Russia-Ukraine resume talks online

Kyiv (Ukraine), April 1: As the war in Eastern Europe entered its sixth week, talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators resumed online on Friday after meeting in Istanbul, Turkey.

The talks come in the aftermath of an attack on a fuel depot in Belgorod that the Russian side alleged was carried out by the Ukrainian forces. According to the local officials, Russian forces are blocking the Ukrainian effort to deliver aid to the besieged, southeastern port city of Mariupol, reported Al Jazeera. Also read | Convert examination into festival, says PM Modi on 'Pareeksha Pe Charcha' Moreover, regional officials say some of Moscow's troops withdrawing from near Kyiv and Chernihiv. After the delegation-level meeting between Russia-Ukraine in Istanbul, the Russian delegation announced steps for a "drastic reduction in military activity in the Kyiv and Chernihiv directions" and the possibility of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Russian forces on Thursday attacked a Ukrainian military base in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. According to Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Valentyn Reznichenko, two persons were killed and five injured as a result of the attack tweeted the Kyiv Independent. The intense bombardment in the Kharkiv region has prevented the opening of evacuation corridors in the region, Oleh Synyehubov, the head of the Kharkiv region military administration, said in a statement. Meanwhile, in heavy shelling, a school was damaged in the Ukrainian village in Kyiv Oblast. Artworks were scattered on the ground with glass shattered and debris lying on the ground. At least 20 persons were killed and 33 injured in a Russian strike on the office of the regional military governor of Ukraine's south-western Mykolaiv region on Tuesday, Ukraine's State Emergency Services said in updated figures released Thursday. Also read | Increase in toll tax set to make road travel expensive from April 1 Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24 in response to calls from the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics for protection against intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops. The Russian Defense Ministry said the special operation, which targets Ukrainian military infrastructure, aims to "demilitarise and denasify" Ukraine. Moscow has said it has no plans to occupy Ukraine. Western nations have imposed numerous sanctions on Russia. -PTC News