MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia 
prefers political and diplomatic means to resolve conflict in Ukraine, but Kyiv and the West rejected that path, Russian news agencies reported on Sunday, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“Our preferred route is through political and diplomatic means,” Peskov said, according to TASS state news agency.
Peskov added, without providing evidence, that Moscow continues its military operation in Ukraine because “all proposals for dialogue were rejected, both by Ukraine and by Western countries.”
Russian air defense units downed 291 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday.
“Air defense systems downed two guided aircraft bombs, three projectiles of Czech-made Vampire multiple rocket launch systems and 291 fixed-wing drones,” the ministry said on its Telegram channel.
It added that Russian warplanes and drones struck drone production facilities and control centers within Ukraine.
A day earlier, Russia said its forces had captured two more villages in eastern Ukraine, including one in Dnipropetrovsk region where Moscow says its troops have begun to make advances.
Ukrainian forces made no acknowledgement that the villages had changed hands, but reported heavy fighting.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in an assessment of the situation along the 1,000-km (620-mile) front line, said the logistics hub of Pokrovsk remained the focal point of battles.
He also said Ukrainian forces had recorded “successful actions” in Sumy region on Ukraine’s northern border, where Russian forces have established a foothold in recent weeks.
Reuters could not independently confirm battlefield accounts from either side.
The front-line clashes were reported three days after the two sides held their third direct meeting in Turkey aimed at resolving the nearly 3-1/2-year-old war.
Both sides reported progress in swaps of prisoners or the remains of war dead, but no breakthroughs were announced in terms of a ceasefire or a meeting of the two countries’ leaders.
Russia’s military has been reporting nearly daily the capture of new villages in its slow advance westward.