The Wall Street Journal reports:

Moscow dampened hope that a breakthrough in the latest peace talks had been achieved and followed through on its advertised shift in war plans in Ukraine by redoubling its ground and air assaults in eastern portions of the country.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday dispelled the idea that Tuesday’s talks in Turkey between Ukrainian and Russian delegates had represented a turning point. “No one said that the sides have made headway,” he said. “We can’t point to anything particularly promising.”

The statement came less than 24 hours after Moscow’s chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, said that Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, for the initialing of a peace treaty once the negotiations are completed. He also said that, in a show of good will, Russia would limit its operations near Kyiv.

The fighting that began Feb. 24 has now caused more than four million people to flee Ukraine, the United Nations said Wednesday, effectively reaching a level the organization once thought might be the upper limit for refugee totals. The U.N. has previously said many millions have also been displaced within the country, with more than 10 million people uprooted either within Ukraine or driven abroad.

With little indication the conflict is nearing an end, Germany, which relies heavily on energy imports from Russia, triggered an early-warning stage of a contingency plan that aims to insulate the country against any possible reduction in gas deliveries. [Continue reading…]