Russia says it expects agreement next week on date for next peace talks with Ukraine

ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) -Russia expects to agree with Ukraine next week on a date for a third round of peace talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky, who heads the Russian delegation, is in contact with his Ukrainian counterpart, Peskov said.

Resuming negotiations after a gap of more than three years, the two sides held face-to-face talks in Istanbul on May 16 and June 2 that led to a series of prisoner exchanges and the return of the bodies of dead soldiers.

But they have made no progress towards a ceasefire which Ukraine, with Western backing, has been pressing for. Russia says it wants a final settlement, not just a pause in the fighting, and is insisting on territorial and other demands that Ukraine says would be tantamount to capitulation.

The conflict has intensified in recent weeks, with Russia carrying out some of its heaviest air attacks of the war and Ukraine mounting surprise drone strikes on airfields on June 1 that inflicted serious damage on Russia's nuclear-capable bomber fleet.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Dmitry Antonov, writing by Mark TrevelyanEditing by Andrew Osborn)