Russia said on Monday it would not slow down its offensive in Ukraine despite upcoming US-brokered talks on ending the conflict, but that it could agree to local "humanitarian" ceasefires along the front line, AFP reported.

Source: AFP

Asked whether Russia would consider more local truces, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "For humanitarian purposes, absolutely." But he added: "The decision to resume trilateral talks does not imply any restrictions on combat operations," and said Russia's armed forces "continue to carry out massive strikes on Ukraine's military-industrial complex," AFP reported.

Peskov made a similar point in comments reported by Reuters, saying the planned three-way talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States, expected in a couple of weeks in Abu Dhabi or Switzerland, do not place restrictions on either side's military action.

Source: Reuters via Devdiscourse

The Kremlin's openness to short local truces comes ahead of a ceasefire due to start in Oleshky, a Russian-occupied town in southern Ukraine, which AFP said was brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump after months of reports that residents faced severe shortages of food, water and medicine. Oleshky has been under Russian control since February 2022.

Russia has intensified drone and missile attacks on energy sites around Ukraine's major cities in recent weeks, in what Kyiv says is a bid to plunge the country into cold and darkness through the winter. Strikes last year left millions of Ukrainians without heating or electricity, with temperatures at times falling to -20C, AFP reported.

The two sides are due to meet next month with US envoys to discuss ways to end Europe's worst conflict since World War II. Several previous rounds have failed to bring the sides closer to a deal: Russia demands more territory in eastern Ukraine and sweeping military and political restrictions on Kyiv, while Ukraine and its allies say those demands amount to a capitulation, AFP reported.