Ukrainian troops are "turning tables" in the war by destroying Russian tanks and recapturing seized cities.
The nation's forces announced this week they had retaken Trostyanets, a town northwest of Kharkiv, that became the site of fierce clashes with Russian troops for weeks.
Last week, after its advances stalled on several fronts, Russia appeared to revise its military goals in Ukraine.
Russia claimed it would focus its efforts on the battle in the eastern Donbas region.
In images emerging from the town after it was abandoned by Russian troops, victorious Ukrainian servicemen can be seen walking among the debris of destroyed Russian military vehicles.
Other pictures show the ghost town left behind after entire neighbourhoods were razed to the ground by Russian bombs.
The 20,000 person town fell at the beginning of March, the Governor of Sumy Oblast said.
Experts say around 15,000 troops stationed in the town were part of an armoured group believed to be waiting for supplies before launching an offensive on Kyiv.
Earlier today one of Vladimir Putin's highest-ranked aides announced Russia plans to drastically cut its military activity around Kyiv and Chernihiv.
Deputy defence minister Alexander Fomin said the decision comes in the interest of pursuing more peace talks between the countries.
It comes amid hopes that a meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could be held in the coming days.
Ukrainian negotiators have proposed adopting neutral status with international guarantees to protect it from attack.
Negotiators said they would not join alliances or host bases of foreign troops - but would have their security guaranteed in a similar manner to the collective defence clause of NATO.
The countries identified to be allowed in facilitating these guarantees are Israel and NATO members Canada, Poland and Turkey.
The proposal included a 15-year consultation period on the status of Russian-annexed Crimea and could come into force only in the event of a complete ceasefire, Ukrainian negotiators have said.
Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said he will be reporting the Ukrainian proposals to Putin.
Today's talks in Istanbul were the first face-to-face meeting between the sides since March 10.
Mr Fomin said: "The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation has taken the decision to drastically reduce combat operations in the Kyiv and Chernihiv areas in order to boost mutual trust and create the necessary conditions for further negotiations and for the signing of the aforementioned agreement."
It follows more than a month of fighting after Russian invaded Ukraine on February 24 and has struggled to capture any major city.
