Talks with Ukraine in Istanbul Tuesday yielded no breakthroughs and a lot of work remains before a deal is possible, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, underlining the difficulties facing efforts to reach a cease-fire.

Peskov called “positive” Ukrainian negotiators’ willingness to start to provide specific proposals on paper, which he said the Russian delegation has reported to President Vladimir Putin.

“But on the rest, we can’t report anything very promising, no breakthroughs,” Peskov said. “Very, very prolonged work is still ahead.”

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Russia hasn’t given an official response yet, but said Tuesday it was cutting military operations near Kyiv and Chernihiv in what it called an effort to boost confidence. Moscow also held out the prospect of direct talks between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, something Kyiv has long sought.

But Russian shelling and other military operations continued Wednesday, according to Ukrainian officials. Zelenskiy Tuesday cited “positive” signals from the talks but said they “won’t drown out the explosions of Russian shells.”

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