Under fire on front line, Ukrainian soldiers doubt talks will bring peace

By Herbert Villarraga and Alina Smutko

KYIV (Reuters) - While Russian and Ukrainian officials arrived in Turkey for a fresh attempt at direct peace talks, Roman, a 26-year-old Ukrainian artillery commander, raced to man his artillery gun after Russian strikes landed near his position.

The scene on Thursday evening served as a reminder that, on the front line, peace is a distant prospect, even as Russian and Ukrainian officials assembled in Turkey for the first talks since 2022.

Speaking to Reuters before the exchange of artillery fire, Roman - who uses the call sign "Cowboy" - said he had little faith Russia would agree to a demand from Kyiv and Western states for a 30-day ceasefire.

"At the moment peace is not possible," Roman said. "We are certain that the enemy is not going to stop. Our task, as soldiers, is to hold our positions, keep on fighting, not to give up."

The group of soldiers commanded by Roman - who did not give his full name in line with Ukrainian military protocol - was dug into woodland in Ukraine's Donetsk region, which is largely controlled by Russian forces.

Late on Thursday, they had received orders to direct fire on Russian positions from their 2S1 Gvozdika, a Soviet-designed self-propelled howitzer.

Before they could begin firing, Russian rounds could be heard landing a few hundred metres (yards) away. That was followed by the sounds of return fire from other Ukrainian positions in the area.

Roman and soldiers under his command ran into trenches and headed for their Gvozdika.

They removed the branches and camouflage netting used to conceal it from Russian drones, and then loaded a shell into the gun. They fired off a round.

At the same time in Turkey, Ukrainian and Russian negotiating teams had failed to meet, instead blaming each other for stalling. They did eventually meet on Friday in Istanbul.

One of Roman's men, Serhii, said when asked if he saw a prospect of a ceasefire: "No hope."

"Because there was a lot of conversation before. No results," said Serhii, a 36-year-old with the callsign Steward. "I just do my work. For our victory, to stop the war."

Russian officials say they are committed to a peaceful end to the war, and accuse Kyiv of blocking that by making unrealistic demands and failing to acknowledge the need for compromises.

(Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Alex Richardson)