Peace talks and a settlement in Ukraine have never been on the real agenda of the West, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday, in her first comments on negotiations since Russian and Ukrainian officials held talks on Wednesday.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, both sides have launched multiple drone attacks on each other. Ukraine, which is fighting a much larger Russian army, has developed a drone industry from scratch and is now focusing on increasing its capacity to produce more long-range drones.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukrainian forces are holding back a concerted summer push by Russia’s bigger army to break through defenses along parts of the front line.

Ukrainian drones hit Russia's Sochi resort while Russian forces bombarded Odessa's residential areas and historic Pryvoz market, hours after ceasefire talks collapsed.

The warring sides remain far apart after the third round of U.S.-brokered peace negotiations on Wednesday. But there was progress on humanitarian issues.

Negotiators for the warring sides in Istanbul appeared to make little progress on ceasefire terms or a possible summit between their presidents – with their meeting ending after less than an hour.

Russia and Ukraine discussed further prisoner swaps on Wednesday at a brief session of peace talks in Istanbul, but the sides remained far apart on ceasefire terms and a possible meeting of their leaders.

Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene, Latvian Defense Minister Andris Spruds and Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur discuss reaching peace in Europe on 'Special Report.'