The warring sides remain far apart after the third round of U.S.-brokered peace negotiations on Wednesday. But there was progress on humanitarian issues.

Ukraine and Russia attacked targets on each other's territory on Thursday after brief direct talks between the two sides failed to make any progress on steps to end nearly three-and-a-half years of war.

Vasily Astrov, expert on the Russian economy at the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, told Newsweek that "inflation has really subsided markedly over the past few months. The outcome of this policy has been a marked cooling of domestic demand, with the welcome side effect of rapid disinflation.