Agencies Kyiv

Russian drones battered the Ukrainian port city of Odesa and glide bombs hit Zaporizhzhia, local authorities said Tuesday, as the Kremlin again warned that negotiators are unlikely to obtain a swift breakthrough in peace talks on the war.  The development comes a day after Russian President Putin expressed his willingness for direct talks with Ukraine’s leadership.

Ukrainian, British, French and US officials are due to meet in London on Wednesday to discuss the war. Anticipation is building over whether diplomatic efforts can stop more than three years of fighting since Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbour. Hostility has run deep since Russia invaded and illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula in 2014.

US President Donald Trump said last week that negotiations were "coming to a head" and insisted that neither side is "playing" him in his push to end the war. That came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested the US might soon back away from negotiations if they don't progress.

Rubio has suggested that Wednesday's meeting could be decisive in determining whether the Trump administration continues its involvement. But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov cautioned that "the settlement issue is so complex that it would be wrong to put some tight limits to it and try to set some short time frame for a settlement, a viable settlement - it would be a thankless task."