Russia batters Ukraine’s Odesa and Zaporizhzhia as peace talks in London face uncertainty

Russian drones battered the Ukrainian port city of Odesa and glide bombs hit Zaporizhzhia, local authorities said on Tuesday, as the Kremlin again warned that negotiators are unlikely to obtain a swift breakthrough in peace talks on the war.

Ukrainian, British, French and US officials are due to meet in London on Wednesday to discuss the war. Anticipation is building over whether diplomatic efforts can stop more than three years of fighting since Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour. Hostility has run deep since Russia invaded and illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula in 2014.

US President Donald Trump said last week that negotiations were “coming to a head” and insisted that neither side was “playing” him in his push to end the war. That came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested the US might soon back away from negotiations if they do not progress.

Rubio suggested that Wednesday’s meeting could be decisive in determining whether the Trump administration continues its involvement.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov cautioned that “the settlement issue is so complex that it would be wrong to put some tight limits on it and try to set some short time frame for a settlement, a viable settlement – it would be a thankless task”.

Western analysts say Moscow is in no rush to conclude peace talks because it has battlefield momentum and wants to capture more Ukrainian land.