Despite the recent flurry of diplomatic activity, analysts say that the prospect of a cease-fire agreement, let alone a peace deal, are still hard to reach and that the three-year war looks set to keep grinding on.

The US and Russia are in talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. Ukraine hasn’t been invited to the talks. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has said he won’t recognise a peace deal that is negotiated without his country being involved in the negotiation.

A dozen leaders from Europe and Canada visited Ukraine's capital to mark the date in a show of continued support from some of Kyiv's most important backers.