The attack comes after president Zelensky suggested peace negotiations with Russia could include a territory swap.

A pre-dawn Russian missile salvo on the Ukrainian capital killed at least one civilian and injured four others on Wednesday, sparking several fires in the city of three million, Ukrainian officials said.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank tracking the frontline between Russia and Ukraine, said there was geolocated footage showing Ukrainian forces had advanced towards the villages of Makhnovka and Cherkasskaya Konopelka, both of which are southeast of Sudzha, the main city controlled by Kyiv’s troops.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday Russia will never discuss trading the Ukrainian territory it holds for areas in Russia's western Kursk region held by Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the Guardian newspaper that he planned to offer Russia a straight territory exchange to help bring an end to the war,

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's powerful Security Council, on Wednesday dismissed as "nonsense" Kyiv's proposal to trade pockets of Russian territory it holds in exchange for Moscow-controlled parts of Ukraine.