DSNS Odesa
The famous Pryvoz market in Odesa, Ukraine, was damaged by overnight strike
Drone strikes by both Moscow and Kiev killed two in Russia and three in Ukraine just hours after the brief round of the ceasefire ended in Istanbul.
Three people died in the tile bleed house after a strike in the East Khalkiv region of Ukraine, and several people were injured in the cities of Cherkassy and Zaporisia.
Black Seaport City in Odesa also had the famous Privos Market and Chuo Boulevard, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Authorities say several fires broke out across the city after the overnight attack.
Meanwhile, Russian authorities said two people were killed and 11 injured in a one-night Ukrainian drone strike in Sochi in the Krasnodar region of Russia.
Another Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Kalkiv on Thursday morning also injured 33 people.
The Ukrainian and Russian delegations were held at the third round ceasefire talks in Istanbul on Wednesday night.
Neither side seemed to have any desire to advance before consultations began. It lasted only an hour, according to the head of the Ukrainian delegation.
Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation, said the two countries agreed to exchange 1,200 prisoners and offered to return the bodies of 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers to Kiev, which Russia had fallen.
However, no concrete steps were taken to end the conflict, but now it is in its fourth year, with both sides accusing others of rejecting their ideas.
“We didn’t expect a breakthrough. A breakthrough is nearly impossible,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday.
Prior to the meeting, Rustem Umerov, head of the Ukrainian delegation, said that Kyiv’s “priority” would be to hold a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by the end of August.
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The third round ceasefire talks in Istanbul lasted only an hour, the head of the Ukrainian delegation said
However, Peskov poured cold water on the idea and said it was “premature” for the two presidents to meet.
“They are [Ukraine] I’m trying to put the cart a little further ahead of the horse,” he said.
Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Hocharenko said on Facebook that another meeting between Umerov and Medinsky took place behind closed doors on the sidelines of major lectures.
Hocharenko said there was a “good relationship” between Umerov and Medinsky.
The first two rounds of the ceasefire talks took place in May and June at the request of President Donald Trump, who repeatedly said he wanted to see the end of the “terrifying, bloody war” sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Earlier this month, Trump set a 50-day deadline for Russia and Ukraine to end the war, threatening “serious tariffs” in Moscow if deals are not reached.
Russia has long refused to remove the prerequisites for peace: the “root cause” of war, including the fact that Ukraine becomes a neutral state, dramatically reducing its military forces and abandoning the NATO aspirations.
None of these will be accepted by Kiev or the Western allies.
“We do everything to make diplomacy work,” Zelensky told social media on Thursday after the speech. “But it is Russia that must end this war.”
