War Archive 2022 02/24 Monitoring Russian and Ukraine War.

[Saif]

Zelensky urges pressure on Russia to end war

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday urged ‘pressure’ on Russia to end the three-year war as his top aides visited Paris for talks with US and EU officials on the conflict...

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Zelensky urges pressure on Russia to end war
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 17 April, 2025, 23:20

Volodymyr Zelensky. | AFP file photo

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday urged ‘pressure’ on Russia to end the three-year war as his top aides visited Paris for talks with US and EU officials on the conflict.

At least 10 people were reported killed and dozens wounded Thursday as Russia pounded Ukraine with drone strikes and shells.

‘Russia uses every day and every night to kill. We must put pressure on the killers to end this war and guarantee a lasting peace,’ Zelensky said in a Telegram post.

Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said he had arrived to Paris with foreign minister Andriy Sybiga and defence minister Rustem Umerov for talks with US, British, Germany and French officials — without saying with who.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Keith Kellogg, US president Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, are meeting French president Emmanuel Macron on Thursday about crafting a ceasefire in Ukraine.

The meeting comes after a spate of deadly Russian air strikes on Ukrainian cities that has triggered outrage in Kyiv and Europe.

Zelensky’s office said his team in Paris will discuss ‘bringing peace to Ukraine.’

‘Among other things, the parties will discuss ways to implement a full and unconditional ceasefire, the deployment of a multinational military contingent to ensure security, and the further development of Ukraine’s security architecture,’ Ukraine’s presidency said in a statement.

The Kremlin dismissed the talks and accused Kyiv’s allies of wanting to drag out the war.

‘Unfortunately we see from Europeans a focus on continuing the war,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, when asked about what he expected from the talks.

Russia launched a ‘massive’ drone salvo overnight on the city of Dnipro that killed three and wounded more than 30, local governor Sergiy Lysak said.

Fires broke out at apartment blocks in the city after the attack.

Two more were killed in artillery strikes in Nikopol, down south from Dnipro, Lysak added, while local officials also reported fatalities in the frontline areas in the Donetsk and Kherson regions.

Russia’s army also claimed to have captured a small village in the eastern Donetsk region, where its troops have been grinding forward for months.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine hits Chinese firms with sanctions after accusing Beijing of arming Russia

Ukraine imposed sanctions on three Chinese companies on Friday, a day after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy alleged that China had been supplying weapons to Russia. China's foreign ministry earlier on Friday dismissed Zelenskiy's accusation as groundless. While maintaining close economic ties with R

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Ukraine hits Chinese firms with sanctions after accusing Beijing of arming Russia
REUTERS
Published :
Apr 18, 2025 21:36
Updated :
Apr 18, 2025 21:36

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, April 4, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Alina Smutko/Files

Ukraine imposed sanctions on three Chinese companies on Friday, a day after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy alleged that China had been supplying weapons to Russia.

China's foreign ministry earlier on Friday dismissed Zelenskiy's accusation as groundless. While maintaining close economic ties with Russia during Moscow's three-year war in Ukraine, China has sought to project an image of neutrality and denies any involvement in the war.

Zelenskiy's administration on Friday published an updated list of sanctioned entities. The list, which also includes Russian companies, named Beijing Aviation And Aerospace Xianghui Technology Co Ltd, Rui Jin Machinery Co Ltd, and Zhongfu Shenying Carbon Fiber Xining Co Ltd, all described as registered in China.

It did not give details of why they had been added to the sanctions list, which bans companies from doing business in Ukraine and freezes their assets there.

Ukraine exported $8 billion of goods to China in 2021, mostly raw materials and agricultural products, while it imported from China just under $11 billion, mainly in manufactured goods, according to the Ukrainian government.

On Thursday, Zelenskiy told reporters in Kyiv his government had evidence that Chinese firms were supplying what he described as artillery and gunpowder to Russia, and that Chinese entities are making some weapons on Russian soil.

He did not offer any evidence for the assertion.

A week earlier, Zelenskiy had said Chinese nationals were fighting on Russia's side in the war with Ukraine, including two who had been taken prisoner. A Chinese diplomat was summoned to the Ukrainian foreign ministry to provide an explanation.

Ukrainian and US officials later said the men had signed up on their own initiative for money.

US President Donald Trump will walk away from trying to broker peace in Ukraine within days unless there are signs of progress, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday.​

 

[Saif]

US threatens to withdraw from Ukraine talks if no progress

Trump's push for peace has stumbled, with Russian President Vladimir Putin rebuffing a complete truce.

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US threatens to withdraw from Ukraine talks if no progress
AFP Paris
Published: 18 Apr 2025, 18: 38

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio Collected

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that Washington could soon exit efforts to reach a Ukraine ceasefire if it decided peace was not "doable", after meeting European and Ukrainian officials in Paris.

European powers have been seeking a seat at the table since US President Donald Trump's shock decision to open talks with Russia to end the three-year-old war, which started with Moscow's 2022 invasion.

But Trump's push for peace has stumbled, with Russian President Vladimir Putin rebuffing a complete truce.

"The United States has been helping Ukraine over the last three years, and we want it (the conflict) to end, but it's not our war," Rubio said.

"We need to figure out here now, within a matter of days, whether this is doable in the short term, because if it's not, then I think we're just going to move on," he told reporters at the Le Bourget airport outside Paris.

"We have other priorities to focus on as well."

Rubio said European officials had been "very helpful and constructive with their ideas" during talks in Paris on Thursday, which he attended with US envoy Steve Witkoff.

"We'd like them to remain engaged... I think the UK and France and Germany can help us move the ball on this," he said, ahead of a similar meeting planned for "early next week" in London.

'European sanctions'

Ukraine said Friday that its prime minister would visit Washington next week for talks with US officials aimed at clinching a long-fraught minerals and resources deal.

Trump wants the deal as compensation for aid given to Ukraine by his predecessor, Joe Biden.

An agreement would be designed to give the United States royalty payments on profits from Ukrainian mining of resources and rare minerals.

Rubio had said late Thursday in a phone call with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that "peace is possible if all parties commit to reaching an agreement", the US State Department said.

Rubio said he hoped European nations would consider lifting sanctions against Russia over the war.

"Many of them are European sanctions that we can't lift, if that were ever to be part of a deal," he said.

European countries last month agreed to ramp up rather than scale down sanctions on Russia.

France and Britain have sought a coordinated European response to defending Ukraine during the conflict and in any ceasefire, after Trump opened talks with Putin.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the Paris talks had made a breakthrough because the United States, Ukraine and European ministers had "gathered around the same table".

He said the United States "has understood that a just and sustainable peace... can only be achieved with the consent and contribution of Europeans."

'Little problem'

Russia's strikes, which have recently killed dozens of people including children in Ukrainian cities, have increased pressure for new diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.

Witkoff said this week that Putin was open to "permanent peace" after talks with him in Saint Petersburg, their third meeting since Trump returned to the White House in January.

Zelensky has accused Witkoff of "spreading Russian narratives" after the US envoy suggested a peace deal with Russia hinged on the status of Ukraine's occupied territories.

Putin last month rejected a US proposal for a full and unconditional ceasefire, after Kyiv gave its backing to the idea.

Putin also suggested Zelensky be removed from office, sparking an angry response from Trump who said he was "very angry" with the Russian leader.

Celia Belin, of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said Rubio's latest comments were "not surprising".

"Trump wants to get rid of the Ukraine issue," she told AFP.

"He wants to renew a strategic partnership with Moscow and he doesn't want a 'little problem' like Ukraine getting in the way."​

 

[Saif]

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/world/russias-putin-declares-unilateral-easter-ceasefire-in-ukraine

Russia's Putin declares unilateral Easter ceasefire in Ukraine
REUTERS
Published :
Apr 19, 2025 22:01
Updated :
Apr 19, 2025 22:01

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a unilateral Easter ceasefire in Ukraine, ordering his forces to end hostilities at 6 pm Moscow time (1500 GMT) on Saturday until the end of Sunday.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian air defence units were repelling an attack by Russian drones on Saturday, saying that showed true Moscow's attitude to Easter and the lives of people.

"Based on humanitarian considerations ... the Russian side announces an Easter truce. I order a stop to all military activities for this period," Putin told his military chief, Valery Gerasimov, at a meeting in the Kremlin.

"We assume that Ukraine will follow our example. At the same time, our troops should be prepared to repel possible violations of the truce and provocations by the enemy, any aggressive actions," Putin added.

US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said on Friday the United States would walk away from efforts to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace deal unless there are clear signs of progress soon.

The full-scale war began when Putin ordered thousands of Russian troops across the border into Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

Putin has said repeatedly that he wants an end to the war. He has demanded that Ukraine must officially drop its ambitions to join NATO and withdraw its troops from the entirety of the territory of four Ukrainian regions claimed by Moscow.

Kyiv has broadly rejected those terms as tantamount to surrender.

Putin told Gerasimov on Saturday that Russia welcomed efforts from the US, China and BRICS countries to find a peaceful settlement to the conflict.

The Russian Defence Ministry said it had given instructions on the ceasefire to all group commanders in the area of the "special military operation", the Kremlin's term for the war.

Russian troops will adhere to the ceasefire provided it is "mutually respected" by Ukraine, the ministry said in a statement.

Separately, the Russian Defence Ministry said Russia and Ukraine conducted a prisoner of war swap of 246 prisoners each on Saturday, mediated by the UAE.

The Russian POWs are in Belarus, the ministry said, where they were being provided with medical and psychological care.​

 

[Saif]

Russia, Ukraine accuse each other of breaching Easter truce

Russia and Ukraine on Sunday accused each other of violating an Easter truce announced by Russian president Vladimir Putin...

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Russia, Ukraine accuse each other of breaching Easter truce
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 21 April, 2025, 00:01

Russia and Ukraine on Sunday accused each other of violating an Easter truce announced by Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces were continuing their shelling and assaults along the front line despite Putin announcing the surprise truce.

The 30-hour truce starting Saturday evening to mark the religious holiday would be the most significant pause in the fighting throughout the three-year conflict.

But Zelensky accused Russia of having maintained its attacks on the front line after the truce started.

Russia’s defence ministry in turn said it had ‘repelled’ attempted assaults by Ukraine and accused Kyiv of launching drones and shells, causing civilian casualties.

Zelensky said Sunday, citing Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky, that ‘an increase in Russian shelling and the use of kamikaze drones has been observed since 10:00am (0700 GMT)’.

Earlier he said that the first six hours of the ceasefire saw ‘387 instances of shelling and 19 assaults by Russian forces,’ with drones ‘used by Russians 290 times’.

Ukraine’s air force on Sunday morning had not reported any drone or missile attacks, however.

AFP journalists heard explosions on Sunday morning around a dozen kilometres from the front line in east Ukraine.

Ukraine will respond ‘symmetrically’ to any attacks, Zelensky said, accusing Russia of ‘attempting to create the general impression of a ceasefire’ while continuing isolated attacks.

Russia’s defence ministry said that ‘despite the announcement of the Easter truce, Ukrainian units at night made attempts to attack’ its positions in the Donetsk region, ‘which were repelled’.

Overnight, it said, Ukraine ‘444 times shelled the positions of our troops and carried out 900 strikes with drones’.

These attacks left civilians ‘dead and wounded’, the ministry said, without giving details.

It insisted its troops had ‘strictly observed the ceasefire and stayed at the front lines and positions they previously occupied’.

Putin’s order to halt all combat over the Easter weekend came after months of efforts by US president Donald Trump to get Moscow and Kyiv to agree to a ceasefire.

On Friday, Washington even threatened to withdraw from talks if no progress was made.

Putin announced the truce from 1800 (1500 GMT) Saturday to midnight Sunday (2100 GMT Sunday) in televised comments, saying it was motivated by ‘humanitarian reasons’.

While he expected Ukraine to comply, Putin said that Russian troops ‘must be ready to resist possible breaches of the truce and provocations by the enemy’.

Zelensky said Ukraine would follow suit, and proposed extending the truce beyond Sunday.

‘Russia must fully comply with the conditions of the ceasefire. Ukraine’s proposal to implement and extend the ceasefire for 30 days after midnight tonight remains on the table,’ Zelensky’s post said Sunday.

Earlier he suggested that ‘30 days could give peace a chance’ — while pointing out that Putin had already rejected a proposed 30-day full and unconditional ceasefire.

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022.

Previous attempts at holding ceasefires for Easter in April 2022 and Orthodox Christmas in January 2023 were not implemented after both sides failed to agree on them.

In Kyiv on Sunday, as Easter bells rang out, people expressed doubts over whether Russia would observe a truce while welcoming Zelensky’s proposal to extend it.

‘They’ve already broken their promise. Unfortunately, we cannot trust Russia today,’ said 38-year-old Olga Grachova, who works in marketing.

‘Our president has clearly said that if they announce a 30-hour ceasefire, we will announce a 30-day ceasefire. So let them go for it so that this terrible war ends, so that our people, our soldiers, and children stop dying,’ said Sergiy Klochko, 30, a railway worker.

But Natalia, a 41-year-old medic, said of Zelensky’s 30-day proposal: ‘Everything we offer, unfortunately, remains only our offers. Nobody responds to them.’

On the streets of Moscow, Yevgeny Pavlov, 58, did not think Russia should give Ukraine a breather.

‘There is no need to give them respite. If we press, it means we should press to the end,’ he said.​