As the war in Europe continues, the Ukrainian troops are pushing forward, finally gaining ground against the Russians. Meanwhile, peace talks have stalled and Putin is being fed false information about the invasion.

From The Wall Street Journal. Ukrainian officials said their armed forces are pressing forward against Russian military units around Kyiv, seeking to exploit Moscow’s efforts to regroup after weeks of heavy losses, while Russian forces handed control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant back to Ukraine.

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After taking back the city of Irpin to the northwest of Kyiv this week, Ukrainian forces are now engaged in heavy fighting in the neighboring towns of Bucha and Hostomel, officials said.

In the Chernihiv region to the north of the capital, Ukrainian forces retook two villages and were pushing for further gains, officials said.

“We have completely destroyed the enemy’s plans,” said Brig. Gen. Oleksandr Hruzevych, deputy chief of staff of the Ukrainian army. “The adversary has completely lost its offensive potential in the Kyiv region. It is trying to dig in and turn to defense in the places it has occupied.”

Russia said it would decrease its attacks around Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, and Chernihiv as a goodwill gesture to facilitate peace talks while shifting focus to air and ground attacks in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.

Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine are set to continue over videoconference Friday, Ukrainian officials say….

Gen. Hruzevych said that nearly 700 Russian vehicles had departed in the direction of Belarus overnight. He said the forces were likely to end up in Donbas….

In Ukraine’s east, an area long coveted by Moscow, Russia has been intensifying attacks. Russian forces have been attacking the city of Lysychansk for the past two days. Shelling by Russian troops killed at least seven people and injured dozens overnight, officials said.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Thursday that Russian forces had gained ground in their offensive to take swaths of Donbas and claimed further missile attacks against Ukrainian military infrastructure.

The statement came the day Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the spring draft, which is set to bring 134,500 new conscripts into the armed forces as others end their voluntary service. Russia has previously admitted that conscripts have taken part in its military campaign in Ukraine, though Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that no new recruits will be sent to conflict zones….

There has been little progress on the diplomatic front to bring about a cessation of fighting. After peace talks on Tuesday spurred hope an agreement may be an emerging possibility, the Kremlin a day later said no turning point had been achieved. And several Western countries, which Ukraine wants as security guarantors for any peace deal, have been skeptical about providing broad promises to rush to the country’s defense.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday he would try to talk to Messrs. Putin and Zelensky to broker a meeting between the two. Turkey, he said, would be willing to be one of the security guarantors in a peace deal, though details still need to be clarified….

Ukraine allies met in London on Thursday to pledge more military assistance to the country. British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said 35 countries were now part of a group offering to provide military aid, as the U.K. organized a donors conference….

The U.S. levied another round of sanctions on Thursday, targeting Russian technology companies and individuals that Washington said are attempting to help Moscow evade the West’s economic pressure campaign.

The White House on Wednesday said it was declassifying information that Mr. Putin was being misinformed by advisers. Hours later, Jeremy Fleming, the head of Britain’s eavesdropping spy agency, GCHQ, said “we believe Putin’s advisers are afraid to tell him the truth….”

Mr. Fleming also said Russia’s Wagner Group, the private military organization made up heavily of former Russian special forces, was preparing to send a large number of fighters to Ukraine to operate alongside Moscow’s regular troops….

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(Excerpt from The Wall Street Journal. Photo Credit: Getty Images)