By Andrew Osborn and Anastasiia Malenko MOSCOW/KYIV (Reuters) -Russian forces are pushing hard to encircle the strategically important eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk after capturing a string of villages to its south and east,

The long-range Russian drones come in swarms each night, buzzing over Ukraine by the hundreds, terrorizing the population and attacking targets from the industrial east to areas near its western border with Poland.

New waves of deadly Russian missiles pounded Ukraine overnight Sunday while long range drone attacks by Kyiv sparked travel chaos at Moscow’s airports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is stalling over a ceasefire. Meanwhile, Trump has changed his mind about sending weapons to Ukraine.

Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces downed at least 143 Ukrainian drones from Wednesday into Thursday, with at least three craft intercepted over Moscow region.

Russia's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday accused Italy of discrimination and said it had caved into misplaced Ukrainian lobbying after Italian authorities cancelled a classical music concert by Russian conductor Valery Gergiev.

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian negotiators are flying to Turkey for the first peace talks with Ukraine in more than seven weeks, Russian news agencies reported on Wednesday. State agency TASS said talks would take place later on Wednesday in Istanbul.

President Donald Trump rehashed longstanding grievances over the Russia investigation that shadowed much of his first term, lashing out Tuesday following a new report from his intelligence director aimed at casting doubt on long-established findings about Moscow's interference in the 2016 election.

The intelligence chief said Putin's goal remains a fundamental reshaping of the global order to maximise Russian power.