Russia has announced it will “drastically reduce” military combat operations in two key areas of Ukraine “to boost mutual trust” in peace talks.
The decision to scale back operations around the capital, Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv is the first sign of tangible progress in talks since Russia invaded on 24 February.
Ukraine has proposed neutrality in exchange for security guarantees.
A key aim of Russia’s invasion was to stop Ukraine from joining the Nato alliance.
Russia had already refocused its military campaign on “liberating” Ukraine’s eastern regions after a series of setbacks to the northwest of the capital, Kyiv. It is also seeking to capture a land corridor from Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, to the Russian border.
Russian officials said peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey, had moved to a practical stage.
Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin, who was taking part in the talks, told Russian TV that as “Ukraine’s neutrality and non-nuclear status and security guarantees” had progressed, the defence ministry had taken the decision to cut its operations dramatically in the two areas to “create the necessary conditions for further negotiations and for the signing of the aforementioned agreement”.
Ukrainian negotiator Oleksandr Chaly told reporters that its offer of neutrality was a chance to “restore the territorial integrity and security of Ukraine through diplomatic and political means”. Ukraine’s aim was to “fix its status as a de facto non-bloc and non-nuclear state in the form of permanent neutrality”.
Russian forces have encircled Chernihiv, where officials say up to 400 people have been killed and some 130,000 residents are without heating, electricity or water supplies.
Russia’s chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, said talks had been “meaningful” and Ukraine’s proposals on neutrality would be put to President Vladimir Putin, holding out the possibility of a summit involving Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky. However, he made clear that before that could happen a treaty would have to be drafted and approved by negotiators, and then signed by foreign ministers.