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Russia said it would scale down military activity around capital Kyiv following "meaningful" talks in Istanbul as Ukraine's negotiators called for international guarantees for the country's security.
Ukrainian forces recaptured a key Kyiv suburb and desperately clung onto control of the besieged city of Mariupol. Troops "liberated" the suburban town of Irpin, Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky said, wresting a key gateway to the capital's northwest from Russian control.
Western experts described the loss of Irpin as a significant setback for Russian forces, who are still trying to regroup after a failed first attempt to encircle the capital. It is now more than a month since Russian President Vladimir Putin's tanks rolled into Ukraine, hoping to cripple or oust the democratic government in Kyiv.
Ukraine proposed adopting neutral status in exchange for security guarantees at talks with Russia in Turkey, meaning it would not join military alliances or host military bases, Ukrainian negotiators said.
Ukraine called for an international agreement under which other countries would guarantee its security along the lines of the NATO military alliance's Article 5. Poland, Israel, Turkey and Canada could be among the potential security guarantors.
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