Moscow not expecting 'breakthroughs' from Ukraine talks
That came after the Kremlin on Monday said that the two sides were far apart in their visions on how to end the more than three-year-old conflict, and as they continued to pummel each other with drones and missiles.
"We don't have any reason to hope for some miraculous breakthroughs," Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a regular briefing in answer to AFP's question about the Kremlin's expectations from the talks.
Outlining potential topics for discussion, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kyiv was ready to "secure the release of our people from captivity and return abducted children, to stop the killings, and to prepare a leaders' meeting."
Moscow said that "a lot of work lies ahead" before even discussions could take place about possible talks between Putin and Zelensky, who last met in 2019.
Ukraine said its ex-defence minister and current secretary of the security council, Rustem Umerov, will head Kyiv's delegation on the talks on Wednesday.
But the Kremlin said only that it hoped talks could be held "this week".
"As soon as we are ready, we will make an announcement regarding the dates," Peskov said.
Moscow's delegation at the last round of talks with Ukraine was led by a hawkish historian and the current head of the Russian Union of Writers, Vladimir Medinsky, whom Ukraine described as a puppet with no authority.
Ukrainian and Russian delegations met in Istanbul on May 16 and on June 2 as Washington stepped up pressure for a deal, but no breakthroughs were made and the talks only yielded agreements to exchange prisoners and soldiers' bodies.
- Five killed in strikes -
At the frontline, far from the diplomatic deliberations, the brutal conflict raged on, with Moscow and Kyiv saying that they had intercepted dozens of drones launched at each other.
The Russian army also said that it had captured the village of Novotoretskoye in the Donetsk region -- the latest advance as Moscow intensifies its ground offensive.
A Ukrainian drone strike on a private bus in the Russian-occupied part of the Kherson region killed three people and wounded another three, a Moscow-installed official said.
Another man died in Russia's western border Belgorod region after a Ukrainian attack, according to the local governor.
At the same time, a Russian drone and missile salvo on Ukraine killed a 10-year-old boy in the eastern frontline city of Kramatorsk, and wounded more than a dozen people across the country, Kyiv's authorities said.
In recent weeks, Russia has fired a record number of drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities, and seized more frontline territory, which Kyiv says is evidence that Moscow is not serious about halting the all-out offensive it launched in February 2022.
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Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading The US market represents almost 15% of the annual production of the Graham Beck estate, which employs 135 people. This year's early export does not reassure Ferreira. "The crystal ball is very unclear for 2026," he said. 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Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ In a study by the World Bank conducted in 2024, over 70% of Nigerians confessed to feeling unsafe due to the lingering danger from armed economy is failing the people of Nigeria. The unemployment rate is rising and now stands at over 33%, according to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics. Youth unemployment exceeds 45%, which is explosive given that close to two-thirds of Nigerians are under 35 years old. The withdrawal of the 2023 fuel subsidy led to inflation reaching a 30-year high. The 2023 Pew Research Centre study found that only one in three Nigerians trusts the government to act in the country's best interest. Well-known Nigerian activist and journalist David Hundeyin has written that under the Presidency of Goodluck Jonathan, the Nigerian economy more than doubled between 2007 and 2015, from $278 billion to $568 billion. He contrasts this with the poor performance under incumbent President Bola Tinubu. Within a decade under this administration, the GDP dropped from over US$560 billion to just US$258 billion. Food inflation has risen by over 200% in the last year. The stark reality for millions of Nigerians is that food and other basic goods have become luxuries rather than everyday purchases. An estimated 3.6 million children are at risk of malnutrition. Although economic reforms, including revised tax laws, the liberalisation of foreign exchange and the removal of the fuel subsidy, appear to have upped investor confidence, these measures have not brought relief to ordinary citizens. Living costs have risen substantially. The economy is contracting. Caught in a debilitating web of economic downturn, rising inflation, and ever-increasing job scarcity, citizen disillusionment is on the rise. To stabilise Nigeria, urgent national intervention in the food sovereignty crisis is vital. The destiny of Nigeria rests on the government's capacity to halt and reverse the nation's economic decline, adopt a zero-tolerance approach to the never-ending cycle of insurgency, and revive its agricultural sector. Farmlands should be treated as national key points. Farmers ought to be treated as VIP citizens, shielded and supported. Patrols of farmland must be permanent features on the agricultural landscape to ensure that insurgency is permanently eradicated. Foreign food aid is no remedy. A full-scale resurgence of the agriculture sector needs to be the business of the day in Nigeria. The agricultural sector has been placed second fiddle to oil, with the Nigerian economy pivoting its economy around oil exports. This dependency on oil threatens both longer-term economic development and food security. The reliance on foreign loans and IMF aid has created a mountain of debt and a burden of dependency that continues to rob the nation of its economic sovereignty. It is a painful paradox that Nigeria, the Giant of Africa, is battling to feed its people. Hundeyin has written of government neglect of the agricultural sector. "Half of all the food produced in Nigeria every year does not make it off the farm.' Hundeyin claims that this is due to "simple issues like lack of rural roads for quick evacuation, and lack of storage and refrigeration equipment". An emergency rejuvenation plan for agriculture is needed. Once the pride of Nigeria, the agricultural sector now lies in ruins, not only due to insurgency but also through government neglect. The revival of Nigeria is inseparable from the recovery and revitalisation of the agricultural sector. Nigeria has over 70 million hectares of arable land. That Nigeria cannot feed its population is a massive betrayal. The Giant of Africa is no more. * Kim Heller is a political analyst and author of No White Lies: Black Politics and White Power in South Africa. ** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL, Independent Media or The African.
