- Ukraine offered a promise never to join NATO during ongoing peace talks with Russia on Tuesday.
- Meanwhile, Russia said it would pull back its assaults near Kyiv and Chernihiv.
- Negotiations between the two countries have been unsuccessful so far in the month-long war.
Ukraine has offered to never join NATO and remain neutral in exchange for significant security guarantees, as Ukrainian and Russian representatives met for a new round of peace talks in Istanbul on Tuesday.
Though peace talks had shown little progress, Tuesday's deliberations were a notable step forward in the effort to end the war that has lasted over a month and claimed thousands of lives.
Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podoliak tweeted after the meeting that Ukraine wanted to see a "security guarantees treaty with an enhanced analog of Article 5 of NATO" that would be reinforced with the help of countries like the US, UK, Germany and France.
Podoliak said security guarantees must be "unconditional," and called for the implementation of humanitarian convoys and corridors.
Russia's lead negotiator Vladimir Medinsky also said Ukraine proposed that Russia would not oppose Kyiv's intentions to join the European Union, which Moscow has previously viewed as unacceptable.
Meanwhile, Russia's defense ministry announced it would scale back assaults on the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv — two cities that have faced bombardment by Russian forces but remain under Ukraine's control.
"Taking into account the principles discussed during today's meeting ... in order to increase mutual trust and create the necessary conditions for further negotiations and achieving the ultimate goal of agreeing on the signing of the above [peace] agreement, a decision was made to drastically reduce military activity in the Kyiv and Chernihiv direction," Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin told reporters, according to state-run Ria news agency.
UK intelligence said on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces have successfully been able to counter Russian attacks and push back Putin's forces from a number of positions.
Russia's advance on Ukraine has largely stalled across multiple fronts. Its defense ministry previously said forces would focus on eastern Ukraine's Donbas region.
The United Nations said on Monday it has recorded 2,975 civilian casualties in Ukraine since Russia invaded on February 24 — 1,151 deaths and 1,824 injuries — but acknowledged that the actual toll is much higher.