On the eve of peace talks, Ukraine and Russia sharply ramped up the war with one of the biggest drone battles of their conflict and an ambitious attack that was carried out on nuclear-capable bombers deep in Siberia.

After days of uncertainty over whether or not Ukraine would even attend, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Defence Minister Rustem Umerov would sit down with Russian officials at the second round of direct peace talks in Istanbul on Monday.

The first round of talks more than a week ago yielded the biggest prisoner exchange of the war — but no sense of any consensus about how to halt the fighting.

Amid talk of peace, though, there was much war.

Ukraine attacked Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers at a military base deep in Siberia on Sunday, a Ukrainian intelligence

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