Three people were injured in a Ukrainian missile attack on the town of Rylsk in Russia's Kursk region today, state news agency TASS reported, citing the region's governor, Alexander Khinshtein, Reuters reports.
The rocket strike hit the hotel building, Hinštajn said, adding that two wounded people with shrapnel wounds to the head were taken to hospital.
Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed earlier today direct peace talks with Ukraine on May 15 in Istanbul, in an attempt to "remove the root causes of the conflict" and "achieve the restoration of long-term, lasting peace."
Russia carried out an aggression against Ukraine in February 2022.
"It was not Russia that broke off the negotiations in 2022. It was Kiev. However, we propose that Kiev resume direct negotiations without any preconditions," Putin said, referring to the failed negotiations shortly after the Russian invasion.
Following Putin's proposal, the Kremlin announced that the peace talks with Ukraine, proposed by Putin, would also include a draft agreement between the two countries from 2022 that had been abandoned, as well as the fact that Russia controls almost a fifth of Ukrainian territory.
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United States President Donald Trump said that Ukraine should immediately agree to a meeting in Turkey proposed by Putin.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would "wait" for Putin in Turkey on Thursday.
"We expect a complete and permanent ceasefire, starting tomorrow, to provide the necessary basis for diplomacy," Zelensky wrote on the X platform.
"I will wait for Putin in Turkey on Thursday. Personally. I hope that this time the Russians will not look for excuses," Zelensky added.
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Ukraine and European leaders agreed yesterday to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire from May 12 with the support of Trump, threatening Putin with new "massive" sanctions if he does not comply.
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The Kremlin subsequently condemned the "confrontational" attitude of Europeans towards Russia and "contradictory statements by Europe."
Those statements are "mostly based on confrontation, rather than attempts to revive our relations," Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
He did not directly address yesterday's ultimatum from Ukraine's EU allies, as well as the US, seeking to force Russia to accept a 30-day "complete and unconditional" ceasefire in Ukraine starting Monday.
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The Kremlin then announced that it would consider a proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine presented by Kiev's Western allies, while warning that it was useless to put pressure on Moscow in this regard, Russian state media reported.
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