than a flag-raising exercise

Russia and Ukraine appear to be ready for peace talks but their leaders are issuing new conditions for an end to the war.

The North Korean troops, who have been fighting alongside Russia, have temporarily withdrawn from one of the axes of Kursk oblast where Ukraine’s 73rd Special Operation Forces (SOF) centre is deployed, colonel Oleksandr Kindratenko, an SOF spokesperson, told the Kyiv Independent.

Vladimir Putin stated that the conflict in Ukraine would conclude within two months. According to him, this would be conditional on the absence of military backing from the West. The President of Russia claimed that if Ukraine had withdrawn troops from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions,

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said that his country could hold peace talks with Ukraine, ruling out speaking directly with President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom he described as illegitimate.

A nuclear power plant was among the targets of a massive Ukrainian drone attack against Russian oil and power facilities, Russian officials and media outlets reported on Wednesday.