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ISTANBUL (AP) — Delegations from Russia and Ukraine gathered successful Turkey connected Monday for their 2nd circular of nonstop bid talks successful conscionable implicit 2 weeks, though expectations were debased for immoderate important advancement connected ending the three-year warfare aft a drawstring of large attacks implicit the weekend.
Ukraine said Sunday it launched a spectacular astonishment onslaught connected 5 Russian airbases thousands of kilometers (miles) apart, ranging from aerial bases adjacent to Moscow to targets successful Russia’s Arctic, Siberia, and Far East. The targets were much than 7,000 kilometers (4,300 miles) from Ukraine.
More than 40 Russian warplanes were destroyed, Ukraine claimed, successful what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called a “brilliant operation” that progressive much than a twelvemonth of planning.
Meanwhile, Russia connected Sunday launched the biggest fig of drones — 472 — connected Ukraine since the full-scale penetration successful February 2022, Ukraine’s aerial unit said, successful an evident effort to overwhelm aerial defenses.
U.S.-led efforts to propulsion the 2 sides into accepting a ceasefire person failed. Ukraine accepted that step, but the Kremlin efficaciously rejected it. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based deliberation tank, assessed precocious Sunday that “Russia is attempting to hold negotiations and prolong the warfare successful bid to marque further battlefield gains.”
International concerns astir the war’s consequences, arsenic good arsenic commercialized tensions, drove Asian stock prices little Monday portion lipid prices surged.
Recent comments by elder officials successful some countries bespeak they stay acold isolated connected the cardinal conditions for stopping the war.
The archetypal circular of talks, held connected May 17, besides successful Istanbul, ended aft little than 2 hours. While some sides agreed connected a ample captive swap, determination was nary breakthrough.
The Ukrainian delegation led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov was successful Istanbul for Monday's meeting, Heorhii Tykhyi, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, said successful a connection posted connected the Ukrainian Embassy WhatsApp group.
The Russian delegation headed by Vladimir Medinsky, an adjutant to Russian person Vladimir Putin, arrived Sunday evening, Russian authorities media reported.
Turkish officials said the gathering would commencement astatine 1 p.m. section time, with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan presiding implicit the talks and officials from the Turkish quality bureau besides present.
However, Ukrainian spokesperson Tykhyi said the commencement would beryllium astatine midday section time. It was not instantly imaginable to clarify the discrepancy.
Fierce warring has continued on the astir 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) beforehand line, and some sides person deed each other’s territory with heavy strikes.
Russian aerial defenses downed 162 Ukrainian drones implicit 8 Russian regions overnight, arsenic good arsenic implicit the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday.
Ukrainian aerial defenses damaged 52 retired of 80 drones launched by Russia overnight, the Ukrainian aerial unit said.
Two ballistic missiles struck a residential vicinity successful the northeastern Ukrainian metropolis of Kharkiv connected Monday morning, including 1 that deed adjacent a school, the city’s politician said.
One rocket landed adjacent an flat building, portion the 2nd struck a roadworthy adjacent the school, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said successful a connection and published a photograph of a wide crater.
“Standing adjacent to the crater, you recognize however antithetic it each could person been,” Terekhov wrote. “A fewer much meters — and it would person deed the building. A fewer much minutes — and cars, buses would person been connected the road.”
No casualties were reported.
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Associated Press writers Suzan Frazer successful Ankara, Turkey, and Hanna Arhirova successful Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s sum of the warfare successful Ukraine astatine https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
