Discussions with Russia "ongoing," Ukraine presidential advisor says, with focus on guarantors
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in televised remarks that consultations were "ongoing" on a potential roadmap to peace, but added that a sticking point remains the number of countries that would act as security guarantors for Ukraine.
"Consultations on what legal obligations need to be made, how it will be in terms of a multilateral treaty are ongoing now," he said in televised remarks.
Podolyak added: "We have to understand that the Russians categorically do not want to increase the number of countries that can be guarantors of security. It is important for us to have as many of those countries as possible."
Some background: At a recent meeting in Istanbul between Ukrainian and Russian teams, negotiators hammered out very preliminary agreements about the possibility of neutral status for Ukraine, but protected by international security guarantees.
Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week described that negotiating process as being at a "dead end," but Podolyak said work has continued.
197 children killed in Russia's war on Ukraine, Ukrainian officials say
Some 197 children have died and 351 have been injured during the war in Ukraine, the country's prosecutor general said Thursday, citing figures from juvenile prosecutors.
Bodies of children aged four and 10 were found along with the burnt body of a 17-year-old boy in Hostomel and Bucha, in the Kyiv region, the statement said.
The statement added that a father and his minor son were killed in the Chernobyl zone near the village Dytiatky in the Kyiv region when Russian servicemen fired at a car stopped at a roadside.
Seven children died as a result of a Russian strike on the Kramatorsk train station, the statement said.
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office said that the burnt bodies of a 16-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy had been found in the villages of Borodianka, northwest of Kyiv, and Korolivka, in western Ukraine.
Special-operations unit destroys bridge in Kharkiv region as Russian convoy crosses, claims Ukraine.