Russia agrees to ‘reduce military activity’ in sign of progress to end war in Ukraine

For the first time in two weeks, negotiators from Kyiv and Moscow met face-to-face on Tuesday to negotiate an end to Russia’s bloody war in Ukraine — and for the first time since the fighting began, there appeared to be signs of real progress.

The in-person talks in Turkey are the first since officials from both sides met in Antalya in Turkey earlier this month. No real progress was found at any prior peace talks, but both sides agreed to keep talking. Since then, additional talks via remote video link have also failed to resolve differences between Kyiv and Moscow.

On Tuesday, negotiators met face-to-face at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul and the talks were hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who urged both countries to find a way to stop fighting.

Russian officials later announced at the talks that it has agreed to “reduce military activity” around the capital Kyiv and in the northern city of Chernihiv — two locations that have been under heavy shelling for weeks.

Also, chief Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could meet once negotiators agree to a draft peace agreement.

“We have discussed all contentious issues, more or less,” Mykhailo Podolyak, an aide to Zelensky, said according to The New York Times. “Our proposals have been made.”

Ukrainian officials said the two sides bargained over international security guarantees for Ukraine at Tuesday’s talks.

Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that the peace talks will now advance to a higher level and include the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine to iron out details of Tuesday’s agreements.

“This war that caused thousands of people to die and millions of others to be displaced should stop,” he said according to the Times.

Medinsky suggested that a meeting take place between Putin and Zelensky at the same time the countries’ foreign ministers initial a bilateral treaty.

“If the work on the treaty and a required compromise proceeds swiftly, the possibility of peace will be much closer,” Medinsky said according to the Russian state-run TASS news agency.

“First, a treaty is drafted, then it is approved by the negotiators, signed by foreign ministers at a personal meeting,” he added. “And only after that a possible meeting between [Putin and Zelensky] is organized to sign this treaty.

“It could be a multilateral meeting involving guarantor nations of peace and security in Ukraine.”

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said previously on Tuesday that Kyiv considered a cease-fire its highest priority, but also hoped to at least get some consensus on humanitarian assistance for millions of Ukrainian civilians. Kuleba added, however, that Ukraine would not yield on shrinking its borders to Russia.

Before the talks, Zelensky said that he was willing to declare neutrality — something that Russia has demanded — and also was open to a possible compromise over disputed separatist-held regions in far eastern Ukraine known as the Donbas.

Earlier Tuesday, Erdogan said that both sides had a “responsibility” to find a solution.

“We have now entered a period where concrete results are needed,” Erdogan said, according to The Guardian. “[It should be] possible to reach a solution acceptable to the international community. [Continued fighting is] in no one’s interest.”

The Kremlin has recently concentrated on expanding territory controlled by those pro-Moscow separatists in the Donbas. Putin last month declared the Donbas region to be fully independent of Ukraine like Crimea, which Moscow forcibly annexed in 2014.

During the new negotiations, Russian forces continued to assault targets across Ukraine as the war nears its sixth week — but stiff Ukrainian resistance pushed Russian fighters back around Kyiv.

On the ground, Ukrainian forces recaptured the Kyiv suburb of Irpin from Russia, but intelligence officials said Moscow has accelerated damage to infrastructure around the country.

A large portion of a regional government building in the key southern Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv was destroyed on Tuesday by a Russian missile attack, trapping several people.

British intelligence said that Mariupol, another southern port city, remains under Ukraine’s control despite relentless bombardment by Russia that’s damaged much of the city.

Ukrainian forces also report successful efforts in pushing some Russian forces back in the Kherson region, an area that was captured by Russia early this month.

“Several more settlements in the Kherson region have been liberated,” Oleksandr Vilkul, the top official in Kryvyi Rih, said late Monday according to CNN. “The invaders are at a distance from Kryvyi Rih of at least [25 miles].”

Ukrtelecom, Ukraine’s largest Internet provider, reported a major cyberattack on Monday by Russian forces.