Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in Kazakhstan on Thursday on the sidelines of a regional summit.

At the onset of the talks, the Russian leader thanked Erdogan for previously brokering a deal to resume grain exports from Ukraine's Black Sea ports.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian media the two leaders spoke alone for a long time. He said they did not discuss ways to resolve the conflict.

All the while, Russian forces continue firing missiles into Ukrainian cities. Officials say one struck a condominium in Mykolaiv. At least seven people are either dead or missing. Authorities also say Iranian-made kamikaze drones have hit infrastructure in the Kyiv region.

But Ukrainian forces are maintaining a counteroffensive in the east and south. Experts at a US think tank say they liberated five settlements in the Kherson region on Wednesday.

British intelligence officials suggest Russian troops could be preparing for heavy fighting in the city of Kherson, including the evacuation of civilians.

An independent media outlet in Russia says more than 90,000 of the country's troops have either died, been injured or gone missing. It quoted sources close to the Kremlin. Last month, Moscow claimed the death toll was under 6,000.