The new round of negotiations comes amid a long history of delaying tactics by the Russian side as the fighting in Ukraine grinds on.

Donetsk region. On May 9, two civilians were killed and two others injured in attacks by Russian forces on Donetsk province in Ukraine’s east. The deaths were reported in the towns of Siversk and Rivne by the region’s military governor Vadym Filashkin.

Both Moscow and Kyiv each accused the other of violating a truce Ukraine had never agreed to — even as it prompted Ukraine, with backing from European leaders (France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Poland) and the United States (it seems), to demand an extended 30-day ceasefire from the Kremlin.