Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday, March 16 that some formulations for agreements with Ukraine were close to being agreed, with neutral status for Kyiv under "serious" consideration, Reuters reports.

However, he told the RBC news outlet that there were other issues of importance too, including the usage of the Russian language in Ukraine and freedom of speech.

Also Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that peace talks were beginning to "sound more realistic".

"Efforts are still needed, patience is needed," Zelensky said during a televised address as the invasion entered a third week.

Loud explosions were reported in Kyiv on Wednesday morning. Kyiv entered a 35-hour curfew on Tuesday night, hours after at least four people were killed in a Russian airstrike on an apartment in Ukraine's capital.