Six people have been killed in Russian strikes on Kyiv overnight, the city’s mayor says, as diplomatic efforts to end the war continue.
In Russia, officials say three people have been killed after Ukraine carried out strikes in the border regions of Krasnodar and Rostov.
It comes as a US official confirms to the BBC that they will meet Russian representatives in Abu Dhabi today.
The meeting will follow days of intense talks over a US-backed plan for ending the war, which initially drew criticism from Kyiv and European leaders.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says that the plan now contains “many of the right elements” after negotiations
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Further talks are planned in the coming days, and UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will host a virtual meeting of Ukraine’s allies later.
Following the 28-point peace plan reportedly proposed by the US, another updated peace framework has been drawn up after talks during the weekend in Geneva, though details haven’t been announced.
But several media outlets, including Reuters news agency, have reported the text of an alternative plan drafted by Kyiv’s European allies.
The BBC has not independently verified its contents, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has denied any knowledge of its existence.
Europe’s reported counter-proposal includes, a cap on the Ukrainian armed forces at 800,000 personnel during peacetime, Ukraine can join NATO depending on the consensus of NATO members, which it says does not exist, NATO agrees not to permanently station troops in Ukraine, and for the US to offer Ukraine a security guarantee similar to NATO’s Article 5 response in the face of the Russian invasion, this means that an attack on Ukraine would be treated as an attack against all in NATO.
Also in the proposal is that a security task force involving the US, Ukraine, Russia, and Europe to enforce the agreement, and that Ukraine commits to not recovering occupied sovereign territory through military means, but through negotiations.
In contrast, the US proposal mandates Kyiv to cut its army to 600,000 personnel, and that Ukraine must state in its constitution against joining NATO, just as NATO must include this in its statutes.
The proposal also states that NATO must commit to not stationing troops in Ukraine, the setting up of a joint US-Russia working group to enforce the agreement, that Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk regions are recognised as de facto Russian territory, and borders frozen to reflect Russian territorial gains.
