Russia Says It Will Scale Back Kyiv Attacks

Some actual signs of hope in the Ukraine war? Russian and Ukrainian diplomats met for three hours on Tuesday in Turkey, reports the BBC, and some positive-sounding headlines have emerged in the immediate aftermath:

• Kyiv: Russia said it would "fundamentally" cut back military operations around the capital of Kyiv and near the northern city of Chernihiv, reports the AP. Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said Moscow was making the move to "increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations."
• Big meeting? Russia also sounds more open to a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, reports the New York Times. Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said such a meeting could take place once a draft peace agreement was in place. Fomin said the process of drafting one was moving forward.

• Apparent pullback: "Certain units” of Russia’s military already have begun withdrawing from around Kyiv and Chernihiv, said the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in an official update, per CNN. "The Russian enemy did not meet the goal of its offensive operation," it said.
• Ukraine: During the talks, negotiators for Ukraine reiterated an offer made previously by Zelensky, that Ukraine would be a neutral nation and not host foreign military bases, per the Washington Post.

(More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)