A Ukrainian adviser said that a second round of ceasefire talks with Russia had not yielded the results Kyiv hoped for on Thursday.
The two sides met in Belarus for the second round of peace talks.
However, despite no immediate ceasefire, the two countries reached an understanding on creating humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians, the presidential adviser said.
Following the meeting, Mykhailo Podolyak said the two sides envisaged a possible temporary ceasefire to allow for the evacuation of civilians.
“That is, not everywhere, but only in those places where the humanitarian corridors themselves will be located, it will be possible to cease fire for the duration of the evacuation,” he said.
The delegations also reached consensus on the delivery of medicines and food to the places where some of the fiercest fighting is taking place.
In a sign of hope, the talks were the first time Ukraine and Russia have agreed any form of progress on any issue since Russia invaded Ukraine, now more than a week ago.
Podolyak said the outcome had fallen short of Kyiv’s hopes, however.
“To our great regret, we did not get the results we were counting on,” he said, without elaborating.
“The only thing I can say is that we discussed the humanitarian aspect in sufficient detail, because quite a lot of cities are now surrounded. There is a dramatic situation with medicines, food, and evacuation,” Podolyak said.
It comes after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky challenged Vladimir Putin to sit down for talks and urged the West to offer a stronger military assistance.
In a sarcastic reference to a long table Putin used for his recent meetings with foreign leaders and Russian officials, Zelensky said: “Sit down with me to negotiate, just not at 30 meters,” adding, “I don’t bite. What are you afraid of?”
During a news conference on Thursday, Mr Zelensky emphasised the need to negotiate, adding that “any words are more important than shots.”
He said the world was too slow to offer support for Ukraine and wanted the West to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine to deny access to the Russian warplanes.
The US and Nato allies have ruled this out.
Mr Zelensky said that if the West remains reluctant to declare a no-fly zone over Ukraine, it should at least provide Kyiv with warplanes.
More talks could take place next week, with the Belarusian news agency Belta quoting Mr Podolyak as saying a third round of negotiations will take place with Russia at the start of next week.
