A Ukrainian source participating in the wartime discussions said Saturday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will likely meet for face-to-face peace talks in Turkey shortly.

According to the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency, Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia informed a local TV station that the two presidents might meet soon since draught peace treaty agreements are nearing completion.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan “called both me and Vladimir Putin yesterday, and he seemed to affirm for his part that they were ready to plan a meeting in the near future,” according to Arakhamia.

“Neither the date nor the location are known, but we suspect that the location will most likely be Istanbul or Ankara,” he added.

The declaration came on the same day that Russian soldiers began to withdraw from the area surrounding Kyiv. Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said on Facebook on Saturday that the whole region has been liberated from the Russian troops, writing: “Irpin, Bucha, Hostomel, and the entire Kyiv region have been liberated from the invader!”

The pullback happened as Russian soldiers were confronted with heavy resistance from Ukrainian forces desperate to preserve the city. Following many weeks of fruitless attempts to capture the city, Moscow said last week that its forces will instead focus their efforts in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas area.

“The original Russian campaign was a disaster, and one of its major goals—the conquest of Kyiv—proved unattainable for Russian forces,” Michael Kofman, head of Russian studies at C.N.A., an Arlington, Virginia-based research agency, told the New York Times on Saturday.

Nonetheless, the pullout on Saturday exposed the bleak aftermath of six weeks of warfare in the city and its surrounding communities. Photographs and media accounts from the area revealed the wreckage of wrecked military tanks and buildings, abandoned military positions, and the dispersed bodies of troops and civilians. According to accounts, Russian soldiers destroyed and looted residences on their way out, seizing valuable gadgets and other stuff to ship home or sell.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Ukrainians in Mariupol remain besieged, with no access to food or water, while violence in the southeast continues. Experts recently told Newsweek that Moscow’s major military aims would likely now be Mariupol and obtaining more control of the Russian-backed rebel areas of Donetsk and Luhansk.

“The Russians badly need at least some achievements,” said Andriy Zagorodnyuk, Ukraine’s former defense minister. Andriy Ryzhenko, a retired naval captain and former deputy chief of staff in Ukraine’s navy, added that troops that left Kyiv “will now regroup and move forces to Donbas.”

Negotiations between delegations from both countries resumed this week in Istanbul, Turkey. Putin and Zelensky have yet to meet in person, but their meeting might be a crucial step toward ending the war.

Since Russia’s invasion began at the end of February, the UN has stated that over 1,200 Ukrainian civilians have died in the conflict, with nearly 10% of the population forced to evacuate the country. Tens of thousands of troops have also been slain, and numerous Ukrainian cities and villages have been completely destroyed.