Ukrainian authorities have revised the death toll for yesterday's Russian drone strike on an apartment building in Kyiv to at least 24 people, including three children.
That makes it one of the single deadliest Russian strikes on a Ukrainian city in months.
More than 20 locations were struck throughout Kyiv by Russian forces, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Yet only last Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a press conference in Moscow that he thought the war was coming to an end.
He even referred to "Mr Zelensky" in the same press conference - the first time he has used the polite 'Mr' prefix for Ukraine’s president since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
Then he went on to suggest that former German chancellor Gerhard Schroder could act as a mediator in peace talks, an unrealistic proposition that he surely knew the Europeans would quickly reject. And they did, through Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief.
Mr Schroder and Mr Putin were on good terms in the 2000s and the former German chancellor went on to work for at least two Russian state energy companies.
The real audience for Mr Putin's statement that the war was coming to an end may simply have been the Russian public.
They have become increasingly tired of the war and its impact on the Russian economy. Food prices continue to rise.
Officially, Russia's rate of inflation is just under 6% though the true rate could be much higher.
At the same time, the Kremlin, through its ever-present spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, continues to say that the responsibility to stop the war is on Kyiv, glossing over the fact that Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
On Tuesday, Mr Peskov echoed the Russian president's comments that the war was approaching its end, but then yesterday said that Europe should not expect a role in peace talks.
It is as if the Kremlin wants to create a 'Gordian knot' out of American efforts to end the war. Little that Mr Putin and the Kremlin say about the peace process is clear.
Meanwhile, Russian attacks continue on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, killing civilians, including children, in their sleep.
