KIEV: Kiev plans to resume peace talks with Russia by the end of August, after counter-attack operations have been carried out, officials said on Saturday amid Ukraine's attempts to fight off a Russian assault.
The country will be in a better position to negotiate, Kiev's chief negotiator, David Arakhamia, said in an interview with US broadcaster Voice of America. He believes Ukraine will conduct an operation with counter-attacks indifferent places, he said without giving details.
Peace negotiations have come to a standstill. At the end of March, Kiev proposed talks in Istanbul. Among other things, it was prepared to renounce ambitions for Nato membership in exchange for international security guarantees.
Russia, however, is demanding the demilitarisation of its neighbour and the ceding of territory, including the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the frontline southern city of Mykolaiv. In a video posted on his Telegram channel, Zelensky is seen inspecting the war-damaged city and handing out medals to the region's governor and the city's mayor after receiving a briefing.
According to the video description, Zelensky discussed "the state of the economy, re-establishment of water supply and the situation of the agriculture."
Fighting is occurring along the provincial borders of Mykolaiv and Kherson. This is not the first time Zelensky has visited the war's front line. He had previously visited Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhya and the Donbass region in the east of the country.
Meanwhile, in the heavily contested Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk, civilians are likely suspicious about using proposed humanitarian corridors to leave the region, according to British intelligence.
There are hardly any ways to get out of the city other than the humanitarian corridors unilaterally issued by Russia and its allies.
However, Moscow has previously used such corridors in Ukraine and Syria as a means of gaining battlefield advantage and forcibly relocating people, the British Ministry of Defence said in its daily report.
The ministry warned that, in case civilians do not take up the offer of exiting via a corridor, "Russia will likely claim justification in making less of a distinction between them and any Ukrainian military targets in the area."
In other news, a Russian vessel delivering weapons to the strategically important Snake Island has sunk after being hit by Ukrainian missiles, a military official confirmed late on Friday.
The Russian Black Sea Fleet's tug, named Vasily Bech, had been damaged by anti-ship missiles provided to Ukraine by Denmark.
"Later it became known that it sank," Odessa military governor Maksym Marchenko said in a video statement on his Telegram channel.
The claim could not be independently confirmed. There was no comment from the Russian side.
The vessel, which was equipped with a Tor air defence system, was hit by Harpoon missiles and severely damaged on Friday.
Snake Island has been occupied by Russian troops since the end of February. - dpa
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