Despite the Russia-Ukraine peace talks, this invasion only ends when Vladimir Putin decides it is over

The negotiations themselves are bizarrely constituted and the violence in Ukraine goes on as it has for weeks, writes Sean O’Grady

The two countries get around the table at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul on Tuesday (Anadolu Agency/Getty)

Only a month ago Vladimir Putin was more than likely dreaming of visiting Kyiv as its conqueror, the city's mythical neo-Nazi government and its renegade president Volodymyr Zelensky driven into exile, by a populace grateful to Russia for their liberation.

Now the Russian army has faced numerous humiliations by far smaller Ukrainian forces, with its soldiers facing accusations including the use of rape as a weapon of war.

So, far from occupying Kyiv and ousting Zelensky, the Ukrainian leader has been transformed into a Churchillian hero on a global scale, and the deputy defence minister of Russia, Alexander Fomin, has promised to “fundamentally cut back” operations near the capital and around Chernihiv, also in the north of the country. It is tantamount to an admission that the “special military operation” cannot succeed on its original terms.