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

[Saif]

Europe meets over Ukraine peace plans

Senior military figures and European leaders yesterday gathered to thrash out plans for long-term peace in Ukraine, as the United States and Russia prepared for fresh talks on ending the war.

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Europe meets over Ukraine peace plans
Trump floats US takeover of Ukraine nuclear plants

Senior military figures and European leaders yesterday gathered to thrash out plans for long-term peace in Ukraine, as the United States and Russia prepared for fresh talks on ending the war.

Around 30 military leaders from countries keen to help police any lasting ceasefire in Ukraine were to meet north of London, while on the other side of the Channel, EU leaders headed to Brussels.

The flurry of European activity comes with lingering concern about the United States' commitment to backing security on the continent, and fears of future Russian aggression against Baltic and Nordic countries.

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia's Vladimir Putin both held talks with their US counterpart Donald Trump this week, and have indicated they are prepared to halt attacks on energy infrastructure for 30 days.

But there has since been no let-up in strikes and both countries reported a barrage of new drone strikes overnight, as questions remained about the exact details of any lasting peace deal.

Trump, who has spooked European and Nato allies by his overtures to Putin and lukewarm commitment to European security, suggested on Wednesday night the United States could take over and run Ukraine's power plants.

Putin, for his part, has made an end to further Western military support for Ukraine a red line for Russia agreeing to a long-term truce.

Zelensky, who is due to address EU leaders in Brussels, has said that will make Ukraine vulnerable to further attack and warned against making concessions that would embolden Moscow.

Despite Trump going cold on support for Ukraine, the United States is looking at acquiring additional air defence systems for Kyiv to counter Russia's ballistic missiles.

"This is extremely important," said the EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas, who is pushing member states to meet a Ukrainian request for two million shells worth five billion euros ($5.4 billion).​

 

[Saif]

Russia and US to discuss Black Sea shipping and Ukraine peace in Saudi Arabia

Russia and the U.S. will discuss ways to ensure safe shipping in the Black Sea at talks on a possible Ukrainian peace settlement in the Saudi city of Jeddah over coming days, the Kremlin said on Thursday. After Russian forces made gains in 2024, President Donald Trump reversed U.S. policy on the w

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Russia and US to discuss Black Sea shipping and Ukraine peace in Saudi Arabia
REUTERS
Published :
Mar 20, 2025 17:51
Updated :
Mar 20, 2025 17:51

A Russian floating dock is towed by tugboats through Bosphorus to the Black Sea, in Istanbul, Turkey, September 18, 2024.
Photo : REUTERS/Yoruk Isik/Files

Russia and the U.S. will discuss ways to ensure safe shipping in the Black Sea at talks on a possible Ukrainian peace settlement in the Saudi city of Jeddah over coming days, the Kremlin said on Thursday.

After Russian forces made gains in 2024, President Donald Trump reversed U.S. policy on the war, launching bilateral talks with Moscow and suspending military assistance to Ukraine, demanding that it take steps to end the conflict.

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff earlier this week said U.S.-Russian talks would take place on Sunday in Jeddah. But when asked by Reuters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said they might instead be early next week.

“We expect that negotiations will continue at the expert level and will continue in the coming days,” Peskov said, adding that Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov had spoken to Mike Waltz, the U.S. national security adviser, on Wednesday.

Peskov said that when Putin and Trump spoke by telephone on Tuesday, they had discussed the “Black Sea Initiative”

Turkey and the United Nations helped mediate the so called Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal struck in July 2022 that allowed the safe export of nearly 33 million metric tons of Ukraine grain across the Black Sea despite the war.

Russia withdrew from the agreement after a year, complaining that its own food and fertiliser exports faced serious obstacles.

“We fulfilled all the conditions then, but the conditions in relation to us were not fulfilled,” Peskov said.

The White House, in its March 18 statement on the Putin-Trump call, said the leaders agreed to technical negotiation on the implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, a full ceasefire and permanent peace.

Nayla Cherino Parra believes a small needle can make a big difference to a cow’s health.

The World Bank’s global commodities outlook from April 2024 says that despite the Black Sea shipping risks, both Russia and Ukraine were shipping grain to global markets without major problems. It also said the collapse of the Black Sea Grain Initiative had a minimal fallout.

The bank’s latest report from October 2024 does not mention Black Sea shipping risks.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 has left hundreds of thousands of dead and injured, displaced millions of people, reduced towns to rubble and triggered the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West in six decades.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine began in 2014 after a Russia-friendly president was toppled in Ukraine’s Maidan Revolution and Russia annexed Crimea, with Russian-backed separatist forces then fighting Ukraine’s armed forces in the east.​

 

[Saif]

Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of blowing up Russian gas pumping station

Russia and Ukraine accused each other on Friday of blowing up a Russian gas pumping station in a border area where Ukrainian troops have been retreating, amid talks over a proposed US-backed moratorium on attacks on energy infrastructure. Video footage showed a blaze at the Sudzha facility, which

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Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of blowing up Russian gas pumping station
REUTERS
Published :
Mar 21, 2025 20:06
Updated :
Mar 21, 2025 20:06

Black smoke rises from the site of fire following an explosion at an oil depot, which was recently hit by a drone what local authorities called a Ukrainian a military strike, in the settlement of Kavkazskaya in the Krasnodar region, Russia, in this still image from video released March 21, 2025. Photo : Krasnodar Region's Ministry of Internal Affairs/Handout via REUTERS

Russia and Ukraine accused each other on Friday of blowing up a Russian gas pumping station in a border area where Ukrainian troops have been retreating, amid talks over a proposed US-backed moratorium on attacks on energy infrastructure.

Video footage showed a blaze at the Sudzha facility, which is located inside Russia several hundred metres from the Ukrainian border.

It is inside a pocket of Russian territory that had been captured by Ukrainian forces last year, but which Moscow has mostly recovered in heavy fighting in recent weeks. Russian troops pushed Ukrainian forces out of the nearby town of Sudzha last week.

Russia's defence ministry said Ukraine's troops had left the pumping station and blown it up in their retreat. Moscow described this as a violation of the moratorium on attacks on energy infrastructure, which it said it has abided by since a phone call between President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump on Tuesday.

Kyiv said Russian forces had blown up the facility themselves as a provocation, describing Russia's accusations as fake.

Putin agreed to the pause in attacks on energy facilities during his phone call with Trump, when Putin rejected a proposal for a more comprehensive 30-day ceasefire. Kyiv says it is prepared to accept the proposal if hammered out formally in talks.

Russia's Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, said it had opened a criminal case over what it called "an act of terrorism" which had done "significant damage" to the gas transit facility, which once took Russian gas to Europe.

The Ukrainian military accused Russian forces of shelling it with artillery in a false flag "provocation".

"The Russians continue to produce numerous fakes and seek to mislead the international community," the Ukrainian army General Staff said in a statement.

Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president's chief-of-staff, said: "Russian attempts to deceive everyone and pretend that they are 'adhering to the ceasefire' will not work, as the fake (news) about the strikes on the gas station will not work."

Reuters could not independently verify the accounts of the situation at the plant or the cause of the blast.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Putin's order for Russian forces to temporarily halt attacks on energy infrastructure in Ukraine remained in force, and the Sudzha explosion showed Ukraine could not be trusted to keep its word.

Separately, a new explosion rocked an oil depot in Russia's southern Krasnodar region on Friday where firefighters had been trying to extinguish a blaze that had broken out on Tuesday after a Ukrainian drone attack hours after Putin spoke to Trump.

"During the extinguishing process, due to depressurisation of the burning tank, there was an explosion of oil products and release of burning oil," Russian regional authorities said on the Telegram messaging app.

The fire spread to another tank, and the fire area increased to 10,000 sq metres (108,000 sq feet), they added - more than twice the original size of the blaze. More than 450 firefighters were trying to tackle it, and two had been injured.

Russia has pounded Ukraine's energy grid throughout the war, causing frequent blackouts affecting civilians and industry, arguing that civilian infrastructure is a legitimate target because it helps Ukraine's war effort.

More recently, Kyiv has also been launching attacks on Russian oil and gas targets, which it says provide fuel for Moscow's forces in Ukraine and funds Russia's military.​

 

[Saif]

Put fresh pressure on Moscow to end war

President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday urged Ukraine’s allies to put fresh pressure on Moscow to end the war, after Russian drones targeted Kyiv overnight, killing at least three people, according to local authorities.

www.thedailystar.net

Put fresh pressure on Moscow to end war
Zelensky urges allies as Russian strikes on Kyiv kill three people ; Ukraine, US teams to hold talks in KSA

President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday urged Ukraine's allies to put fresh pressure on Moscow to end the war, after Russian drones targeted Kyiv overnight, killing at least three people, according to local authorities.

"New decisions and new pressure on Moscow are needed to bring an end to these strikes and this war," Zelensky posted on social media on the eve of parallel talks between the two sides with US officials on a partial truce.

"According to the available information, three people died, including a five-year-old child. Another 10 people were wounded," the Kyiv city military administration said on Telegram.

Among the wounded, "the youngest victim was... only 11 months old", it said.

The drones targeted several districts of Kyiv, mainly hitting residential buildings and causing large fires, according to footage circulating on social media.

Ukraine's air force also said Russia had launched 147 drones overnight targeting several parts of the country. The military said air defence units had destroyed 97 of the drones, with 25 failing to reach their targets.

Russian and Ukrainian delegations are due to hold parallel ceasefire talks with US representatives in Saudi Arabia today.

Moscow is hoping to achieve "some progress" at the talks, a Russian negotiator told state media before the United States meets Ukrainian and Russian delegations separately in a bid to halt the three-year conflict.

US envoy Keith Kellogg described the effort as "shuttle diplomacy" between hotel rooms.

Ukraine will meet the US mediators first, with Zelensky saying he was "prepared" for yesterday's talks.

Moscow has rejected a joint US-Ukraine proposal for a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire, countering with a suggested pause on aerial attacks on energy facilities.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said US President Donald Trump has a point that European countries must bear a greater burden for their collective self-defence, the New York Times said yesterday. "We need to think about defence and security in a more immediate way," he told the newspaper.​

 

[Saif]

No Ukraine deal after US-Russia Saudi talks

No deal emerged from Washington’s talks with both Kyiv and Moscow in Saudi Arabia Tuesday on any ceasefire after three years of fighting, with Russia demanding that the US ‘order’ Kyiv to enter a new deal on the Black Sea...

www.newagebd.net

No Ukraine deal after US-Russia Saudi talks
Agence France-Presse . Riyadh 25 March, 2025, 23:20

No deal emerged from Washington’s talks with both Kyiv and Moscow in Saudi Arabia Tuesday on any ceasefire after three years of fighting, with Russia demanding that the US ‘order’ Kyiv to enter a new deal on the Black Sea.

US president Donald Trump is pushing for a rapid end to Russia’s invasion and had hoped the latest round of talks in Saudi Arabia would pave the way for a truce.

Kyiv held a brief second round of talks with US officials Tuesday, a day after hours of US-Russia negotiations ended without breakthroughs announced.

Ukraine earlier this month agreed to a US-proposed unconditional ceasefire, but Russia turned it down, with Kyiv accusing it of wanting to gain more battlefield advantage first.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov gave no sign that Moscow was closer to agreeing to a wider ceasefire, instead calling for a new Black Sea deal more beneficial for Russian exports.

‘We are, as the president said, for restarting in some kind of form, in a more acceptable way for everyone, the Black Sea Initiative,’ Lavrov said. He added that Russia does not want ‘anybody to try to push us out’ of the grain and fertiliser market.

The previous Black Sea agreement allowed millions of tonnes of grain and other food exports to be shipped safely from Ukraine’s ports, but Russia had complained that it was not beneficial for its trade.

Lavrov called on the US to ‘order (Ukrainian leader Volodymyr) Zelensky and his team’ to enter such a deal.

He accused Western countries of trying to ‘contain’ Russia like ‘Napoleon and Hitler.’

Ukraine has not yet commented on the outcome of its talks.

A source in the Ukrainian delegation told a small group of media including AFP earlier Tuesday that a second round of negotiations had ended shortly after they had begun.

Lavrov’s statements came after 12 hours of talks Monday between the Russian and American delegation.

The Kremlin said earlier that Russia was still ‘analysing’ the results of its negotiations, that the ‘content’ of the discussions would not be made public and that there was no ‘specific’ date for another meeting.

The Trump administration has made statements sympathetic towards Russia, with Kyiv and European allies worried it will yield to the Kremlin’s demands.

The Saudi talks came as both Russia and Ukraine escalate their attacks on the ground, with Kyiv saying its air defence units had downed 78 out of 139 drones launched by Russia Tuesday.

In Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy, officials said the toll from a Russian strike a day earlier climbed to 101 wounded, including 23 children.

The strike hit a residential area in the city near the Russian border as negotiations were taking place in Riyadh.

The local administration in Sumy said 14 adults and 16 children were in hospital, with one adult and one child in ‘serious condition.’

Russia has advanced in some areas of the front for months and the Kremlin has praised troops for recently retaking swathes of territory held by Ukraine in the border region of Kursk.

Moscow’s defence ministry on Tuesday claimed to have captured two more villages in southern and eastern Ukraine.

It occupies much of the Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. Russia has repeatedly said it will not give up any territory it has seized.

The Kremlin has downplayed expectations of a rapid resolution since rhetoric around a possible halt in fighting escalated with the election of Trump.

A Russian negotiator had said earlier on Tuesday that Moscow would continue ‘useful’ talks with US representatives but would aim to involve the UN and other countries.

‘We talked about everything, it was an intense dialogue, not easy, but very useful for us and the Americans,’ Grigory Karasin told the state TASS news agency, adding that ‘lots of problems were discussed’.

‘Of course we are far from solving everything, from being in agreement on all points, but it seems that this type of discussion is very timely,’ he said.

‘We will continue doing it, adding in the international community, above all the United Nations and certain countries,’ Karasin said.

Ukraine has repeatedly accused the Kremlin of trying to put off any serious discussion of implementing a halt in hostilities.​

 

[Saif]

Russia, Ukraine trade blame for strikes endangering truce efforts

Ukraine accused Russia of launching 117 drones overnight while Russia accused Ukraine of firing drones at a ‘gas storage facility’ in annexed Crimean peninsula and a power installation in Bryansk region...

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Russia, Ukraine trade blame for strikes endangering truce efforts
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 26 March, 2025, 20:42

Ukrainian foreign minister Andriy Sybiga (R), Norway’s foreign minister Espen Barth Eide and Norway’s minister of labour and inclusion Tonje Brennalay (L) walk on a street before a meeting in Kyiv on Wednesday, amid the Russia-Ukraine war. —AFP photo

Russia and Ukraine accused each other on Wednesday of derailing a US-brokered deal that could see the warring countries halt attacks on the Black Sea and against energy sites.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky denounced a barrage of more than 100 drones launched by Russia overnight, hours after Kyiv agreed to a framework for a halt in fighting in the key waterway.

The United States said Tuesday that it had brokered the agreements in talks with both sides in Saudi Arabia, part of efforts by US president Donald Trump to quickly end the Russia–Ukraine war, now grinding through its fourth year.

But key questions over implementation remain. The Kremlin said the agreement to halt Black Sea strikes could come into force only after the lifting of restrictions on its agriculture sector.

Kyiv, which has voiced readiness to agree a complete 30-day ceasefire, said it came into effect when the United States published details of the agreement late Tuesday.

‘Launching such large-scale attacks after ceasefire negotiations is a clear signal to the whole world that Moscow is not going to pursue real peace,’ Zelensky posted on social media.

‘There must also be clear pressure and strong action from the world on Russia — more pressure, more sanctions from the United States — to stop Russian strikes,’ Zelensky said.

Russia launched 117 drones over Ukraine overnight, of which 56 were downed and 48 were lost from radar without causing damage, the air force said.

The attack damaged buildings in the central city of Kryvyi Rig — Zelensky’s hometown — and in the border region of Sumy, Ukrainian officials said.

Russia meanwhile accused Ukraine of attacking its energy infrastructure overnight, which Kyiv denied.

Russia is ‘spreading false and baseless accusations in order to prolong the war’, the Ukrainian General Staff said.

President Vladimir Putin had ordered a 30-day truce on such targets past week but Kyiv said Russian strikes on energy sites continued unabated.

Ukraine fired drones at a ‘gas storage facility’ in the annexed Crimean peninsula as well as a power installation in the Bryansk region, the Russian defence ministry said.

‘The Kyiv regime, while continuing to damage Russia’s civilian energy infrastructure, is actually doing everything it can to disrupt the Russian-American agreements,’ it wrote.

Moscow says the 30-day truce has been in effect since March 18, but the monitoring of it is unclear and both the United States and Russia have issued contradictory statements.

The United States said Moscow and Kyiv had agreed only to ‘develop measures’ towards an energy truce. A communications advisor for Zelensky said late Tuesday that Russian forces had struck Ukrainian energy sites eight times since Putin’s order.

Trump’s aim to hastily end the war has raised fears in Ukraine that it could be forced into ceding some of the 20 per cent of its territory that Russia occupies, or that a US deal might not come with deterrents that would stop Russia from attacking again.

Zelensky and officials in Kyiv have claimed repeatedly that Moscow does in fact not want peace and is seeking only to continue advancing across the front line.

In a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday, foreign minister Andriy Sybiga said Ukraine had ‘proven’ it was not standing in the way of peace.

‘Now Russia has to demonstrate through concrete actions — not manipulations — its real desire to end the war. Otherwise, it will be necessary to increase pressure on Moscow,’ he said.

Trump conceded in an interview Tuesday that ‘it could be they’re dragging their feet’, referring to Russia, adding, ‘I think Russia would like to see it end, and I think Zelensky would like to see it end at this point.’

Germany urged Russia on Wednesday to agree to a ceasefire without conditions.

‘It is not a situation for dialogue when a ceasefire is repeatedly tied to concessions and new demands... we must not be deceived by the Russian president,’ foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said.​

 

[Saif]

Macron hosts Europe’s ‘coalition of willing’ to protect Ukraine

French president Emmanuel Macron on Thursday was hosting European leaders including Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday for a summit aimed at boosting Ukrainian security ahead of any potential ceasefire with Russia...

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Macron hosts Europe’s ‘coalition of willing’ to protect Ukraine
Agence France-Presse . Paris 27 March, 2025, 23:11

French president Emmanuel Macron on Thursday was hosting European leaders including Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday for a summit aimed at boosting Ukrainian security ahead of any potential ceasefire with Russia.

The meeting is seeking to set out what security guarantees Europe can offer Ukraine once there is agreement on a ceasefire to end the over three-year war, including the possible deployment of military forces by a so-called ‘coalition of the willing’.

Twenty-seven heads of state and government, including British premier Keir Starmer and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, were attending the summit, which began with a family photo before several hours of talks commenced.

Macron was due to hold a news conference in the afternoon and other leaders were expected to hold their own briefings.

Key NATO member Turkey, currently under scrutiny due to protests at home, was represented by vice president Cevdet Yilmaz.

Macron and Starmer have taken the lead in seeking to forge a coordinated European response to protecting Ukraine both during the current conflict and in its eventual aftermath after US President Donald Trump shook the world by opening direct negotiations with Russia.

As well as boosting Ukraine’s own armed forces, a key pillar of ensuring security and prevent any further Russian invasion could be to deploy European troops to Ukraine, although the modalities of this are far from clear.

The United States ‘is playing a leading role by convening the ceasefire talks’, said Starmer.

‘President Zelensky has demonstrated his commitment repeatedly, and Europe is stepping up to play its part to defend Ukraine’s future.’

But Starmer said that so far Russian president Vladimir Putin ‘has shown he’s not a serious player in these peace talks’ and that his ‘promises are hollow’ on any eventual ceasefire with Ukraine.

Ahead of the summit, Macron, Starmer and Zelensky held trilateral talks at the Elysee Palace.

Thursday’s meeting comes after the White House said that Russia and Ukraine had agreed on the contours of a possible ceasefire in the Black Sea, during parallel talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia.

Kyiv confirmed this, as did Moscow — although it said that it had set conditions, including demanding the United States lift sanction affecting its agricultural sector.

Speaking alongside Zelensky in Paris on Wednesday ahead of the talks, Macron said this was now a ‘decisive phase to put an end to the war of aggression’ waged by Russia against Ukraine.

Macron also announced a new French military aid package for Ukraine worth two billion euros ($2.2 billion), with Paris ready to rapidly ship existing hardware from its stocks.

He said Russia must accept a 30-day ceasefire offered by Ukraine ‘without preconditions’, accusing Moscow of still showing a ‘desire for war’ and hailing Kyiv for having ‘taken the risk of peace’.

Zelensky said he was expecting ‘strong decisions’ from Thursday’s meeting, adding: ‘Moscow does not understand any language other than the language of force.’

‘Now is definitely not the time to reduce pressure on Russia or weaken our unity for the sake of peace,’ he said.

‘We need more strong joint steps to ensure that peace is just and sustainable.’

Speaking in Jamaica, US secretary of state Marco Rubio said Russia’s conditions will be evaluated, and cautioned that a peace deal ‘won’t be simple’.

‘It’ll take time but at least we’re on that road and we’re talking about these things,’ Rubio said.

As the detente between Washington and Moscow continues under Trump, the new Russian ambassador to the US, veteran diplomat Alexander Darchiev, arrived in Washington on Wednesday.

He hailed a ‘window of opportunity’ for the two countries.

Zelensky said that it was too early to discuss specific roles for future European forces in Ukraine, after a key aide, Igor Zhovkva, said in Paris that Kyiv needed a robust European presence and not just peacekeepers.

A European force could be ‘a card in the hand of the Ukrainians’ that would ‘dissuade the Russians’ from launching another attack but they would not be on the front line, said Macron.

Despite the diplomatic exchanges of recent weeks, South Korea’s military said on Thursday that North Korea had deployed 3,000 additional soldiers to Russia this year as ‘reinforcements’ — in addition to the 11,000 already sent.

‘In addition to manpower, North Korea continues to supply missiles, artillery equipment and ammunition,’ South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff added.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine says mineral deal not final; summary shows US demands more income

The terms of a mineral deal between Ukraine and the US have not yet been finalised, Ukrainian officials said on Friday, after a summary of Washington's latest offer suggested it was demanding all of Ukraine's natural resources income for years. The latest US proposal would require Kyiv to send Was

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Ukraine says mineral deal not final; summary shows US demands more income
REUTERS
Published :
Mar 28, 2025 17:54
Updated :
Mar 28, 2025 17:54

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks to the media at the UK Ambassador's Residence after a meeting with European leaders on strengthening support for Ukraine, in Paris, France, March 27, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool

The terms of a mineral deal between Ukraine and the US have not yet been finalised, Ukrainian officials said on Friday, after a summary of Washington's latest offer suggested it was demanding all of Ukraine's natural resources income for years.

The latest US proposal would require Kyiv to send Washington all profit from a fund controlling Ukrainian resources until Ukraine had repaid all American wartime aid, plus interest, according to the summary, reviewed by Reuters.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko told lawmakers that Kyiv would issue its position on the new draft only once there was consensus. Until then, public discussion would be harmful, she said.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior official in President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office, told Reuters there was no finalised draft for now: "Consultations are still happening at the level of the various ministries," he said, declining to elaborate further.

Another Ukrainian source described the full document presented by the Americans as "huge".

The Trump administration, which has reoriented Washington's policy towards endorsing Russia's narrative about the three-year-old war in Ukraine, has been pressing Kyiv for weeks to sign a deal giving Washington a stake in Ukraine's resources.

Zelenskiy has repeatedly said he accepts the idea, although he would not sign an agreement that would impoverish his country. On Thursday he said Washington was constantly changing the terms but that he did not want the US to think he was opposed in principle.

Three people familiar with the ongoing negotiations said Washington had revised its proposals. The latest draft gives Ukraine no future security guarantees and requires it to contribute to a joint investment fund all income from the use of natural resources managed by state and private enterprises.

According to the summary, it stipulates that Washington is given first rights to purchase extracted resources and recoup all the money it has given Ukraine since 2022, plus interest at a 4 per cent annual rate, before Ukraine begins to gain access to the fund's profits.

Ukraine's 2024 budget revenues included, among other things, $1.2 billion of rent payments for the use of subsurface resources, $1.8 billion in dividends and other payments from the state share in state-owned companies, and $19.4 billion from profits at state-owned companies, finance ministry data showed.

The joint investment fund would be managed by the US International Development Finance Corporation and have a board of five people, three appointed by the US and two by Ukraine. Funds would be converted into foreign currency and transferred abroad.

The updated proposal was first reported by the Financial Times.

An earlier version of the deal, which Ukraine agreed to in principle before Zelenskiy visited the White House last month, had terms that appeared more favourable to Ukraine. It proposed a joint investment fund with Ukraine contributing 50 per cent of proceeds from future profits of state-owned natural resources.

Zelenskiy's visit on February 28 ended with Trump berating him in the Oval Office, later followed by several days during which Washington suspended all intelligence support and military aid to Ukraine.

Since then, Zelenskiy has trod carefully, repeatedly thanking the United States for support.

Earlier this month Ukraine agreed to a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, even though this was rejected by Russia.

Last week, Ukraine and Russia both agreed to pause attacks on energy infrastructure and at sea, but Moscow demanded international sanctions be eased before it accepted the maritime truce.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been spearheading negotiations on the mineral deal. In an interview with Fox News earlier this week, he said the US had "passed along a completed document for the economic partnership" and Washington hoped to "perhaps even get signatures next week."

Trump has said a minerals deal will help secure a peace agreement by giving the United States a financial stake in Ukraine's future. He also sees it as America's way of earning back some of the tens of billions of dollars it has given to Ukraine in financial and military aid since Russia invaded in 2022. Most of the aid funds were spent in the United States.

The proposal summary makes no mention of the U.S. taking ownership of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, another proposal Trump has floated.

PUTIN SAYS KYIV GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE REPLACED BY

National Security Council spokesperson James Hewitt declined to confirm the terms of the latest proposal, but said the deal "offers Ukraine the opportunity to form an enduring economic relationship with the United States that is the basis for long term security and peace".

After years during which the US firmly backed Ukraine in resisting Russia's invasion, Trump says Washington is neutral and just wants to end the war. He and his officials say they believe Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to make peace.

But so far Moscow has not stepped back from its maximalist demands, which include that Ukraine be disarmed and rendered neutral, and that it withdraw from all territory Moscow has claimed since its invasion.

In his latest demand, Putin said on Thursday that Ukraine's government should be replaced by a temporary administration that would end the war and hold elections. He praised Trump, and said Russia was prepared for peace but winning on the battlefield.

"In my opinion, the newly elected president of the United States sincerely wants an end to the conflict for a number of reasons," Russian news agencies quoted Putin as telling sailors on a visit to a port.

Russia is in favour of "peaceful solutions to any conflict, including this one, through peaceful means, but not at our expense", Putin said. "Throughout the entire line of military contact, our troops are holding the strategic initiative."

A White House National Security Council spokesperson, asked about Putin's remarks on a temporary administration for Ukraine, said governance in Ukraine was determined by its constitution.​

 

[Saif]

Sweden announces more Ukraine military aid worth $1.6b

Sweden announced a new military aid package to Ukraine worth 16 billion crowns ($1.59 billion) on Monday, the biggest package to date from the Nordic country, saying it wanted to help Kyiv strengthen its position in talks on ending the war. The bulk of the package, nine billion crowns, will consis

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Sweden announces more Ukraine military aid worth $1.6b
REUTERS
Published :
Mar 31, 2025 20:18
Updated :
Mar 31, 2025 20:18

Sweden’s Minister of Defence Pal Jonson attends a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on the eve of a NATO defence ministers’ meeting at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium Feb 12, 2025. Photo : Reuters

Sweden announced a new military aid package to Ukraine worth 16 billion crowns ($1.59 billion) on Monday, the biggest package to date from the Nordic country, saying it wanted to help Kyiv strengthen its position in talks on ending the war.

The bulk of the package, nine billion crowns, will consist of new equipment that will be purchased in processes led by the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration, Defence Minister Pal Jonson told a press conference.

Around five billion crowns will be financial donations for Ukraine’s defence industry.

“We are now at a critical stage of the war. Our focus is now on supporting Ukraine as much as possible so that they can get into a position of strength during these negotiations,” he said.

Jonson said all European countries now need to increase their support to Ukraine. “More need to do more.”

Since taking office in January, US President Donald Trump has sought to broker a ceasefire to end fighting in the three-year-old war in Ukraine.

Jonson, asked at the press conference if Europe has the financial and production capacity to take on more of the responsibility if the United States scales down, said: “I’m slightly more concerned with the defence industrial production than the financial resources.”

“The EU alone has an economy eight times as big as Russia, so if there is a will, there is a way for extensive support. The limitation has been the defence industrial production in Europe which has been adapted to peacetime,” he said.

The government has said Sweden will ramp up aid to Ukraine this year, boosting the 2025 budget allocation to 40 billion crowns from 25 billion projected earlier, to aid Kyiv’s fight against Russian invasion.​

 

[Saif]

EU top diplomat urges Russia to agree Ukraine ceasefire, with US pressure

Europe’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas urged Russia on Monday to show goodwill and agree on a ceasefire in Ukraine. She said “giving back Ukrainian children that have been deported to Russia” and “releasing prisoners of war” were examples of gestures Russia could make to s

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

EU top diplomat urges Russia to agree Ukraine ceasefire, with US pressure
REUTERS
Published :
Mar 31, 2025 18:04
Updated :
Mar 31, 2025 18:04

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas speaks during a press conference, on the day of Weimar Triangle meeting on Ukraine at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Madrid, Spain, March 31, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Juan Medina

Europe’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas urged Russia on Monday to show goodwill and agree on a ceasefire in Ukraine.

She said “giving back Ukrainian children that have been deported to Russia” and “releasing prisoners of war” were examples of gestures Russia could make to show goodwill.

Speaking before a meeting of European foreign ministers in Madrid to discuss the war in Ukraine, she also called on the United States to apply pressure on the Kremlin to put an end to the three-year-old conflict.

Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Russia owed a clear response to the U.S. on whether it wants to go on a peace path at all.

U.S. President Donald Trump is becoming increasingly frustrated about the lack of movement in his efforts to broker a peace deal, after he adopted a more conciliatory stance towards Russia which was met with wariness by his European allies.

As for a deployment of peacekeeping troops in Ukraine that France and Britain have been working on, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said it was up to the Ukrainian government to decide when and if to allow foreign troops on its soil.​

 

[Saif]

Russia says it cannot accept U.S. proposals on Ukraine ‘in current form’

Russia cannot accept U.S. proposals to end the war in Ukraine in their current form because they do not address problems Moscow regards as having caused the conflict, a senior Russian diplomat said, suggesting U.S.-Russia talks on the subject had stalled. The comments by Deputy Foreign Minister Se

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Russia says it cannot accept U.S. proposals on Ukraine ‘in current form’
REUTERS
Published :
Apr 01, 2025 23:19
Updated :
Apr 01, 2025 23:19

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump talk during a bilateral meeting at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 28, 2019. Photo : REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/Files

Russia cannot accept U.S. proposals to end the war in Ukraine in their current form because they do not address problems Moscow regards as having caused the conflict, a senior Russian diplomat said, suggesting U.S.-Russia talks on the subject had stalled.

The comments by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov suggest Moscow and Washington have so far been unable to bridge differences which President Vladimir Putin raised more than two weeks ago when he said U.S. proposals needed reworking.

They come as U.S. President Donald Trump appears to be growing increasingly impatient with what he has suggested might be foot-dragging over a wider deal by Moscow.

Trump in recent days has said he is “pissed off” with Putin and has spoken of imposing sanctions on countries that buy Russian oil if he feels Moscow is blocking a deal.

Ryabkov, a specialist in U.S.-Russia relations, said Moscow was not yet able to move forward with a deal however.

“We take the models and solutions proposed by the Americans very seriously, but we can’t accept it all in its current form,” Ryabkov was quoted by state media as telling the Russian magazine “International Affairs” in an interview released on Tuesday.

“As far as we can see, there is no place in them today for our main demand, namely to solve the problems related to the root causes of this conflict. It is completely absent, and that must be overcome.”

Putin has said he wants Ukraine to drop its ambitions to join NATO, Russia to control the entirety of four Ukrainian regions it has claimed as its own, and the size of the Ukrainian army to be limited. Kyiv says those demands are tantamount to demanding its capitulation.

‘VERY COMPLEX’

Asked about Trump’s latest remarks about wanting Putin to do a deal on Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters earlier on Tuesday that Moscow was “continuing our contacts with the American side”.

“The subject is very complex. The substance that we are discussing, related to the Ukrainian settlement, is very complex. This requires a lot of extra effort.”

Russia also said on Tuesday it was fully complying with a U.S.-brokered moratorium on attacking Ukraine’s energy facilities.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told state TV that Defence Minister Andrei Belousov had briefed Putin on alleged Ukrainian violations during a meeting of Russia’s Security Council on Tuesday. Russia passed a list of the violations to U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Lavrov said.

Before the weekend, Trump had taken a more conciliatory stance towards Russia that has unnerved the United States’ European allies as he tries to broker an end to the conflict in Ukraine, now in its fourth year.

But in recent days, and amid lobbying by Europeans such as Finland’s president urging him to hold Russia to account, he has adopted a tougher tone.​

 

[Saif]

French, UK military chiefs discuss support with Ukraine

British and French military chiefs travelled to Kyiv this week to discuss strengthening the Ukrainian army and ways to support the war-torn country after any end of hostilities with Russia, France’s Thierry Burkhard said on Saturday.

www.newagebd.net

French, UK military chiefs discuss support with Ukraine
Agence France-Presse . Paris, France 06 April, 2025, 00:31

British and French military chiefs travelled to Kyiv this week to discuss strengthening the Ukrainian army and ways to support the war-torn country after any end of hostilities with Russia, France’s Thierry Burkhard said on Saturday.

On Friday, Burkhard and British chief of the defence staff Tony Radakin held talks with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky and defence minister Rustem Umerov.

French president Emmanuel Macron and British prime minister Keir Starmer are spearheading European efforts to send a ‘reassurance force’ to Ukraine after any end to the war sparked by Russia’s invasion in 2022.

Ukraine has said Russia does not want a ceasefire.

The visit to Kyiv by the French and British military chiefs came on the same day that a Russian ballistic missile strike on Zelensky’s home city of Kryvyi Rig killed at least 18 people, among them nine children, authorities said.

Zelensky called the meeting with Burkhard and Radakin ‘fundamental’.

‘We are discussing presence on the ground, in the sky and at sea. We are also discussing air defence. And some other sensitive things,’ he said on Friday evening without elaborating.

‘We will be meeting at the level of our military every week. Our partners already have a lot of understanding of what Ukraine needs,’ he added.

Burkhard, the chief of staff of France’s armed forces, said on Saturday they had discussed ‘reassurance options’ to be provided by an international coalition.

‘Together, we want to guarantee a lasting and solid peace in Ukraine, an essential condition for the security of the European continent,’ he said on X.

The goal of the joint trip was to ‘maintain determined support’ for the Ukrainian army which would allow it to continue to fight against Russian forces, he added.

Another goal was to ‘define a long-term strategy for the reconstruction and transformation of the army,’ he added.​

 

[Saif]

Russian missile strike kills one, injures three in Kyiv, Ukraine says

A Russian missile attack on Kyiv killed one man and injured three other people overnight, causing damage and fires in several districts in the biggest such attack on Ukraine for weeks, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday. The strike was the first large-scale attack using missiles and drones since t

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Russian missile strike kills one, injures three in Kyiv, Ukraine says
REUTERS
Published :
Apr 06, 2025 21:00
Updated :
Apr 06, 2025 21:00

Vendors put their wares on display at a flea market as smoke rises from a nearby site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Apr 6, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Thomas Peter

A Russian missile attack on Kyiv killed one man and injured three other people overnight, causing damage and fires in several districts in the biggest such attack on Ukraine for weeks, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday.

The strike was the first large-scale attack using missiles and drones since the US said late last month it had negotiated two ceasefire accords with Russia and Ukraine, including one that would halt strikes on each other’s energy infrastructure.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said ongoing attacks showed Russia did not want to end the three-year-old war.

“Such attacks are Putin’s response to all international diplomatic efforts. Each of our partners - America, the whole of Europe, the whole world - has seen that Russia is going to continue to fight and kill,” he said on the Telegram messaging app.

“Therefore, there can be no easing of pressure. All efforts should be made to ensure security and bring peace,” he said.

Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff, posted a video of firefighters trying to put out fires at badly damaged buildings.

Russian forces used ballistic and cruise missiles launched from both strategic bombers and naval fleets, as well as drones, during the overnight attack, Ukraine’s air force said.

Zelensky said that over the past week, Russia had launched more than 1,460 guided aerial bombs, nearly 670 attack drones and more than 30 missiles of various types against Ukraine.

POLAND ON HIGH ALERT

Warnings from the air force of an attack including regions bordering Poland forced the neighbouring NATO-member country to scramble aircraft to ensure air safety.

Poland has been on high alert for objects entering its airspace since a stray Ukrainian missile struck the southern Polish village of Przewodow in 2022, killing two people.

In Kyiv, several loud explosions were heard overnight.

Fires broke out in at least three districts of Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a Telegram post.

“The body of a man killed in an enemy attack was found in Darnytskiy district (of Kyiv). He was on the street, near the epicentre of the explosion,” Klitschko said.

He added that two civilians had been taken to hospital after they were injured in Darnytskiy, on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River that splits the city.

The Sunday strikes on Kyiv came after officials in the southern region of Mykolaiv reported three people had been injured in Russian strikes. A day earlier, a Russian attack killed at least 19 people including nine children in the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih.

There was no immediate comment from Russia. Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia started with a full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbour. Thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian.

US President Donald Trump, who took office in January after pledging he would end the war in 24 hours, has sought to broker an end to the conflict.​

 

[Saif]

Russian troops push into Ukraine’s Sumy region

Russia said on Sunday that its troops had taken the village of Basivka in Ukraine's Sumy region, and were battering Ukrainian forces at a host of settlements in the area. More than two years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv sent thousands of troops over the border into Russia's Kursk re

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Russian troops push into Ukraine’s Sumy region
REUTERS
Published :
Apr 06, 2025 19:52
Updated :
Apr 06, 2025 19:52

Russia said on Sunday that its troops had taken the village of Basivka in Ukraine's Sumy region, and were battering Ukrainian forces at a host of settlements in the area.

More than two years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv sent thousands of troops over the border into Russia's Kursk region in August last year though a Russian offensive over recent months has pushed most of Ukrainian forces out of Kursk.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly suggested that Russian forces carve out a buffer zone along the border.

Russia's defence ministry said that it had taken the village of Basivka, just over the border from Sudzha, and had struck Ukrainian forces at 12 other points in the Sumy region.

It said that Russia had defeated Ukrainian units in the Russian settlements of Gornal, Guevo, and Oleshnya.

The pro-Ukrainian DeepState war map shows Ukraine in control of about 63 square kilometres (24 square miles) of Russian territory, down from as much as 1,400 square kilometres claimed by Kyiv last year.

Another 81 square kilometres of territory along the border - including Basivka - is classed by DeepState as of "unknown" control.

Russia currently controls a little under one fifth of Ukraine, including Crimea which Russia annexed in 2014, and most but not all of four other regions which Moscow now claims are part of Russia - a claim not recognised by most countries.

Russia controls all of Crimea, almost all of Luhansk, and more than 70 percent of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, according to Russian estimates. It also controls a sliver of Kharkiv region.​

 

[Saif]

Zelensky slams lack of US response to Putin truce rejection

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday lamented the lack of a US response to Russia’s refusal to agree ‘a full, unconditional ceasefire’ as two people were killed in Moscow’s latest aerial bombardment...

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Zelensky slams lack of US response to Putin truce rejection
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 08 April, 2025, 00:06

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday lamented the lack of a US response to Russia’s refusal to agree ‘a full, unconditional ceasefire’ as two people were killed in Moscow’s latest aerial bombardment.

Russia mounted a ‘massive’ missile and drone attack on Ukraine that also wounded seven people, Zelensky said, warning that Moscow was stepping up its aerial attacks.

Ukraine has agreed to an unconditional truce in the more than three-year-long war proposed by the United States but Russian president Vladimir Putin has refused to do so.

‘We are waiting for the United States to respond — so far there has been no response,’ said Zelensky.

Russia claimed the capture of a village in Ukraine’s Sumy region in a rare cross-border advance, but Ukraine branded that as ‘disinformation’.

Earlier, Russia ‘launched a massive nationwide attack on Ukraine using ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones’, said Ukraine’s first deputy prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko.

Zelensky said ‘the number of Russian air attacks is increasing’, which he said proved that ‘the pressure on Russia is still insufficient’.

In Kyiv, explosions were heard in the night and a smoke rose up from the city on Sunday morning.

One person was killed and three people were wounded, the head of the city’s military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, wrote on social media.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said that ‘the body of a man killed in an enemy attack was discovered in Darnytsia district.’

A missile strike partially destroyed a building housing state foreign-language broadcasters, the Russian-language Freedom television channel reported, saying that its newsroom had been destroyed.

Emergency services said that fires broke out in non-residential buildings in Kyiv. In a nearby region, a man was burned when an attack sparked a house fire, the head of the military administration said.

Russia attacked Ukraine with 23 cruise and ballistic missiles and 109 drones during the night, the Ukrainian air force said.

The air force said it shot down 13 of the missiles and 40 drones while 54 others caused no damage.

In the southern Kherson region, a drone killed a 59-year-old man, while in the northeastern Kharkiv region, near the border with Russia, two people were wounded in an aerial bomb attack, regional officials said.

In the western region of Khmelnytsky, authorities said air defences destroyed a missile but falling fragments damaged a house and wounded a woman.

Over the past week, Russia has launched more than 1,460 guided aerial bombs, nearly 670 attack drones, and over 30 missiles of various types on Ukraine, Zelensky said.

Russia’s defence ministry said troops ‘liberated’ the village of Basivka, close to the border with Russia’s Kursk region. Ukraine quickly rejected the report.

‘The enemy continues its disinformation campaign regarding the seizure of settlements in Sumy region or the breakthrough of the border,’ Andriy Demchenko, spokesman for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, said.

French president Emmanuel Macron echoed Zelensky’s calls for a stronger response to Russia.

‘A ceasefire is needed as soon as possible. And strong action if Russia continues to try to buy time and refuse peace,’ Macron said on X on Sunday.

Russia continues ‘to murder children and civilians’, he added.

The latest attacks came two days after a missile attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rig killed 18 people including nine children.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, denounced Russia’s ‘reckless disregard’ for human life in using ‘an explosive weapon with wide area effects’.

Russia on Sunday said it had struck a central artillery base and enterprises involved in producing drones.

It accused Ukraine of striking its energy infrastructure including a gas distribution facility in the Voronezh region.

US president Donald Trump is pushing the two sides to agree a partial ceasefire, but has so far failed to broker an accord acceptable to both sides.

The United States is also seeking better ties with Russia and Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev in an interview with state television said that the next US-Russian contacts could be ‘next week’, Russian news agencies reported.

Dmitriev last week became the most senior Russian official to visit Washington since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine’s military chief says new Russian offensive has begun

Ukraine’s military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said in an interview published on Wednesday that Russia had launched a new offensive on the northeast of the country, adding that a large increase in assaults was already being observed. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had warned earlier that Russia w

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Ukraine’s military chief says new Russian offensive has begun
REUTERS
Published :
Apr 09, 2025 19:32
Updated :
Apr 09, 2025 19:32

Ukraine’s military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said in an interview published on Wednesday that Russia had launched a new offensive on the northeast of the country, adding that a large increase in assaults was already being observed.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had warned earlier that Russia was preparing an offensive on the two regions of Kharkiv and Sumy.

“I can say that the president is absolutely right and this offensive has actually already begun,” Syrskyi said in an interview with Ukrainian publication LB.

“For several days, almost a week, we have been observing almost a doubling of the number of enemy attacks in all main directions (on the frontline),” he said.

Moscow is close to fully pushing Ukrainian forces out of their foothold in Kursk region, which they held since last August and which lies over the border from Sumy region.

Zelenskiy said on Monday that Ukrainian forces were also present in the adjacent Russian region of Belgorod.

The war, the first year of which was marked by rapid Russian territorial gains followed by Ukrainian counter-attacks, has since become far more of a battlefield stalemate, with Moscow grinding out relatively small gains by attacking with wave after wave of infantry squads.​

 

[Saif]

Europeans discuss Ukraine peace force but big questions unanswered

Defence ministers from some 30 countries met in Brussels on Thursday to discuss a "reassurance force" for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire in the war with Russia but key questions about its mission and any US support remained unanswered. The gathering at NATO headquarters was the latest in a se

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Europeans discuss Ukraine peace force but big questions unanswered
REUTERS
Published :
Apr 10, 2025 21:27
Updated :
Apr 10, 2025 21:29

Britain's Defence Secretary John Healey, Britain's Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin, Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov and France's Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu attend a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing in defence ministers format, hosted by the United Kingdom and France, at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium April 10, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Yves Herman

Defence ministers from some 30 countries met in Brussels on Thursday to discuss a "reassurance force" for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire in the war with Russia but key questions about its mission and any US support remained unanswered.

The gathering at NATO headquarters was the latest in a series of meetings of the "coalition of the willing" of mainly European nations, led by Britain and France, on how they could cement peace if the US brokers a halt to the fighting.

"Together we're stepping up as one, ready to secure Ukraine's future following any peace deal," British Defence Secretary John Healey said at the start of the meeting.

"We advance the momentum of that planning here today, planning to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position, to protect its sovereignty and to deter any further Russian aggression."

Many senior European officials assess that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not interested in halting his invasion but they are keen to show US President Donald Trump that they are ready to play their part if his outreach to Moscow pays off.

Trump has made clear he expects Europeans to secure any peace that may result from his administration's talks. Ukraine has said it is ready to accept a ceasefire while Russia has said it needs answers to multiple questions before it can decide.

European nations say they are ready to step up but would likely need assurances that US forces would come to their aid and help with logistics and intelligence to deploy to Ukraine. Trump has so far declined to provide such assurances.

Arriving at the meeting, several ministers said they needed more clarity on issues such as the precise mission of any reassurance force and its rules of engagement before they could decide whether to contribute troops.

"I don't exclude the possibility that Sweden is going to participate, but there's a number of questions that we need to get clarified," Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonson said.

Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans said it was important to discuss how a force would operate in different scenarios, such as any escalation by Russia, and how it might operate with a potential ceasefire monitoring force.

"It's important that there is a clear picture on what such a mission would entail, and then we can also have our national decision-making process," he said.​

 

[Saif]

Foreign fighters in Ukraine war: What we know

Zelensky said this week more than 150 Chinese nationals were fighting for Russia's army in its war against Ukraine

en.prothomalo.com

Foreign fighters in Ukraine war: What we know
AFP
Published: 11 Apr 2025, 17: 12

Founder of Wagner private mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin makes a statement as he stand next to Wagner fighters in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Bakhmut, Ukraine, in this still image taken from video released 20 May, 2023 AFP

Volodymyr Zelensky said this week more than 150 Chinese nationals were fighting for Russia's army in its war against Ukraine and accused Moscow of "dragging" other countries into its invasion.

It was the latest accusation of foreign involvement in a conflict which has seen both Russia and Ukraine deploy fighters from other countries.

Here is what we know about their use on the battlefield:

The most significant presence of foreign fighters in the war is Russia's use of North Korean troops in its Western Kursk region.

Kyiv, the West and South Korea all say Pyongyang despatched more than 10,000 soldiers from its army after Ukraine launched a shock cross-border offensive there in August 2024.

North Korean officials initially denied the deployment though Russian President Vladimir Putin sidestepped the issue when asked about Western satellite images apparently showing North Korean troops movements.

"Images are a serious thing; if there are images, they reflect something," he said in October.

Ukraine last year said it had captured two wounded North Korean soldiers, publishing video interrogations with them.

Other foreign fighters on both sides are largely volunteers who travelled to fight on their own accord, moved by a desire to help Ukraine defend itself in the face of the Russian invasion, or lured by high salaries on offer by both militaries.

Moscow has also faced allegations and complaints from other countries, including India and Bangladesh, that military recruiters have duped or coerced their citizens into fighting for the army.

Russia classes foreigners fighting for Ukraine as "mercenaries", a crime punishable by years in prison under Russian law.

Moscow has also offered fast-track citizenship to those who join its army during the Ukraine offensive in a bid to attract recruits.

Zelensky on Wednesday said Russia had been recruiting Chinese fighters through adverts on TikTok and other social media channels.

Neither side routinely provides information on how many foreign fighters have joined their militaries.

In March 2022, two weeks after Russia invaded, Ukraine said more than 20,000 had said they wanted to sign up to join a specially created military unit for foreigners, called the "International Legion."

Ukrainian officials have not given any detailed update on how many of them actually served in combat or on the size of the Legion today.

Russia has similarly not given any information on how many foreign citizens have joined its army, but in November 2024, the interior ministry said it had awarded Russian citizenship to 3,300 foreigners that year who had served in its military.

Throughout the conflict, AFP journalists in eastern Ukraine have spoken to soldiers fighting on the Ukrainian side from the likes of the United States, Britain, France, Japan, Ireland and as far away as Colombia.

Many had professional military experience and were motivated to fight against Russia's invasion and help Ukraine defend itself.

Notable numbers of Georgians and Chechens -- who fought against Russia's army in the 1990s and 2000s -- are also known to have travelled to Ukraine to support Kyiv's military.

As have some Russian citizens, outraged at President Vladimir Putin and having decided to take up arms against their own country.

Alongside the use of North Korean troops, Russia has largely recruited soldiers from poor countries, offering huge salaries to fighters from Cuba, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Sierra Leone and Somalia, among others -- according to accounts from prisoners of war and media reports in Ukraine, Russia and those countries.

According to media reports in Central Asia, Moscow has also recruited hundreds from ex-Soviet countries in the region.​

 

[Saif]

Europe vows more arms for Ukraine

Ukraine’s European allies vowed Friday to step up weapons deliveries as support from the United States dries up under president Donald Trump.

www.newagebd.net

Europe vows more arms for Ukraine
Agence France-Presse . Brussels, Belgium 11 April, 2025, 22:43

Ukraine’s European allies vowed Friday to step up weapons deliveries as support from the United States dries up under president Donald Trump.

The US leader has switched Washington’s focus from backing Kyiv’s fight against Russia’s invasion to trying to negotiate a peace deal with President Vladimir Putin to halt the war.

Britain and Germany took the reins of a meeting of Ukraine’s backers at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels—that used to be chaired by the United States under president Joe Biden.

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth dialled into the talks via video call.

‘In the weeks to come, we will see what’s going to happen with the US participation, with the US support. I am not able to have a look in the crystal ball,’ German defence minister Boris Pistorius said.

‘We take on more responsibility as Europeans.’

British defence minister John Healey said overall $24 billion more has been promised towards helping arm Ukraine.

He said London was looking to surge support worth $450 million—including thousands of drones—to Kyiv’s fighters on the front line.

‘2025 is the critical year for this war in Ukraine, and now is the critical moment in that war,’ Healey said.

‘We are sending a signal to Putin, but we are also sending a message to Ukraine, and we are saying to Ukraine, we stand with you in the fight.’

Ukraine’s defence minister, Rustem Umerov, said that ‘Europe is taking over the lead in security assistance, for which we are thankful’.

‘It’s a share of responsibilities, European partners are taking the lead and the US is beside us and focused on the peace.’​

 

[Saif]

Russia launches scores of drones on Ukraine, four people injured, Kyiv says

Russia launched a barrage of drones in an overnight attack on Ukraine, injuring four people and damaging residential and commercial buildings in Kyiv and other parts of the country, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday. Ukraine's air defences shot down 56 of 88 Russian drones, its air force said.

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Russia launches scores of drones on Ukraine, four people injured, Kyiv says
REUTERS
Published :
Apr 12, 2025 20:06
Updated :
Apr 12, 2025 20:06

A drone explodes in the sky over the city during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine April 12, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

Russia launched a barrage of drones in an overnight attack on Ukraine, injuring four people and damaging residential and commercial buildings in Kyiv and other parts of the country, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.

Ukraine's air defences shot down 56 of 88 Russian drones, its air force said. It added that 24 drones were "lost" as the military used electronic warfare to redirect them.

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Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitchko said that three people were injured in the capital as a result of the drone attacks.

Drone debris also destroyed a private house and damaged several commercial buildings, causing large fires in different parts of Kyiv, city officials said.

One more person was wounded in the city of Kharkiv in the northeast, Kharkiv's mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said.

Regional officials also said that residential and commercial buildings were damaged in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, and the military reported damage in the Odesa region in the south.​

 

[Saif]

Trump envoy suggests allied zones of control in Ukraine

Keith Kellogg, US president Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, suggested British and French troops could adopt zones of control in the country, in an interview with The Times newspaper published Saturday.

www.newagebd.net

Trump envoy suggests allied zones of control in Ukraine
Agence France-Presse . London, United Kingdom 13 April, 2025, 00:43

US president Donald Trump. | File photo

Keith Kellogg, US president Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, suggested British and French troops could adopt zones of control in the country, in an interview with The Times newspaper published Saturday.

Kellogg suggested they could have areas of responsibility west of the Dnipro river, as part of a ‘reassurance force’, with a demilitarised zone separating them from Russian-occupied areas in the east.

‘You could almost make it look like what happened with Berlin after World War II, when you had a Russian zone, a French zone, and a British zone, a US zone,’ he said, later clarifying on X that the United States would not be providing troops.

‘You’re west of the [Dnipro], which is a major obstacle,’ Kellogg said, adding that the force would therefore ‘not be provocative at all’ to Russia.

He suggested that a demilitarised zone could be implemented along the existing lines of control in eastern Ukraine, The Times said.

A retired lieutenant general and former acting national security advisor during Trump’s first term, Kellogg, 80, said Ukraine was big enough to accommodate several armies seeking to enforce a ceasefire.

To make sure that British, French, Ukrainian and other allied forces do not exchange fire with Russian troops, Kellogg said a buffer zone would be needed.

‘You look at a map and you create, for lack of a better term, a demilitarised zone,’ he said. ‘You have a... DMZ that you can monitor, and you’ve got this... no-fire zone.’

But he added: ‘Now, are there going to be violations? Probably, because there always are. But your ability to monitor that is easy.’

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

Kellogg admitted that Russian president Vladimir Putin ‘might not accept’ the proposal.

Kellogg later clarified his position, posting on X. ‘I was speaking of a post-ceasefire resiliency force in support of Ukraine’s sovereignty. In discussions of partitioning, I was referencing areas or zones of responsibility for an allied force [without US troops]. I was NOT referring to a partitioning of Ukraine,’ he said.

Britain and France are spearheading talks among a 30-nation ‘coalition of the willing’ on potentially deploying forces to Ukraine to shore up any ceasefire Trump may strike.

London and Paris describe the possible deployment as a ‘reassurance force’ aimed at offering Ukraine some kind of security guarantee. But many questions remain unanswered, from the size of any force, to who would contribute, what the mandate would be and whether the United States would back it up.

Putin, in power for 25 years and repeatedly elected in votes with no competition, has often questioned Volodymyr Zelensky’s ‘legitimacy’ as president, after the Ukrainian leader’s initial five-year mandate ended in May 2024.

Under Ukrainian law, elections are suspended during times of major military conflict, and Zelensky’s domestic opponents have all said no ballots should be held until after the conflict.

‘If you get to a ceasefire, you’re going to have elections,’ said Kellogg.

‘I think Zelensky is open to do that once you get to a ceasefire and once you get some resolution. But that’s a call for the Ukrainian people in the Ukrainian parliament. Not ours.’

Kellogg said relations between Ukraine and the United States were now ‘back on track’, citing resumed talks over a proposed deal on Ukraine’s mineral resources.

He said officials would try to turn a ‘business deal’ into a ‘diplomatic deal’ over the coming days.​

 

[Saif]

Russian missile strike kills 32 in Ukraine

A Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy killed at least 32 people, including two children, and wounded dozens on Sunday, Kyiv said, in the deadliest attack in months...

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Russian missile strike kills 32 in Ukraine
Agence France-Presse . Sumy, Ukraine 13 April, 2025, 16:26

In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on Sunday, a Ukrainian rescuer works to extinguish a fire at the site of a missile attack in Sumy, northeastern Ukraine, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. | AFP photo

A Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy killed at least 32 people, including two children, and wounded dozens on Sunday, Kyiv said, in the deadliest attack in months.

European leaders expressed indignation at Moscow’s attack on Sumy’s city centre, while Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, pointing out it happened on Palm Sunday, said: ‘Only *&*&*&*&*&*&*&*& do this.’

French president Emmanuel Macron said it showed Russia’s ‘blatant disregard for human lives, international law and the diplomatic efforts of president Donald Trump’.

The strike came two days after US envoy Steve Witkoff travelled to Russia to meet with president Vladimir Putin and push Trump’s efforts to end the war.

Sumy lies close to the Russian border and has come under increasing attack for weeks.

The local emergency service said on social media that the latest toll was that ‘32 people died , including two children’ and that ‘84 people were injured, including 10 children’.

An AFP reporter saw bodies covered in silver sheets strewn in the centre of the city, with a destroyed trolleybus. Rescuers were seen working on the rubble of a building.

One woman said she head two explosions.

‘This second blow. A lot of people were very badly injured. A lot of corpses,’ she said, struggling to speak.

It was the second Russian attack with a large civilian death toll this month. Trump has voiced anger at Moscow for ‘bombing like crazy’ in Ukraine.

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow launched a ballistic missile on Sumy and called on the world to put pressure on Russia to end the three-year war.

He called for a ‘strong response’ from Europe and the United States, saying: ‘Talking has never stopped ballistic missiles and bombs.’

He added that the deadly attack occurred ‘on a day when people go to church: Palm Sunday, the feast of the Lord’s Entry into Jerusalem’.

Macron said the Russian attack showed what ‘everyone knows: this war was initiated by Russia alone. And today, it is clear that Russia alone chooses to continue it.’

In a statement on social media, he added: ‘Strong measures are needed to impose a ceasefire on Russia. France is working tirelessly toward this goal, alongside its partners.’

European Council chief Antonio Costa condemned the ‘criminal attack’, saying that ‘this war exists and endures only because Russia chooses so’.

Local authorities in Sumy published footage of bodies strewn on the street and people running for safety, with cars on fire and wounded civilians on the ground.

Russia has relentlessly attacked Ukraine in recent weeks, extending the violence wrought by its all-out invasion that has gone on for more than three years.

In early April, a Russian attack on the central city of Kryvyi Rig killed 18 people, including nine children.

Russia has refused a US-proposed unconditional ceasefire and been accused by Ukraine and its European allies of dragging out the war and seeking to stall efforts for peace negotiations.

Sumy has been under increasing pressure since Moscow pushed back many of Ukraine’s troops from its Kursk region inside Russia, across the border.

The eastern Ukrainian city so far has been spared the kind of fighting seen farther south, in the Donetsk region. But Kyiv for weeks has warned that Moscow could mount an offensive on Sumy.

Russia in recent weeks has claimed the capture of a village in the Sumy region, for the first time since the early days of its 2022 invasion.

Russia launched its invasion partially through the Sumy region and briefly occupied parts of it before being pushed back by Ukrainian forces.

Moscow has not yet commented on the strike.

On Sunday, it said it captured another village in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region.​

 

[Saif]

undefined | The Financial Express

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Russia says it is not easy to agree Ukraine peace deal with US
REUTERS
Published :
Apr 15, 2025 14:01
Updated :
Apr 15, 2025 14:01

A Ukrainian serviceman walks at the site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Sumy, Ukraine on April 13, 2025 — Reuters photo

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that it was not easy to agree with the United States on the key parts of a possible peace deal to end the war in Ukraine and that Russia would never again allow itself to depend economically on the West.

US President Donald Trump, who says he wants to be remembered as a peacemaker, has repeatedly said he wants to end the "bloodbath" of the three-year war in Ukraine, though a deal has yet to be agreed.

"It is not easy to agree the key components of a settlement. They are being discussed," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper when asked if Moscow and Washington had agreement on some aspects of a possible peace deal.

"We are well aware of what a mutually beneficial deal looks like, which we have never rejected, and what a deal looks like that could lead us into another trap," Lavrov said in the interview published in Tuesday's edition.

The Kremlin on Sunday said that it was too early to expect results from the restoration of more normal relations with Washington.

Lavrov said that Russia's position had been set out clearly by President Vladimir Putin in June 2024, when Putin demanded Ukraine must officially drop its NATO ambitions and withdraw its troops from the entirety of the territory of four Ukrainian regions claimed by Russia.

"We're talking about the rights of the people who live on these lands. That is why these lands are dear to us. And we cannot give them up, allowing people to be kicked out of there," Lavrov said.

Russia currently controls a little under one fifth of Ukraine, including Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, and parts of four other regions Moscow now claims are part of Russia - a claim not recognised by most countries.

Lavrov praised Trump's "common sense" and for saying that previous US support of Ukraine's bid to join the NATO military alliance was a major cause of the war in Ukraine.

But Russia's political elite, he said, would not countenance any moves that led Russia back towards economic, military, technological or agricultural dependence on the West.

The globalisation of the world economy, Lavrov said, had been destroyed by sanctions imposed on Russia, China and Iran by the administration of former US President Joe Biden.

Biden, Western European leaders and Ukraine describe Russia's 2022 invasion as an imperial-style land grab, and repeatedly vowed to defeat Russian forces.

Putin casts the war in Ukraine as part of a battle with a declining West, which he says humiliated Russia after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 by enlarging the NATO military alliance and encroaching on what he considers Moscow's sphere of influence.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine pounds Kursk with dozens of drones

Kyiv forces hit Russia’s Kursk region that borders Ukraine with dozens of drones, killing an elderly woman, injuring nine people and sparking fries in several buildings in the region’s administrative centre, Russian authorities said yesterday.

www.thedailystar.net

Ukraine pounds Kursk with dozens of drones
Says Russia; Kremlin claims no clear outline for US-Russia deal on Ukraine

Kyiv forces hit Russia's Kursk region that borders Ukraine with dozens of drones, killing an elderly woman, injuring nine people and sparking fries in several buildings in the region's administrative centre, Russian authorities said yesterday.

The Russian defence ministry, which releases data only on how many drones its forces destroy not how many Ukraine launches, said 109 drones were downed over the Kursk region overnight.

"Kursk has been subjected to a massive enemy attack overnight," the Kursk region administration said in a post on Telegram messaging app. "Unfortunately, an 85-year-old woman died."

A multi-storey apartment building was damaged in result of the drone attack, with several flats catching fire, acting mayor of Kursk, Sergei Kotlyarov said on Telegram. Residents have been evacuated to a nearby school, he added.

The region's administration posted photos of a multi-storey apartment building with blown out windows and fire damage to the facade.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said yesterday that there is no clear outline of a US-Russia deal on Ukraine for now, but that there is political will to move in the direction of an agreement.​

 

[Saif]

Russian attacks kill three in Ukraine’s south, officials say

Russian attacks killed at least three people in Ukraine’s south and injured 10 more on Thursday, local authorities said, after an overnight barrage of missiles and drones. Two men, aged 56 and 61, were killed, and five more were wounded in artillery shelling on Nikopol, the regional governor

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Russian attacks kill three in Ukraine’s south, officials say
REUTERS
Published :
Apr 17, 2025 17:16
Updated :
Apr 17, 2025 17:16

A resident stands next to burned cars at the site of a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Dnipro, Ukraine Apr 17, 2025. Photo : REUTERS

Russian attacks killed at least three people in Ukraine’s south and injured 10 more on Thursday, local authorities said, after an overnight barrage of missiles and drones.

Two men, aged 56 and 61, were killed, and five more were wounded in artillery shelling on Nikopol, the regional governor said on the Telegram messenger.

He added that the attack sparked a fire and damaged a shop and civilian infrastructure.

One person was killed during a Russian air strike on Kherson, which also injured a teenager and four adults, the mayor said.

Moscow’s forces regularly attack both cities from their positions across the Dnipro River.

The Ukrainian air force said earlier that Russia had launched five missiles and 75 drones during an overnight attack, while Russia said it had destroyed or intercepted 71 Ukrainian drones over six Russian regions overnight.

The violence has continued despite President Donald Trump’s efforts to arrange a ceasefire in the three-year-old war prompted by Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine.

Top Ukrainian officials made a previously unannounced visit on Thursday to Paris, where European and US officials were due to hold talks on Ukraine.​

 

[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...

www.newagebd.net

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.

en.prothomalo.com

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...

www.newagebd.net

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.​

 

[Saif]

How middlemen recruit Bangladeshi youth for Russia-Ukraine war

According to the youth, the middlemen are knowingly sending people to their death. They request the youth not to fall into the trap of being tempted to come to Russia

en.prothomalo.com

How middlemen recruit Bangladeshi youth for Russia-Ukraine war
Shahadat HossainBrahmanbaria
Published: 22 Apr 2025, 14: 48

Afzal Hossain and Ayan Mandal Collected

He was supposed to be taken to North Macedonia. But the middleman sent him to Russia, where he started working with a company. But after two or three months, he lost his job. As he arrived at the airport to return home, he fell prey to a Russian middleman. He was made to sign a contract. At one point, he realised that he had been 'sold' and that he had no way back.

This is the story of a Bangladeshi who joined the Russian army to fight against Ukraine. He did not even tell his family that he had joined the Russian army, so requested that his name and address not be disclosed.

This reporter spoke to this 20-year-old youth and three other Bangladeshis, who joined the Russian army, lured in various ways by brokers. As they shared their stories, their experiences were found to be almost identical. All of them went to Russia through middlemen. They all worked in the same company there. After a few days, they lost their jobs. Then they were duped by middlemen and lured by high salaries and Russian citizenship to join the Russian army on contractual basis.

22-year-old Akram Mia from Brahmanbaria’s Ashuganj lost his life while fighting against Ukraine for Russia. A colleague called his family and informed them of Akram’s death. The numbers of the three youth were collected from that person. This correspondent also talked with family members of Akram Mia. Like these three youths, Akram followed the same trajectory of going to Russia.

Other than Akram, another youth named Yasin Mia Sheikh, 22, from Mymensingh’s Gouripur lost his life while fighting the war for Russia on 27 March.

“They’ve sold us”

This correspondent had a long Whatsapp conversation on Saturday night with the youth, who did not want to be named. He said that he went to Russia on 8 August, 2024. For this, he had to pay the middleman Tk 800,000. He joined an company there as an electrician.

The salary was supposed to be 40,000-45,000 rubles. After two-three months, the organisation sacked 15-20 of them. Except for two Nepalese and two Indians, the rest were Bangladeshis.

The youth said that four or five of them went to the airport to return home at the end of February. There, a Russian middleman took them to a hotel, promising them work. Then, he took all their documents including their passports, promising to renew their visas. There, three or four Russians took their signatures on a contract.

“They then took us to a jungle and got us to chop down trees. After some days, we saw arms and ammunition being bought. At one point the four left us there. We sensed they had sold us,” said the youth.

These three youths blame the middlemen for their current situation. According to them, the middlemen are knowingly sending people to their deaths. They request the youth not to fall into the trap of being tempted to come to Russia
The young man said they were taken to war with little training.

“After 20 March, we were provided basic training such as loading the gun and firing for five days and taken to Ukraine on the sixth. None of us perceived that we were being taken to war.”

He said five persons including Sohag Mia from Dhaka, Amit Barua from Rangamati and Ayan Mandal from Gazipur were with him. They were later shifted to different army camps.

At the end of March, they were sent on an operation. They narrowly escaped a missile attack. On 7 or 8 April, they were sent to Luhansk for the second time. Of the 10-12 men team, six have returned while the others remain missing. He had to carry heavy weapons in both operations.

The youth said he is currently at a camp in Ukraine’s Donetsk with 30-40 men.

These youth are provided with bread and pasta only.

“The amount of risk and shootings are increasing every day. We are living in grave uncertainty,” said the youth.

“Didn’t have any idea that we are being sent to war”

The story of the young man, who does not want to be named, is similar to that of Afzal Hossain, 26, of Gopalpur village in Trishal, Mymensingh. He also went to Russia eight or nine months ago to work as a welder. After working in the same company for six months with a salary of Tk 70,000, he lost his job. While unemployed in Moscow for about a month and a half, he met a Russian middleman. He got him into the Russian army by promising him Russian citizenship and a monthly salary of Tk 310,800 in Bangladeshi currency.

I didn't know that I would be sent to the Russia-Ukraine war. Now I'm stuck. But I have not received any salary till now
Afzal Hossain.

Last Sunday, this correspondent spoke to Afzal Hossain several times on WhatsApp. This young man, who studied up to 12th grade, went to Russia through a local middleman.

Afzal Hossain told Prothom Alo, "I didn't know that I would be sent to the Russia-Ukraine war. Now I'm stuck. But I have not received any salary till now."

Afzal, who spoke to the Russian soldiers through a mobile phone translator, said that he is currently in a Russian army camp in Ukraine.

There are 10 or 12 soldiers there. However, he does not know the name of the place. Last Friday, a drone attack was launched on them while they were taking food and ammunition to another camp. However, they survived.

The youth said they were barely provided any training except for very basics such as firing and loading the gun.

Afzal said he was sent on an operation a month ago with a team of nine. One Russian army man was killed by a Ukrainian strike during the operation. Since then he has not been sent to any operation. Currently he is staying in his sixth camp and transporting food and ammunition from one camp to another. He said soldiers are ambushed en route.

Afzal was with Rubel, 29; Imran Hossain, 31; Md Mohsin Mia, 26; and the killed Akram Mia, 22. Others are in a different camp now. Afzal does not have any contact with Imran and Mohsin for 12 to 13 days.

“I secretly contacted 8 to 10 persons including Rubel bhai, Foysal Ahmed and Diganta Bishwas,” Afzal said, assuming that 40 to 50 Bangladeshis are fighting the war in Ukraine right now.

“In grave danger”

This correspondent contacted Ayan Mandal from Gazipur. But he was too scared to talk. He sent seven voice messages secretly.

“We cannot talk over the phone. We have to send voice recordings as we use our phones secretly. We are in grave danger,” said Ayan.

Five months ago, Ayan went to Russia through a middleman, spending Tk 650,000. He also joined the same company like the two others. At one stage, he was also dismissed from the company. At the airport, a Russian middleman promised to give him a job of a cleaner with a salary of 200,000 rubles and made him join the Russian army.

The young man said that he has been trapped for a month. He is currently being trained. As Ayan did not want to go for training, he was tortured. There are five other Bangladeshis with him. Apart from this, there are 15-20 more people in the nearby camp.

These three youths blame the middlemen for their current situation. According to them, the middlemen are knowingly sending people to their deaths. They request the youth not to fall into the trap of being tempted to come to Russia.

These three plead the Bangladesh government to take measures to bring them back to their country.​

 

[Saif]

Kremlin warns against rushing Ukraine talks

The Kremlin yesterday warned against rushing Ukraine peace talks, pushing back on US President Donald Trump’s hopes for a speedy deal the day before Ukraine’s allies are set to meet in London.

www.thedailystar.net

Kremlin warns against rushing Ukraine talks

The Kremlin yesterday warned against rushing Ukraine peace talks, pushing back on US President Donald Trump's hopes for a speedy deal the day before Ukraine's allies are set to meet in London.

Trump, who promised on the campaign trail to strike a deal between Moscow and Kyiv in 24 hours, has in three months failed to wrangle concessions from the Russian president to halt his invasion.

The Republican had said over the weekend he hoped a peace deal could be struck "this week" despite no signs the two sides are anywhere close to agreeing even a ceasefire, let alone a wider long-term settlement.

"This topic is so complex, connected with a settlement, that, of course, probably it is not worth setting any rigid time frames and trying to get a settlement, a viable settlement, in a short-time frame," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state TV yesterday.

After rejecting a US-Ukrainian offer for a full and unconditional ceasefire last month, Putin announced a surprise Easter truce over the weekend.​

 

[Saif]

Zelensky calls for ‘unconditional ceasefire’ after Russian attack kills nine

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called on Wednesday for an ‘immediate, full, and unconditional ceasefire’, hours after a Russian drone strike on a bus killed nine and as his top aide met Kyiv’s allies in London...

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Zelensky calls for ‘unconditional ceasefire’ after Russian attack kills nine
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 24 April, 2025, 00:28

Volodymyr Zelensky | AFP file photo

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called on Wednesday for an ‘immediate, full, and unconditional ceasefire’, hours after a Russian drone strike on a bus killed nine and as his top aide met Kyiv’s allies in London.

Images published by Dnipropetrovsk governor Sergiy Lysak showed a bus with a hole punctured through its ceiling and what appeared to be blood and shattered glass scattered across its floors.

Zelensky called it an ‘egregiously brutal attack and an absolutely deliberate war crime’.

‘In Ukraine, we insist on an immediate, full, and unconditional ceasefire,’ he said on social media, adding that ‘stopping the killings is the number one task’.

Lysak said nine people had been killed and 49 wounded in the attack on the southern town of Marganets.

Zelensky also repeated his call for a partial halt on some missile and drone attacks.

‘We are also ready for an immediate ceasefire at least for civilian targets,’ he said.

Russian president Vladimir Putin announced a surprise Easter truce over the weekend.

It saw fighting dip and air attacks practically halt for 30 hours.

But Ukraine and its allies dismissed it as a PR exercise from the Kremlin leader, saying Putin had no interest in real peace talks.

Russia launched more than 100 drones at Ukraine between Tuesday evening and early Wednesday, the Ukrainian air force said.

Ukrainian authorities also reported fires in several regions overnight after Russian attacks.

Strikes were reported in the regions of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Poltava and Odesa.

In Russia, one person was reported wounded by Ukrainian shelling in the Belgorod region, the local governor said.

Zelensky’s chief of staff, defence and foreign ministers were in London Wednesday for talks with Kyiv’s allies — downgraded at the last minute after US secretary of state Marco Rubio cancelled plans to attend.

Meanwhile, envoys from Washington, Kyiv and European nations gathered for talks in Britain on Wednesday amid a new US push to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, but a planned meeting of foreign ministers was postponed.

The London meeting comes as US media reported that president Donald Trump is ready to accept recognition of annexed land in Crimea as Russian territory.

The reports said the proposal was first raised at a similar meeting with European nations in Paris last week. Trump has since threatened to ‘take a pass’ on efforts to end the conflict unless progress is made quickly.

US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff is to visit Moscow this week, the White House has confirmed, in what would be his fourth trip to Russia since Trump took office.

According to The Financial Times, president Vladimir Putin told Witkoff he was prepared to halt the invasion and freeze the current front-line if Russia’s sovereignty over the Crimean Peninsula, annexed in 2014, was recognised.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded by saying that ‘a lot of fakes are being published at the moment’, according to the RIA Novosti state news agency.

Secretary of state Marco Rubio said he had presented a US plan to end the war but no details were given. Rubio also discussed the plan with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, during a telephone conversation after the Paris meeting.

Rubio and Trump have warned since the Paris talks that the United States could walk away from peace talks unless it saw quick progress.

Trump ‘wants to see this war end and he has grown frustrated with both sides of this war, and he’s made that very known’, his spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.

Rubio had said in Paris last week he would go to London if he thought his attendance could be useful.​

 

[Saif]

Trump on Russia strikes on Kyiv: 'Vladimir, STOP!'

President Donald Trump turned his criticism on Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday after Russia pounded Kyiv with missiles and drones overnight, saying "Vladimir, STOP!" "I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing," Trump wrote in a social media po

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Trump on Russia strikes on Kyiv: 'Vladimir, STOP!'
REUTERS
Published :
Apr 24, 2025 20:13
Updated :
Apr 24, 2025 20:15

Police officers inspect the site of a building hit by a Russian ballistic missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine April 24, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

President Donald Trump turned his criticism on Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday after Russia pounded Kyiv with missiles and drones overnight, saying "Vladimir, STOP!"

"I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing," Trump wrote in a social media post a day after saying Ukraine's leader was hampering peace talks on ending Russia's war in Ukraine.

The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

When asked about the Russian strikes on Kyiv at a briefing earlier on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was continuing to hit "military and military-adjacent targets."

Trump's rare rebuke of Putin followed his criticism of Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday for saying Ukraine would not recognize Russia's occupation of Crimea - a longtime Kyiv stance.

"This statement is very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia," Trump said in a social media post.

Trump, who argued with Zelenskiy in a disastrous Oval Office meeting in March, said Crimea was lost years ago "and is not even a point of discussion."​

 

[Saif]

Trump's envoy Witkoff meets Putin in Moscow

US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff met President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday at what Trump has said is a key moment in diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine. Witkoff has emerged as Washington's key interlocutor with Putin as Trump pushes for a deal to end the war, and has already

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Trump's envoy Witkoff meets Putin in Moscow
REUTERS
Published :
Apr 25, 2025 19:19
Updated :
Apr 25, 2025 19:19

Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomes US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff during a meeting in Moscow, Russia, April 25, 2025. Photo : Sputnik/Kristina Kormilitsyna/Pool via REUTERS

US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff met President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday at what Trump has said is a key moment in diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine.

Witkoff has emerged as Washington's key interlocutor with Putin as Trump pushes for a deal to end the war, and has already held three long meetings with the Kremlin leader.

Video published by the Kremlin showed Witkoff and Putin shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries before sitting down on opposite sides of a white oval table.

Putin was accompanied by his foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov and investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

Witkoff's latest visit to Moscow comes a day after Trump criticised a Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv that killed at least 12 people, and posted on social media: "Vladimir, STOP!"

But Trump also said there had been significant progress in peace talks.

"This next few days is going to be very important. Meetings are taking place right now," Trump told reporters on Thursday. "I think we're going to make a deal ... I think we're getting very close."

Russian news outlet Izvestia earlier published photographs showing Witkoff strolling in central Moscow with Dmitriev, who has played a prominent role in contacts with the Trump administration.​

 

[Saif]

Trump and Zelensky hold first of two meetings in Rome

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump have met inside St Peter's Basilica ahead of Pope Francis' funeral. The White House described the 15-minute meeting as "very productive" and a Ukrainian spokesman said the pair will meet for a second time later on Saturday. Trum

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Trump and Zelensky hold first of two meetings in Rome
BBC
Published :
Apr 26, 2025 17:18
Updated :
Apr 26, 2025 17:18

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump have met inside St Peter's Basilica ahead of Pope Francis' funeral.

The White House described the 15-minute meeting as "very productive" and a Ukrainian spokesman said the pair will meet for a second time later on Saturday.

Trump and Zelensky are attending the service in Vatican City alongside other heads of state and royals including Prince William, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Their meeting comes one day after Trump said Russia and Ukraine were "very close to a deal", following talks between his envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday.

The meeting was the fourth such visit Witkoff had made to Russia since the start of the year, with the three-hour talks later described as "very useful" by Putin aide Yuri Ushakov.

Ushakov also added that it had brought the "Russian and US positions closer together, not just on Ukraine but also on a range of other international issues" of which the "possibility of resuming direct talks between Russian and Ukrainian representatives was in particular discussed".

Steven Cheung, White House communications director, said more details about the Vatican City private meeting between Trump and Zelensky would follow.

Images were later released by a Ukrainian official - Zelensky's head of office Andriy Yermak - of the two leaders sat on chairs inside the basilica.

A separate photo also showed Trump and Zelensky stood in conversation with Sir Keir and Macron inside the basilica.

Saturday's meetings are the first time the two leaders have met face-to-face since February after an unprecedented confrontation occurred in the Oval Office.

During the heated exchange Trump accused the Ukrainian president of "gambling with World War Three" by not going along with ceasefire plans led by Washington.

Kyiv has been on the receiving end of growing pressure from Trump to accept territorial concessions as part of an agreement with Moscow to end the war.

These concessions would reportedly include giving up large portions of land, including the Crimean peninsula which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.

Zelensky has repeatedly rejected the idea in the past. He suggested to the BBC on Friday that "a full and unconditional ceasefire opens up the possibility to discuss everything".

During the funeral the pair were not sat near one another due to the seating arrangements being organised in French alphabetical order.​

 

[Saif]

Trump doubts Putin’s intentions to end war

Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky met briefly in the hush of St Peter’s basilica before Pope Francis’s funeral on Saturday in their first encounter since a noisy White House clash and the US president later cast doubt on whether Russian leader Vladimir Putin wants a peace deal...

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Trump doubts Putin’s intentions to end war
Agence France-Presse . Washington, United States 26 April, 2025, 23:24

Donald Trump | AFP file photo

Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky met briefly in the hush of St Peter’s basilica before Pope Francis’s funeral on Saturday in their first encounter since a noisy White House clash and the US president later cast doubt on whether Russian leader Vladimir Putin wants a peace deal.

Zelensky said they discussed a possible unconditional ceasefire with Russia and was ‘hoping for results’ from a ‘very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic’.

After leaving Rome, Trump indicated a new approach to the Russian president.

‘There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,’ Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.

‘It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!’

Trump and Zelensky sat face-to-face, leaning forward in deep discussion in a corner of the basilica, as the pope’s wooden coffin lay in front of the altar before the funeral began, according to images released by the Ukrainian presidency.

The US president flew out of Rome immediately after the funeral mass and there were no further talks. But the two leaders also briefly huddled inside the basilica with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron.

Macron’s office described the exchanges as ‘positive’ and he later met Zelensky one-on-one.

In St Peter’s Square, Trump rubbed shoulders with dozens of world leaders, many keen to raise the tariffs he has unleashed. Both sides had kept the prospects of a meeting vague ahead of the funeral with Trump saying only it was ‘possible’.

Putin on Friday discussed the ‘possibility’ of direct talks with Ukraine in a meeting with Witkoff, according to a Kremlin aide.

He told Witkoff that Russia is ready to resume talks with Ukraine ‘without preconditions’, the Kremlin added Saturday.​

 

[Saif]

Russia says signal for start of direct peace talks should come from Ukraine

Russia said on Monday it was waiting for a signal from Ukraine to say it was willing to hold direct negotiations to end their war, but had not seen any signs of movement. The Kremlin said last Friday that the possibility of direct talks had been raised during a three-hour meeting between President

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Russia says signal for start of direct peace talks should come from Ukraine
REUTERS
Published :
Apr 28, 2025 17:20
Updated :
Apr 28, 2025 17:20

Police officers inspect the site of a building hit by a Russian ballistic missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine April 24, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

Russia said on Monday it was waiting for a signal from Ukraine to say it was willing to hold direct negotiations to end their war, but had not seen any signs of movement.

The Kremlin said last Friday that the possibility of direct talks had been raised during a three-hour meeting between President Vladimir Putin and US envoy Steve Witkoff.

Moscow and Kyiv have not held direct negotiations since March 2022, soon after the start of Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine. Later that year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy adopted a decree that ruled out negotiations with Putin, after Russia claimed four regions of Ukraine as its own.

Zelenskiy, who met US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of Pope Francis' funeral, has said Kyiv would be ready to hold talks with Moscow once a ceasefire deal has stopped the fighting.

Zelenskiy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said on Monday that continuing Russian attacks contradicted the Kremlin's statements about wanting peace.

"Russia is not ceasing fire at the front and is attacking Ukraine with Shaheds right now," Yermak wrote on Telegram, referring to Iranian-made drones widely used by Russian forces.

"All the Russians' statements about peace without ceasing fire are just plain lies."

Asked by a reporter if the signal for direct talks should come from Ukraine or the United States, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "Well, from Kyiv, at least Kyiv should take some actions in this regard. They have a legal ban on this. But so far we don't see any action."

Meanwhile, Moscow would continue its "special military operation", he said.

Moscow and Kyiv are under pressure from the US to find a settlement to end the war, the deadliest in Europe since World War Two.

Ukraine accuses Russia of playing for time in order to try to seize more of its territory, and has urged greater international pressure to get Moscow to stop fighting.

Russia accuses Ukraine of being unwilling to make any concessions and of seeking a ceasefire only on its own terms.

Putin told Witkoff on Friday that Russia was ready for talks with Kyiv without preconditions, according to a Kremlin aide.

Trump said on Friday that the two sides were "very close to a deal". In recent days he has been more critical than usual of Moscow, saying there was no reason for it to fire missiles into civilian areas and voicing concern that Putin was "just tapping me along".​

 

[Saif]

Kremlin says Putin is open to Ukraine peace but warns against rushing a deal

President Vladimir Putin is open to peace in Ukraine and intense work is going on with the United States, but the conflict is so complicated that the rapid progress that Washington wants is difficult to achieve, the Kremlin said on Wednesday. US President Donald Trump, who says he wants to be reme

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Kremlin says Putin is open to Ukraine peace but warns against rushing a deal
REUTERS
Published :
Apr 30, 2025 18:11
Updated :
Apr 30, 2025 18:11

A rescuer works at a site of a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Dnipro, Ukraine in this handout picture released April 30, 2025. Photo : Governor of Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Civil Administration Serhiy Lysak via Telegram/Handout via REUTERS


President Vladimir Putin is open to peace in Ukraine and intense work is going on with the United States, but the conflict is so complicated that the rapid progress that Washington wants is difficult to achieve, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump, who says he wants to be remembered as a peacemaker, has repeatedly said he wants to end the "bloodbath" of the more than three-year war in Ukraine.

But Washington has been signalling that it is frustrated by the failure of Moscow and Kyiv to reach terms to end the deadliest land war in Europe since World War Two.

"The (Russian) president remains open to political and diplomatic methods of resolving this conflict," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

He noted that Putin had expressed a willingness for direct talks with Ukraine, but that there had been no answer yet from Kyiv.

Russia's aims had to be achieved either way, he added, saying Moscow's preference was to achieve those aims peacefully.

"We understand that Washington is willing to achieve a quick success in this process," Peskov said in English. But news agency TASS quoted Peskov as saying that the root causes of the Ukraine war were too complex to be resolved in one day.

Putin's decision to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022 triggered the worst confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Former US President Joe Biden, Western European leaders and Ukraine cast the invasion as an imperial-style land grab and repeatedly vowed to defeat Russian forces.

Putin casts the war as a watershed moment in Moscow's relations with the West, which he says humiliated Russia after the Soviet Union fell in 1991 by enlarging NATO and encroaching on what he considers Moscow's sphere of influence, including Ukraine.

MORE WAR?

Putin in March said that Russia supported a US proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine in principle, but that fighting could not be paused until a number of crucial conditions were worked out or clarified.

On Monday, Putin declared a three-day ceasefire in May to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union over the Nazis in World War Two.

Swedish police detained a 16-year-old early on Wednesday on suspicion of murder, authorities said, after three people were shot dead in the town of Uppsala the day before.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that progress in resolving the war depended on Russia taking the first step of agreeing to an unconditional ceasefire.

Trump said on Tuesday he thought that Putin wants to stop the war in Ukraine, adding that if it was not for Trump Russia would try to take the whole of Ukraine.

"If it weren't for me, I think he'd want to take over the whole country," Trump said.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that now was the time for concrete proposals from Moscow and Kyiv to end the war and warned that the US will step back as a mediator if there is no progress.

Trump refused to answer a question about whether the United States would halt military aid to Ukraine if Washington walked away from talks.​

 

[Saif]

Russia's Medvedev says nobody can guarantee Kyiv's safety if Ukraine attacks Moscow on May 9

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said on Saturday that nobody could guarantee that the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv would survive to see May 10 if Ukraine attacked Moscow during World War Two victory celebrations on May 9. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday decla

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Russia's Medvedev says nobody can guarantee Kyiv's safety if Ukraine attacks Moscow on May 9
REUTERS
Published :
May 03, 2025 18:19
Updated :
May 03, 2025 18:19

Deputy head of Russia's Security Council Dmitry Medvedev delivers a speech during a session of the educational marathon "Knowledge. First" in Moscow, Russia, April 29, 2025. Photo : Sputnik/Yekaterina Shtukina/Pool via REUTERS

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said on Saturday that nobody could guarantee that the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv would survive to see May 10 if Ukraine attacked Moscow during World War Two victory celebrations on May 9.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday declared a three-day ceasefire in May in the war with Ukraine to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies in World War Two.

The Kremlin said the 72-hour ceasefire would run on May 8, May 9 - when Putin will host international leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping for celebrations to commemorate victory over Nazi Germany - and May 10.

Responding to Moscow's offer of the three-day ceasefire, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was ready as long as the ceasefire would be 30 days in length, something Putin had already ruled out in the near term, saying he wants a long-term settlement not a brief pause.

Zelenskiy said Ukraine, given the continued war with Russia, could not guarantee the safety of any foreign dignitaries who came to Moscow for the traditional May 9 victory parade.

"We cannot be responsible for what happens on the territory of the Russian Federation. They are responsible for your security, and therefore we will not give you any guarantees," he said.

Medvedev, a former Russian president who has emerged as one of Moscow's most outspoken anti-Western hawks since the start of Russia's war in Ukraine, called Zelenskiy's statement a "verbal provocation" and said nobody had asked for Kyiv's security guarantees for the May 9 events.

"(Zelenskiy) understands that in the event of a real provocation on Victory Day, nobody will be able to guarantee that Kyiv will live to see May 10," Medvedev said on his official Telegram channel.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine, Russia trade aerial attacks

Russia and Ukraine traded a barrage of drone strikes overnight on Wednesday, in attacks that killed two in Kyiv and forced Moscow to shut major airports hours before a swathe of foreign leaders was to arrive...

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Ukraine, Russia trade aerial attacks
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 08 May, 2025, 00:44

Russia and Ukraine traded a barrage of drone strikes overnight on Wednesday, in attacks that killed two in Kyiv and forced Moscow to shut major airports hours before a swathe of foreign leaders was to arrive.

The Kremlin has announced a unilateral three-day truce — set to start at 2100 GMT on Wednesday — to coincide with its grand May 9 military parade on Red Square, marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

China’s president Xi Jinping and Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are among 29 foreign leaders expected in Moscow to mark the occasion, which has become Russia’s most important public holiday under president Vladimir Putin.

Ukraine has dismissed Putin’s order to his troops to halt their attacks as a ‘manipulation’ and ‘game’ designed to protect his parade rather than a genuine peace measure.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is calling for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire — a proposal back by US president Donald Trump and previously rejected by Putin.

Zelensky called for more pressure on Moscow to end its invasion.

‘Only significantly intensified pressure on Russia and stronger sanctions can pave the way to diplomacy. Any measures depriving the aggressor of resources to wage war must be implemented to bring lasting peace,’ Zelensky said on social media.

Hours before Putin’s order was set to come into effect, Russia unleashed a barrage of drone attacks across Ukraine.

Zelensky said Russia fired 142 drones and four ballistic missiles.

‘Unfortunately, there are fatalities — a woman and her son,’ Zelensky said, referring to the Kyiv attack.

The emergency services said falling debris from a drone attack on the central Shevchenkivsky district sparked a fire in an apartment block.

AFP journalists in the capital heard loud explosions over the city at around 1:00am (2200 GMT).

In the morning, a first-aid tent had been erected next to the charred facade of the building, blackened by the fire and with windows blown out on its top floors.

Men in camouflage were inspecting debris from a fallen drone part.

Attempted drone attacks by Ukraine across Russia triggered hours of travel chaos, as airports across the western part of the country were repeatedly closed on Tuesday and the early hours of Wednesday.

Arrivals and departures from Moscow’s main Sheremetyevo international airport were suspended for hours overnight, aviation authorities said.

‘The restrictions were imposed to ensure the safety of civil aircraft flights,’ Artyom Korenyako, press secretary for the Federal Aviation Transport Agency, wrote on Telegram.

Moscow regularly halts air traffic in areas where its air defence systems are operating, but the scale of the forced closures has escalated significantly in the run-up to Friday’s parade.

Russia’s defence ministry reported downing dozens of Ukrainian drones targeting the country, including Moscow, on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Ukraine claimed it had hit a fibre-optic plant in Saransk, a central Russian city far from the borders, where the authorities announced a state of emergency, cancelling all lessons in schools — but without confirming damage to the plant.

Numerous unverified photos and videos on social media shared by locals showed smoke rising from an industrial building and multiple drone flyovers.

On the streets of Moscow, AFP reporters noticed a significant police presence, and mobile internet in the capital was being jammed.

Since Russia invaded in February 2022, Ukraine has on several occasions launched attacks at the Russian capital and other major cities and infrastructure sites hundreds of miles from its border.

Kyiv calls it fair retaliation for Moscow’s daily missile and drone barrages on its own cities.

Tens of thousands have been killed since Russia invaded, with towns and cities across Ukraine’s south and east levelled under intense Russian aerial attacks.

Moscow’s army controls around 20 per cent of the country, including the Crimean peninsula it annexed in 2014.

A wave of deadly Russian ballistic missile strikes on civilian areas in April triggered fresh outrage in Kyiv and saw Trump issue a rare rebuke to Putin.

Ukraine has said it cannot be held responsible for the safety of foreign leaders visiting Moscow for the parade, in an apparent rejection of Putin’s truce proposal.​

 

[Saif]

Russia says Ukraine keeps trying to breach border

Ukrainian troops have made further attempts to breach the Russian border in the Kursk and Belgorod regions, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Friday as President Vladimir Putin hosted world leaders at a major military parade in Moscow. The Defence Ministry said the attacks occurred during a thr

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Russia says Ukraine keeps trying to breach border
REUTERS
Published :
May 09, 2025 16:56
Updated :
May 09, 2025 16:56

Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov attends a meeting of the Military-Industrial Commission in Saint Petersburg, Russia September 19, 2024. Photo : Sputnik/Valery Sharifulin/Pool via REUTERS

Ukrainian troops have made further attempts to breach the Russian border in the Kursk and Belgorod regions, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Friday as President Vladimir Putin hosted world leaders at a major military parade in Moscow.

The Defence Ministry said the attacks occurred during a three-day ceasefire running from May 8-10 that Russia has unilaterally declared to mark the 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two.

Kyiv has called the ceasefire proposal a "farce" and did not agree to it, proposing instead that the two countries adopt a 30-day truce.

The Russian Defence Ministry said it had registered four attempts by Ukrainian forces to smash through the border into the Kursk and Belgorod regions in the past week.

In eastern Ukraine, Kyiv's troops had attacked Russian forces 15 times during the ceasefire, the ministry said.

Ukraine has said Russia had repeatedly breached its own truce this week. The governor of the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region said on Friday that Russia hit eight Ukrainian frontline villages 220 times since the ceasefire went into effect.

In Russia's Belgorod border region, the local governor said a Ukrainian drone had attacked a government building on Friday.

In Kursk, Ukrainian troops launched a major incursion last August and held onto a chunk of Russian territory for many months as Moscow's forces battled to eject them with help from North Korean soldiers. Some fighting has continued, even after Putin last month declared "victory" in Kursk.

Rybar, a pro-Russian war blogger, said there was "high-intensity fighting" between Russian and Ukrainian troops near Tetkino, a village in the region. Rybar and other bloggers said Ukrainian attacks on multiple villages in the neighbouring Belgorod region were continuing on Friday.

Reuters could not independently verify statements by war bloggers or battlefield reports from either side.

Ukraine and Russia both accused the other of repeatedly violating a previous 30-hour Easter ceasefire declared by Putin.​

 

[Saif]

Kyiv will meet Russia for talks if it agrees to ceasefire: Zelensky

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that Kyiv would meet with Moscow for talks in Istanbul on May 15, but that Russia must first commit to a 30-day ceasefire starting from Monday...

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Kyiv will meet Russia for talks if it agrees to ceasefire: Zelensky
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 11 May, 2025, 23:56

A local resident looks at a damaged private house after Russian shelling in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region on Sunday, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. | AFP photo

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that Kyiv would meet with Moscow for talks in Istanbul on May 15, but that Russia must first commit to a 30-day ceasefire starting from Monday.

Zelensky, using rare language since Moscow invaded more than three years ago, described Russia’s proposal to convene direct peace talks as a ‘positive sign’.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was ‘ready to host negotiations’, telling Russia’s Vladimir Putin in a phone call that a ‘window of opportunity’ had opened for peace.

Moscow and Kyiv have not held direct talks since March 2022, shortly after the Kremlin launched its invasion in February of that year.

Those talks, which also took place in Istanbul, led to a now-aborted peace deal that would have seen Kyiv adopt neutral status and renounce any NATO ambitions.

Russia’s invasion has since dragged on, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of people, the destruction of Ukrainian cities and a total collapse in relations between Moscow and the West.

Moscow now occupies a fifth of the country and has claimed to have annexed four Ukrainian regions as its own, in addition to Crimea, which it seized in 2014.

‘There is no point in continuing the killing even for a single day. We expect Russia to confirm a ceasefire — full, lasting and reliable — starting tomorrow, May 12, and Ukraine is ready to meet,’ Zelensky said on social media.

‘It is a positive sign that the Russians have finally begun to consider ending the war,’ the Ukrainian leader said, in a break of tone.

‘The entire world has been waiting for this for a very long time. And the very first step in truly ending any war is a ceasefire.’

Kyiv and its Western allies have said an unconditional ceasefire to pause the fighting is the only way to advance a diplomatic solution in three-year-old conflict — Europe’s worst since the Second World War.

On a visit to Kyiv on Saturday the leaders of France, the UK, Germany and Poland pressured Russia — with US president Donald Trump’s support — to commit to an unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine starting from Monday.

Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said that Kyiv would only come to the table if Moscow agreed to the ceasefire from Monday.

‘First, a 30-day ceasefire, then everything else,’ he said on social media.

‘A ceasefire is the first step towards ending the war and it will confirm Russia’s readiness to end the killing.’

Russia has hit Ukraine with a string of deadly attacks this spring.

Talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul in 2022 collapsed and fighting has been raging ever since.

Communication channels have only been open for exchanges of prisoners of war and bodies.

At a press conference close to 1:00am (2200 GMT) in the Kremlin, Putin did not respond to the 30-day ceasefire proposal put forward by Kyiv’s allies.

He instead suggested resuming the Istanbul talks scuppered in 2022.

‘We propose to the Kyiv authorities to resume the talks that they broke off in 2022, and, I emphasise, without any preconditions,’ he said.

‘We propose to start (negotiations) without delay on Thursday May 15 in Istanbul,’ Putin said.

‘We do not exclude that during these talks we will be able to agree on some new ceasefire,’ the Russian leader added.

But he also accused Ukraine’s Western backers of wanting to ‘continue war with Russia’ and — without mentioning the specific proposal for a 30-day ceasefire — slammed European ‘ultimatums’ and ‘anti-Russian rhetoric’.

Turkish president Erdogan told Putin in a phone call Sunday that Ankara was ready to host talks ‘aimed at achieving a lasting solution’.

Returning from Ukraine, French leader Emmanuel Macron said he expected Russia to commit to the ceasefire ‘without setting any condition’.

German chancellor Friedrich Merz said Russia’s offer to negotiate directly was a ‘good sign’ but ‘far from sufficient’, pressuring Moscow to agree to a truce.

But US president Donald Trump said it was a ‘potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine’ and vowed to work with both sides to end the fighting.

Kyiv on Sunday accused Moscow of launching more than 100 drones on Ukraine, after a Russian-announced 72-hour ceasefire had ended at midnight.​

 

[Saif]

Russia has hours to abide by truce initiative or face sanctions, Germany says

European countries will start preparing new sanctions on Russia unless the Kremlin by the end of Monday starts abiding by a 30-day ceasefire in its war with Ukraine, Germany’s government said. Ukraine’s military said Russia had conducted dozens of attacks along the front in eastern Ukr

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Russia has hours to abide by truce initiative or face sanctions, Germany says
REUTERS
Published :
May 12, 2025 20:21
Updated :
May 12, 2025 20:21

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Chief of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov in Moscow, Russia April 19, 2025. Photo : Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS/Files

European countries will start preparing new sanctions on Russia unless the Kremlin by the end of Monday starts abiding by a 30-day ceasefire in its war with Ukraine, Germany’s government said.

Ukraine’s military said Russia had conducted dozens of attacks along the front in eastern Ukraine on Monday as well as an overnight assault using more than 100 drones, despite the ceasefire proposal by Europe and Kyiv.

“The clock is ticking,” a German government spokesperson said at a news conference in Berlin.

“We still have 12 hours until the end of the day, and if the ceasefire is not in place by then, the European side will (set in motion) preparations for sanctions,” the spokesperson said.

It is not clear though how much impact fresh European sanctions would have on Russia, especially if the United States does not join in as well.

The leaders of four major European powers travelled to Kyiv on Saturday and demanded an unconditional 30-day ceasefire from Monday. Russian President Vladimir Putin, implicitly rejecting the offer, instead proposed direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul that he said could potentially lead to a ceasefire.

In a fresh twist in the stop-start peace talks process, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he would travel in person to Istanbul where, he said, he would be waiting to meet Putin.

The Kremlin has not responded to that latest proposal. Putin and Zelenskiy have not met since December 2019 - over two years before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine - and make no secret of their contempt for each other.

Responding to the proposal of a ceasefire, Russia said at the weekend it is committed to ending the war but that European powers were using the language of confrontation.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Russia was “completely ignoring” the ceasefire initiative, citing what he said were continued attacks on Ukrainian forces.

He said he shared information about the continued fighting with European partners and with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on a joint phone call. The allies had agreed sanctions would be needed to pressure Russia if it snubbed the truce move.

FIGHTING CONTINUES

The Ukrainian military’s general staff said that as of 4 p.m. (1300 GMT) on Monday there had been 69 clashes with Russian forces along the front line since midnight, when the ceasefire was to have come into effect.

The intensity of the fighting was at the same level it would be if there were no ceasefire, said Viktor Trehubov, a spokesperson for the military on Ukraine’s eastern front.

The Ukrainian air force said Ukraine came under attack overnight from 108 long-range combat drones starting from 11 p.m. (2000 GMT), an hour before the proposed ceasefire was due to kick in. Attacks of this kind unfold over the course of hours as drones fly much slower than missiles.

Russia also launched guided bombs at targets in the northeastern Kharkiv region and the northern Sumy region, the air force said, while the Ukrainian state railway company said a Russian drone hit a civilian freight train in the east.

Russia and Ukraine are both trying to show U.S. President Donald Trump that they are working towards his objective of reaching a rapid peace in Ukraine, while trying to make the other look like the spoiler to his efforts.

Kyiv is desperate to unlock more of the U.S. military backing it received from Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden. Moscow senses an opportunity to get relief from a barrage of economic sanctions and engage with the world’s biggest economy.

Europe meanwhile is doing its best to preserve good relations with Trump despite his imposition of tariffs, hoping it can persuade him to swing more forcefully behind Ukraine’s cause, which they see as central to the continent’s security.​

 

[Saif]

Drones hit Ukraine as Zelensky awaits Putin reply on talks

Russia fired more than 100 drones at Ukraine overnight, Kyiv said on Monday as it awaits the Kremlin’s response to Volodymyr Zelensky’s call for a personal meeting with Vladimir Putin this week...

www.newagebd.net

Drones hit Ukraine as Zelensky awaits Putin reply on talks
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 13 May, 2025, 00:14

Russia fired more than 100 drones at Ukraine overnight, Kyiv said on Monday as it awaits the Kremlin’s response to Volodymyr Zelensky’s call for a personal meeting with Vladimir Putin this week.

Ukraine and its allies urged Moscow to agree to a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire starting Monday, but Putin came back with a counter-proposal for direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul on Thursday.

The Kremlin is yet to respond to Zelensky’s apparent acceptance of the offer, with the Ukrainian leader upping the stakes by saying he would be ‘waiting for Putin in Turkey on Thursday. Personally.’

The prospect of direct Russia-Ukraine talks on ending the war — the first since the early months of Russia’s 2022 invasion — has been welcomed by Washington and across Europe.

But Moscow appeared to have rejected the call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire — that Zelensky had earlier on Sunday presented as a precondition to the Istanbul talks — with a wave of fresh drone attacks.

‘From 11:00pm on May 11, the enemy attacked with 108 Shaheds and other types of drones,’ the Ukraine air force said, adding that ‘as of 08:30am, 55 drones were confirmed downed.’

Overnight attacks in the east killed one person and wounded six, damaging railways infrastructure and residential buildings, local officials said.

‘Ceasefire proposals are being ignored, and the enemy continues attacks on railway infrastructure,’ Ukrainian national railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia said.

US president Donald Trump, who has threatened to stop trying to mediate a peace deal if he does not see compromises from both sides, has called for them to sit down immediately.

‘President Putin of Russia doesn’t want to have a Cease Fire Agreement with Ukraine, but rather wants to meet on Thursday, in Turkey, to negotiate a possible end to the BLOODBATH,’ Trump wrote on his Truth Social network on Sunday.

‘Ukraine should agree to this, IMMEDIATELY,’ he added.

Tens of thousands have been killed and millions forced to flee their homes since Russia invaded in February 2022.

Russia’s army controls around one-fifth of the country, including the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014.

Putin said any direct talks with Ukraine should focus on the ‘root causes’ of the conflict, and said he did not ‘exclude’ a possible ceasefire coming out of any talks in Istanbul.

Russia’s references to the ‘root causes’ of the conflict typically refer to alleged grievances with Kyiv and the West that Moscow has put forward as justification for its invasion.

They include pledges to ‘de-Nazify’ and de-militarise Ukraine, protect Russian speakers in the country’s east and push back against NATO expansion.

Kyiv and the West have rejected all of them, saying Russia’s invasion is nothing more than an imperial-style land grab.

Russian and Ukrainian officials held talks in Istanbul in March 2022 aimed at halting the conflict but did not strike a deal.

Contact between the warring sides has been extremely limited since, mainly dedicated to humanitarian issues like prisoner-of-war exchanges and the return of killed soldiers’ bodies.

EU leaders, including France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Friedrich Merz, welcomed the prospect of direct talks, but pressed Russia to agree to a ceasefire first.

‘First the weapons must be silenced, then the discussions can begin,’ Merz said on Sunday.

Russia’s key ally China on Monday called for a ‘binding peace agreement’ that was ‘acceptable to all parties.’

Elsewhere on the front lines, Russia’s army said it had captured a small village in the eastern Donetsk region, while Moscow-backed authorities said four people were killed in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Kherson region over the last 24 hours.​

 

[Saif]

The Ukraine war was provoked

The seeds of the Ukraine war were sown in the ashes of the Soviet Union.

www.thedailystar.net

The Ukraine war was provoked
Why acknowledging this matters for peace in a multipolar world

The conflict is a case study in the perils of ignoring security dilemmas. Photo: REUTERS

The war in Ukraine, often depicted as an unprovoked Russian aggression in Western narratives, has far-reaching implications for South Asia—a region navigating food insecurity, economic instability, and the pressures of great-power rivalry. For nations like India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, the conflict is not a distant European crisis but a stark reminder of how geopolitical miscalculations can destabilise the Global South. This article challenges the simplistic "good vs evil" framing of the war, drawing on scholars like Jeffrey Sachs and John Mearsheimer to argue that NATO's post-Cold War expansion provoked Russia's insecurities. By confronting this history, South Asia can champion a multipolar world where dialogue supersedes militarisation, safeguarding its own future in an increasingly fractured global order.

Historical backdrop: NATO expansion and Russian insecurity

The seeds of the Ukraine war were sown in the ashes of the Soviet Union. In 1991, as Russia grappled with economic collapse, NATO began its eastward march, absorbing former Warsaw Pact states. By 1999, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic joined the alliance, despite assurances to Moscow by Western powers that NATO would not expand "one inch eastward." George Kennan, the architect of Cold War containment, warned in 1998 that this expansion would reignite confrontation: "I think it is the beginning of a new cold war. The Russians will gradually react quite adversely, and it will affect their policies."

The 2008 NATO Bucharest Summit marked a turning point. The alliance's pledge to admit Ukraine and Georgia, both bordering Russia, ignited Kremlin's fears of encirclement. Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Ukraine's potential membership to be a "direct threat," akin to what the US would feel if Mexico aligned with a hostile power. Meanwhile, the EU's Eastern Partnership programme deepened ties with Ukraine, undermining Moscow's influence in its historic sphere.

The 2014 Maidan Revolution, hailed in the West as a democratic awakening, was viewed through a darker lens in Moscow. Leaked phone calls between US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt, discussing post-revolution leadership, reinforced Russian suspicions of a Western-orchestrated coup. The ouster of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych led to Crimea's annexation and the Donbas rebellion, with the Minsk Agreements (2014-2015) failing to reconcile Kyiv's sovereignty and Moscow's demand for autonomy in eastern Ukraine. Jeffrey Sachs notes, "The West treated the Minsk process as a way to buy time for Ukraine's military buildup, not a path to peace."

The provocation narrative: Scholarly perspectives

The conflict is a case study in the perils of ignoring security dilemmas. John Mearsheimer's "liberal hegemony" theory posits that NATO's expansion and Western democracy promotion in Ukraine recklessly challenged the core interests of Russia. "The West is leading Ukraine down the primrose path," he argued in 2014, "and the end result is Ukraine's demise as a sovereign state."

Professor Glenn Diesen's recent book Russophobia, critiques how Western media de-humanises Russia to justify confrontation. The 2013 EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, which threatened Russian trade ties, and US military aid post-2014—including Javelin missiles—solidified Kyiv's alignment with the West. Sachs highlights Washington's interference since 2004, including funding opposition groups during Ukraine's Orange Revolution: "This isn't about morality; it's about power. The US wanted Ukraine in its orbit, whatever the cost."

Sovereignty vs security: Addressing counterarguments

Western leaders frame the war as a defence of Ukrainian sovereignty. Yet sovereignty cannot exist in a vacuum. The US would never tolerate hostile alliances on its borders—just look at the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Hypocrisy stains Western outrage: the invasions of Iraq (2003) and Libya (2011), justified under false pretences, contrast sharply with moralising over Ukraine.

Sachs clarifies: "Provocation isn't justification, but peace requires accountability." Dismissing Russia's security concerns perpetuates cycles of violence. Great powers must respect each other's spheres of influence, or risk endless conflict.

South Asia's stake: Economics and geopolitics

The war's fallout is visceral for South Asia. Ukraine supplied 10 percent of the world's wheat, feeding millions in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Russia's Black Sea blockade spiked global wheat prices by 20 percent, forcing Bangladesh to ration subsidised grains. In Pakistan, flour prices doubled, exacerbating political turmoil.

Sri Lanka's 2022 economic collapse, worsened by soaring energy costs, underscores Global South vulnerability. Diesel shortages paralysed transport, while disrupted fertiliser imports from Russia and Ukraine crippled agriculture. Activist Ahilan Kadirgamar lamented, "The Global North's sanctions weaponize food and energy—we pay the price."

India's pragmatic diplomacy offers a model. Despite Western pressure, it boosted Russian oil imports from 2 percent to 20 percent in 2022, shielding its economy. Foreign Minister S Jaishankar defended this stance: "Europe prioritises its energy security—why shouldn't we?" India's non-aligned roots, balancing ties with Moscow and Washington, highlight the futility of Cold War-style blocs.

The conflict also warns against entanglements in great-power rivalries. As US-China tensions escalate, South Asia faces pressure to "pick sides." The Quad's militarisation of the Indian Ocean mirrors NATO's encirclement logic, risking conflict over Taiwan or the South China Sea. Pakistani analyst Ayesha Siddiqa warns, "Proxy wars thrive when regions become chessboards."

Militarisation vs diplomacy: Europe and the US divided

Europe's pivot to a "war economy," critiqued by Thomas Fazi, prioritises arms over welfare. Germany's 100-billion-pound defence fund and Poland's rearmament risk a Cold War relapse. Fazi notes, "Militarisation erodes democracy—leaders invoke external threats to silence dissent."

US politics fracture over Ukraine. Biden's "as long as it takes" approach clashes with Trump's push for negotiation. The 2024 election could pivot US strategy, underscoring the Global South's need to champion consistent diplomacy.

A roadmap for peace: Multipolarity and the Global South

1. Neutrality for Ukraine: ensuring it isn't a NATO/EU-Russia battleground.

2. Restructured security architecture: Revive OSCE-led talks, integrating Russian concerns.

3. Global South leadership: Brazil, China, India and Indonesia must leverage BRICS and G20 to mediate.

4. Economic recovery: rebuild Ukraine with joint investments; restore Black Sea grain deals to stabilise Global South economies.

India's G20 presidency exemplified this potential. By hosting summits that included both Moscow and Kyiv, New Delhi tried to bridge divides. As Sachs urges, "Without honesty about the war's origins, there can be no justice in its resolution."

Conclusion: Toward a humble peace

The Ukraine war underscores the folly of unilateralism. For South Asia, a region scarred by partition and intervention, the path forward lies in rejecting militarised blocs and revitalising non-alignment. By championing multipolarity, the Global South can transform this crisis into a catalyst for a fairer world order.

Zakir Kibria is a writer and policy analyst.​

 

[Saif]

Putin and Trump still 'maybes' for Ukraine peace talks that Russian leader proposed

US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin were still "maybes" for what could be the first direct peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv in years after the Kremlin on Wednesday held off disclosing who would represent Russia. Putin on Sunday proposed direct negotiations with

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Putin and Trump still 'maybes' for Ukraine peace talks that Russian leader proposed
REUTERS
Published :
May 14, 2025 22:25
Updated :
May 14, 2025 22:25

Russia's President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump talk during a bilateral meeting at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 28, 2019. Photo : REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin were still "maybes" for what could be the first direct peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv in years after the Kremlin on Wednesday held off disclosing who would represent Russia.

Putin on Sunday proposed direct negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul on Thursday "without any preconditions". But he did not say who would be attending from Moscow's side and his spokesman was unable to give further details on the matter on Wednesday.

Trump earlier this week urged Ukraine to attend the talks and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy quickly said he would be there, but only if Putin showed up, setting up a diplomatic standoff as part of an apparent contest to show Trump who wants peace more.

Trump said on Wednesday he himself was still considering whether to attend the talks in Turkey but did not know whether Putin would go, something that Zelenskiy has challenged the Kremlin leader to do "if he's not afraid".

"(Putin) would like me to be there, and that's a possibility... I don't know that he would be there if I'm not there. We're going to find out," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Qatar.

Trump wants the two sides to sign up to a 30-day ceasefire in what is Europe's biggest land war since World War Two, and a Russian lawmaker said on Wednesday there could also be discussions about a huge prisoner of war exchange.

Zelenskiy backs an immediate 30-day ceasefire, but Putin has said he first wants to start talks at which the details of such a ceasefire could be discussed.

MORE SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA?

Trump, who is growing increasingly frustrated with both Russia and Ukraine as he tries to push them towards a peace settlement, said he was "always considering" secondary sanctions against Moscow if he thought it was blocking the process.

US officials have spoken about possible financial sanctions as well as potential secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian oil.

A Ukrainian diplomatic source told Reuters on Wednesday that Ukraine's leadership would decide on its next steps for peace talks in Turkey once there was clarity on Putin's participation.

"Everything will depend on whether Putin is scared of coming to Istanbul or not. Based on his response, the Ukrainian leadership will decide on the next steps," the source said,

If Putin agrees to join, it would be the first meeting between the leaders of the two warring countries since December 2019. Direct talks between negotiators from Ukraine and Russia last took place in Istanbul in March 2022, a month after Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine.

Some unconfirmed Russian and US media reports had said that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign policy aide, would be in Istanbul and ready to meet their Ukrainian counterparts.

But Russia's Kommersant newspaper, which is regarded as having good sources in the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Kremlin, said on Wednesday evening that Lavrov would not attend.

Asked earlier by reporters during a daily briefing if the Kremlin could reveal the make-up of the Russian delegation, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "We will do that when we get an instruction to do so from the president."

"The Russian delegation will be waiting for the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul on May 15," he added.

Trump has said he will send Secretary of State Marco Rubio and senior envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg to Turkey, while also offering to attend himself.​

 

[Saif]

Peace breakthrough unlikely as Putin declines to meet Zelenskiy in Turkey

Russia's Vladimir Putin spurned a challenge to meet face-to-face with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Turkey on Thursday, dealing a blow to prospects for a peace breakthrough. The Russian president dispatched a second-tier team of aides and deputy ministers to take part in talks in Ista

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Peace breakthrough unlikely as Putin declines to meet Zelenskiy in Turkey
REUTERS
Published :
May 15, 2025 21:21
Updated :
May 15, 2025 21:21

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 15, 2025. Photo : Mustafa Kamaci/Turkish Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS

Russia's Vladimir Putin spurned a challenge to meet face-to-face with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Turkey on Thursday, dealing a blow to prospects for a peace breakthrough.

The Russian president dispatched a second-tier team of aides and deputy ministers to take part in talks in Istanbul, while US President Donald Trump, on a tour of the Gulf, undercut the chances of major progress when he said there would be no movement in the absence of a meeting between himself and Putin.

Zelenskiy said Putin's decision not to attend but to send what he called a "decorative" line-up showed the Russian leader was not serious about ending the war.

He said he himself would not go to Istanbul, but would send a team, headed by his defence minister, with a mandate to discuss a ceasefire. It was not clear when the talks would actually begin.

"We can't be running around the world looking for Putin," Zelenskiy said after meeting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.

"I feel disrespect from Russia. No meeting time, no agenda, no high-level delegation - this is personal disrespect. To Erdogan, to Trump," Zelenskiy told reporters.

Zelenskiy backs an immediate, unconditional 30-day ceasefire but Putin has said he first wants to start talks at which the details of such a truce could be discussed. More than three years after its full-scale invasion, Russia has the advantage on the battlefield and says Ukraine could use a pause in the war to call up extra troops and acquire more Western weapons.

Both Trump and Putin have said for months they are keen to meet each other, but no date has been set. Trump, after piling heavy pressure on Ukraine and clashing with Zelenskiy in the Oval Office in February, has lately expressed growing impatience that Putin may be "tapping me along".

"Nothing's going to happen until Putin and I get together," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

DIPLOMATIC CONFUSION

The diplomatic disarray was symptomatic of the deep hostility between the warring sides and the unpredictability injected by Trump, whose interventions since returning to the White House in January have often provoked dismay from Ukraine and its European allies.

While Zelenskiy waited in vain for Putin in Ankara, the Russian negotiating team sat in Istanbul with no one to talk to on the Ukrainian side. Some 200 reporters milled around near the Dolmabahce Palace on the Bosphorus that the Russians had specified as the talks venue.

The enemies have been wrestling for months over the logistics of ceasefires and peace talks while trying to show Trump they are serious about trying to end what he calls "this stupid war".

Hundreds of thousands have been killed and wounded on both sides in the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two. Washington has threatened repeatedly to abandon its mediation efforts unless there is clear progress.

Trump said on Thursday he would go to the talks in Turkey on Friday if it was "appropriate".

"I just hope Russia and Ukraine are able to do something. It has to stop," he said.

Russia accused Ukraine of "trying to put on a show" around the talks. Its lead negotiator said the Russians were ready to get down to work and discuss possible compromises.

Asked if Putin would join talks at some future point, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "What kind of participation will be required further, at what level, it is too early to say now."

Russia said on Thursday its forces had captured two more settlements in Ukraine's Donetsk region. A spokeswoman for Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pointedly reminded reporters of his comment last year that Ukraine was "getting smaller" in the absence of an agreement to stop fighting.

FIRST TALKS FOR THREE YEARS

Once they start, the talks will have to address a chasm between the two sides over a host of issues.

The Russian delegation is headed by presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky, a former culture minister who has overseen the rewriting of history textbooks to reflect Moscow's narrative on the war. It includes a deputy defence minister, a deputy foreign minister and the head of military intelligence.

Key members of the team, including Medinsky, were also involved in the last direct peace talks in Istanbul in March 2022 - a signal that Moscow wants to pick up where those left off.

But the terms under discussion then, while Ukraine was still reeling from Russia's initial invasion, would be deeply disadvantageous to Kyiv. They included a demand by Moscow for deep cuts to the size of Ukraine's military.

With Russian forces now in control of close to a fifth of Ukraine, Putin has held fast to his longstanding demands for Kyiv to cede territory, abandon its NATO membership ambitions and become a neutral country.

Ukraine rejects these terms as tantamount to capitulation, and is seeking guarantees of its future security from world powers, especially the United States.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Zelenskiy had shown his good faith by coming to Turkey but there was an "empty chair" where Putin should be sitting.

"Putin is stalling and clearly has no desire to enter these peace negotiations, even when President Trump expressed his availability and his desire to facilitate these negotiations," he said.

Highlighting the level of tension between Russia and the U.S.-led alliance, Estonia said Moscow had briefly sent a military jet into NATO airspace over the Baltic Sea during an attempt by the Estonian navy to stop a Russian-bound oil tanker thought to be part of a "shadow fleet" defying Western sanctions on Moscow.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine consults allies after talks with Russia yield no ceasefire

Ukraine rallied support from its Western allies on Friday after Kyiv and Moscow failed to agree to a ceasefire at their first direct talks in more than three years, with Russia presenting conditions that a Ukrainian source described as "non-starters". Under pressure from US President Donald Trump

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Ukraine consults allies after talks with Russia yield no ceasefire
REUTERS
Published :
May 16, 2025 22:05
Updated :
May 16, 2025 22:05

Service members of the 115th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fire a mortar towards Russian troops, at a position in a front line in Donetsk region, Ukraine May 16, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova

Ukraine rallied support from its Western allies on Friday after Kyiv and Moscow failed to agree to a ceasefire at their first direct talks in more than three years, with Russia presenting conditions that a Ukrainian source described as "non-starters".

Under pressure from US President Donald Trump to end the conflict, delegates from the warring countries met for the first time since March 2022, the month after Russia invaded its neighbour.

The talks in an Istanbul palace lasted well under two hours. Russia expressed satisfaction with the meeting and said it was ready to continue contacts. Both countries said they had agreed to trade 1,000 prisoners of war in what would be the biggest such exchange yet.

But Kyiv, which wants the West to impose tighter sanctions unless Moscow accepts a proposal from Trump for a 30-day ceasefire, immediately began rallying its allies for tougher action.

As soon as the talks ended, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held a phone call with Trump and the leaders of France, Germany and Poland, Zelenskiy's spokesperson said.

Russia's demands were "detached from reality and go far beyond anything that was previously discussed," a source in the Ukrainian delegation told Reuters.

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Moscow had issued ultimatums for Ukraine to withdraw from parts of its own territory in order to obtain a ceasefire "and other non-starters and non-constructive conditions".

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the Russian position was "clearly unacceptable" and that European leaders, Ukraine and the US were "closely aligning" their responses.

A European diplomatic source said: "Nothing came out of these discussions." Zelenskiy said robust sanctions should follow if Russia rejected a ceasefire.

Russia's lead negotiator Vladimir Medinsky told reporters that his team had "taken note" of the Ukrainians' request for direct talks between Zelenskiy and President Vladimir Putin. Putin had spurned a challenge from the Ukrainian leader to meet him in Istanbul this week.

"We have agreed that each side will present its vision of a possible future ceasefire and spell it out in detail. After such a vision has been presented, we believe it would be appropriate, as also agreed, to continue our negotiations," Medinsky said.

TWO PATHS

Expectations for a major breakthrough, already low, were dented further on Thursday when Trump, winding up a Middle East tour, said there would be no movement without a meeting between himself and Putin.

Zelenskiy said Kyiv's top priority was "a full, unconditional and honest ceasefire... to stop the killing and create a solid basis for diplomacy".

Russia says it wants to end the war by diplomatic means and is ready to discuss a ceasefire. But it has raised a list of questions and concerns, saying Ukraine could use a pause to rest its forces, mobilise extra troops and acquire more western weapons.

Ukraine and its allies accuse Putin of stalling, and say he is not serious about wanting peace.

The negotiating teams sat opposite one another, with the Russians in suits and half of the Ukrainians wearing camouflage military fatigues.

"There are two paths ahead of us: one road will take us on a process that will lead to peace, while the other will lead to more destruction and death. The sides will decide on their own, with their own will, which path they choose," Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told them at the start of the meeting.

The Ukrainian source said the Ukrainians spoke in their own language, through an interpreter, although Russian is widely spoken and understood in Ukraine.

A Ukrainian and a European source said Russia had rejected a Ukrainian request that U.S. representatives should be in the room.

Two sources familiar with the talks said Medinsky had said Russia was ready to keep fighting for as long as necessary, drawing a historical parallel with the wars of Tsar Peter the Great against Sweden that lasted 21 years in the early 1700s.

"We do not want war, but we are ready to fight for a year, two, three — as long as you want," one of the sources quoted him as saying.

PUTIN STAYS AWAY

It was Putin who had proposed the direct talks in Turkey, but he spurned a challenge from Zelenskiy to meet him there in person, instead sending a team of mid-level officials. Ukraine responded by naming negotiators of similar rank.

Russia said on Friday it had captured another village in its slow, grinding advance in eastern Ukraine. Minutes before the start of the Istanbul meeting, Ukrainian media reported an air alert and explosions in the city of Dnipro.

Russia says it sees the talks as a continuation of the negotiations that took place in the early weeks of the war in 2022, also in Istanbul.

But the terms under discussion then, when Ukraine was still reeling from Russia's initial invasion, would be deeply disadvantageous to Kyiv. They included a demand by Moscow for large cuts to the size of Ukraine's military.

Zelenskiy's chief of staff Andriy Yermak said Russian attempts to align the new talks with the unsuccessful earlier negotiations would fail.

With Russian forces now in control of close to a fifth of Ukraine, Putin has held fast to his longstanding demands for Kyiv to cede territory, abandon its NATO membership ambitions and become a neutral country.

Ukraine rejects these terms as tantamount to capitulation, and is seeking guarantees of its future security from world powers, especially the United States.​

 

[Saif]

Russia says Ukraine talks yielded a prisoner swap deal, agreement to keep talking

Russia said on Friday that the first direct talks with Ukraine in more than three years had yielded a deal to swap 1,000 prisoners of war each soon and to resume talks after each side had set out its vision for a future ceasefire

www.thedailystar.net

Russia says Ukraine talks yielded a prisoner swap deal, agreement to keep talking

Vehicles arrive at the Turkish Presidency's Dolmabahce working office, where Russia and Ukraine direct talks might happen, in Istanbul, Turkey, May 16, 2025. Photo: Reuters/Leonhard Foeger
​

• Russia says it is satisfied with talks​
• Says two sides agreed to keep talking​
• Says each side will set out vision of future ceasefire​

Russia said on Friday that the first direct talks with Ukraine in more than three years had yielded a deal to swap 1,000 prisoners of war each soon and to resume talks after each side had set out its vision for a future ceasefire.

In a short statement shown live on Russian state TV after the negotiations in Istanbul had wrapped up, Vladimir Medinsky, the head of Russia's delegation, said that Moscow was satisfied with progress made and was ready to keep talking to Kyiv.

"In general, we are satisfied with the result and are ready to continue contacts. In the coming days, there will be a massive thousand-for-thousand prisoner exchange," said Medinsky.

That would be one of the largest exchanges of its kind since Russian President Vladimir Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022 in what he called a special military operation.

"The Ukrainian side requested direct talks between the leaders of our states. We have taken note of this request," Medinsky added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had challenged Putin to fly to Turkey for direct talks with him on Thursday, but Putin - who had proposed the talks in the first place but had not said who was going for Russia - sent a mid-level delegation of experienced negotiators instead.

In the event, the talks took place on Friday, not Thursday.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has tried to pressure both sides to move towards a peace settlement, has said he wants a 30-day ceasefire in an attempt to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two.

Kyiv, which is on the defensive on the battlefield, has agreed to a 30-day ceasefire.

But Russia - which is slowly but steadily advancing on the battlefield and is worried that Ukraine will use such a pause to regroup and re-arm - has said it needs to nail down the terms of a ceasefire before signing up to one.

Medinsky said Russia and Ukraine had agreed to go away and set out in detail and in writing their vision for what a future ceasefire would look like.

"After such a vision has been presented, we believe it would be appropriate, as also agreed, to continue our negotiations," he said.

In an interview with state TV released after his statement, Medinsky said that history showed that ceasefires did not always precede peace talks and that negotiations had been held throughout the Korean and Vietnam wars while fighting raged.

"As a rule, as Napoleon said, war and negotiations are always conducted at the same time," said Medinsky.

The Kremlin said earlier on Friday that a meeting between Putin and Trump was essential to make progress on Ukraine and other issues, but needed considerable preparation and had to yield results when it happened.

The Russian and U.S. presidents have spoken by phone, but not met since Trump returned to the White House in January, despite both leaders expressing their desire for face-to-face talks.​

 

[Saif]

Trump says he will speak with Putin, Zelensky on Monday

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday to discuss stopping the war in Ukraine, days after the first face-to-face talks in three years between Russia and Ukraine took place in Istanbul. Trump had offered to travel to Turkey for the t

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Trump says he will speak with Putin, Zelensky on Monday
REUTERS
Published :
May 17, 2025 22:00
Updated :
May 17, 2025 22:00

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday to discuss stopping the war in Ukraine, days after the first face-to-face talks in three years between Russia and Ukraine took place in Istanbul.

Trump had offered to travel to Turkey for the talks while in the Gulf last week if Putin would also attend, but Putin declined to take him up on the offer.

The president has been pressuring Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to agree to a ceasefire in the three-year-old war.

Trump said in a Truth Social post that his call with Putin will be on Monday at 10am Eastern (1400 GMT).

"THE SUBJECTS OF THE CALL WILL BE, STOPPING THE 'BLOODBATH' THAT IS KILLING, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN 5000 RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS A WEEK, AND TRADE," he said.

Trump said he would speak with Zelenskiy and various members of NATO afterwards.

"Hopefully it will be a productive day, a ceasefire will take place, and this very violent war, a war that should have never happened, will end," he wrote.

Russia has shown little inclination to make concessions in the Ukraine conflict.

Russian negotiators at the Istanbul peace talks on Friday demanded Ukraine pull its troops out of all Ukrainian regions claimed by Moscow before they would agree to a ceasefire, a senior Ukrainian official familiar with the talks told Reuters.​

 

[Saif]

Russia demanded Ukraine cede more territory at Turkey talks, Ukrainian source says

Russian negotiators at peace talks in Istanbul demanded Ukraine pull its troops out of all the Ukrainian regions claimed by Moscow before they would agree to a ceasefire, a senior Ukrainian official familiar with the talks told Reuters. That demand, along with others the Ukrainian official said we

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Russia demanded Ukraine cede more territory at Turkey talks, Ukrainian source says
REUTERS
Published :
May 17, 2025 16:33
Updated :
May 17, 2025 16:33

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan chairs a meeting between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators in Istanbul, Turkey, May 16, 2025. Photo : Arda Kucukkaya/Turkish Foreign Ministry/Handout via REUTERS

Russian negotiators at peace talks in Istanbul demanded Ukraine pull its troops out of all the Ukrainian regions claimed by Moscow before they would agree to a ceasefire, a senior Ukrainian official familiar with the talks told Reuters.

That demand, along with others the Ukrainian official said were made at Friday's talks, went beyond the terms of a draft peace deal that the United States proposed last month after consultations with Moscow.

The talks in Istanbul, the first direct contacts between the two sides in three years, ended with agreement for a prisoner exchange but failed to agree to a ceasefire. A Ukrainian source had said on Friday the Russians had made conditions he described as "non-starters", without giving details.

At a briefing with reporters on Saturday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked about the terms that, according to the Ukrainian official, Moscow put forward, but he declined to comment, saying the discussions need to take place behind closed doors.

The Ukrainian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal details of the talks, said Russian proposed the following terms for a peace deal:

* The withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, only after which there can be a ceasefire. The regions are largely or partially controlled by Russian forces, but Ukrainian troops are still fighting to hold on to the remaining parts of the regions. There was no such demand in the draft deal prepared by the United States.

* International recognition that five parts of Ukraine -- the Crimea peninsula annexed in 2014, as well as the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions -- are Russian. The US draft had proposed only US de jure recognition for Crimea, and US de facto recognition for Russian-controlled parts of the other regions.

* Ukraine becomes a neutral state, has no weapons of mass destruction, and Kyiv's allies will not station any of their troops on Ukrainian soil. This demand was absent from the US proposal.

* All sides in the conflict renounce their claims to receive compensation for war damages. The US proposal had stipulated that Ukraine receives compensation.

According to the Ukrainian official, Russian negotiators transmitted those demands verbally, and did not share any document containing their terms.

Ukraine has already said the Russian negotiating position in Istanbul showed it was not serious about peace. Kyiv's European allies are now pressing US President Donald Trump to impose new sanctions on Russia.

The head of the Russian delegation at the talks expressed satisfaction with the meeting, and said Moscow was willing to keep talking to Kyiv.

The US draft peace proposal from April was prepared after Trump envoy Steve Witkoff flew to Moscow for rounds of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kyiv and European allies drafted an alternative proposal, which stated there should be a ceasefire first so negotiations could start, and deferred any discussion of territory until later.​

 

[Saif]

Russia launches war’s largest drone attack after peace talks, Ukraine says

The largest known Russian drone attack since full-scale war began in 2022 killed a woman in the Kyiv region and injured at least three people, Ukrainian authorities said early on Sunday, as Moscow stepped up strikes following peace talks on Friday. Russia launched 273 drones by 8 a.m. local time (

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Russia launches war’s largest drone attack after peace talks, Ukraine says
REUTERS
Published :
May 18, 2025 20:07
Updated :
May 18, 2025 20:07

Firefighters work at the site of a private enterprise hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, outside of Kyiv, Ukraine May 18, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

The largest known Russian drone attack since full-scale war began in 2022 killed a woman in the Kyiv region and injured at least three people, Ukrainian authorities said early on Sunday, as Moscow stepped up strikes following peace talks on Friday.

Russia launched 273 drones by 8 a.m. local time (0500 GMT), targeting chiefly the central Kyiv region and the Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions in the country’s east, Ukraine’s air force said.

Based on data provided by the air force, this was Russia’s largest drone attack on Ukraine of the war. On the eve of the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 23, Moscow launched a then-record 267 drones.

The first direct talks in three years between Russia and Ukraine on Friday failed to broker the temporary ceasefire Kyiv and its allies have been urging. The 100 minutes of talks in Istanbul yielded an agreement to trade 1,000 prisoners of war on each side.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he would speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday.

The sustained overnight Russian drone attack on Sunday killed a 28-year-old woman in the capital region and injured at least three people, including a 4-year-old child, Ukrainian authorities said.

“Unfortunately, as a result of the enemy attack in the Obukhiv district, a woman died from her injuries,” Mykola Kalashnik, governor of the Kyiv region, posted on Telegram.

Kyiv and the region around it as well as the eastern part of Ukraine were under raid warnings for nine straight hours overnight before they were called off at around 9 a.m. local time (0600 GMT). Air defence units were engaged several times trying to repel attacks, the military said on Telegram.

“It’s been a tough night. The Russians have always used war and attacks to intimidate everyone in negotiations,” Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation, said on Telegram about Sunday’s attack.

Air defence units destroyed 88 of the drones overnight. The attack also included 128 simulator drones that were lost along the way without hitting anything, Ukraine’s air force said in a statement on Telegram.

On Saturday, a Russian drone attack killed nine civilians after hitting a shuttle bus in the Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine, Kyiv said. Zelenskiy called the attack “deliberate” and urged stronger sanctions on Moscow, which said it had attacked a military facility.

All of those injured in the Obukhiv district just south of Kyiv city were hospitalised, Kalashnik said. Several residential buildings were damaged in the area, he added.

In the city of Kyiv, fragments of a destroyed drone damaged the roof of a non-residential building, the city’s military administration said on Telegram. There were no reports of injuries, it added.

Reuters witnesses in and around Kyiv heard blasts that sounded like air defence units in operation. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war, but thousands have been killed in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian.​

 

[Saif]

Trump says will speak to Putin to end Ukraine 'bloodbath'

Kremlin had said that a meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would be possible only after both sides reach an agreement.

en.prothomalo.com

Trump says will speak to Putin to end Ukraine 'bloodbath'
AFPKYIV, Ukraine
Published: 18 May 2025, 08: 40

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin AFP

US President Donald Trump said Saturday he would speak by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the "bloodbath" in Ukraine, a day after the first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in more than three years.

Trump, who has been pressing Russia to agree a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, said he would speak with him by phone on Monday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told the state TASS news agency the call was "being prepared".

Earlier Saturday, the Kremlin had said that a meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would be possible only after both sides reach an agreement.

That came a day after direct talks between the two countries led to an agreement for another exchange of prisoners.

Early Saturday, a Russian drone attack on a minibus carrying evacuated civilians in Ukraine's eastern Sumy region killed nine people and wounded five, local authorities said.

Zelensky, denouncing the attack and Russia's refusal so far to agree a ceasefire, repeated his call for fresh sanctions against Moscow.

"Without stronger sanctions, without stronger pressure on Russia, there will be no real diplomacy there," he insisted.

On Friday in Istanbul, the first direct Ukraine-Russia talks since the spring of 2022 -- shortly after Moscow's full-scale invasion that February -- led to an agreement to exchange 1,000 prisoners each.

Ukraine's top negotiator, Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, said the "next step" would be a meeting between Zelensky and Putin.

Russia said it had taken note of the request.

"We consider it possible, but only as a result of the work and upon achieving certain results in the form of an agreement between the two sides," the Kremlin's spokesman said.

Trump denounces 'bloodbath'
Russia's top negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said Moscow and Kyiv would "present their vision of a possible future ceasefire", without saying when.

The Kremlin said that first the POW swap had to be completed and both sides need to present their visions for a ceasefire before fixing the next round of talks.

"For now, we need to do what the delegations agreed on yesterday" in Turkey, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, which meant "first and foremost to complete a 1,000 for 1,000 swap".

The head of Ukraine's military intelligence, Kirillo Budanov, told broadcaster TSN he hoped the exchange would happen next week.

Posting on Truth Social Saturday, Trump said he would speak to Putin on Monday to discuss finding a way out of the "BLOODBATH".

Afterwards, he added, he would speak to Zelensky and NATO officials, expressing hope that a "ceasefire will take place, and this very violent war... will end".

Both Moscow and Washington have already stressed the need for a meeting on the conflict between Putin and Trump.

Trump has argued that "nothing's going to happen" on the conflict until he meets Putin face-to-face.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the latest prisoner exchange in a telephone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

And in an interview with CBS, he said Lavrov had told him Moscow was preparing a document outlining its requirements for a ceasefire.

If Russia and Moscow can both provide "serious and viable" proposals "then there's been real progress, and we can work off of that," Rubio said.

Fighting goes on

The attack on the bus happened near the city of Bilopillya, local community head Yuri Zarko told Suspilne TV. A family of three were among the dead, the authorities said.

Elsewhere on the frontlines, the Russian army said its troops captured Oleksandropil village in the eastern Donetsk region, site of some of the most intense fighting.

As well as Sumy, Russia also pounded eastern Ukraine with missiles and drones, killing six and wounding more than a dozen, officials said. In Kherson, Russian shelling hit a truck carrying humanitarian aid Saturday morning.

Zelensky accused Putin of being "afraid" after he declined to Travel to Turkey for talks and argued that Russia was not taking the talks seriously.

"Yesterday in Istanbul, everyone saw a weak and unprepared Russian delegation with no significant powers. This must change. We need real steps to end the war," Zelensky said Saturday.

On Friday, Zelensky had called for a "strong reaction" from the world, including new sanctions, if the Istanbul talks failed.

Macron said European nations were coordinating with Washington on additional sanctions should Moscow continue to refuse an "unconditional ceasefire."

On Saturday, Zelensky said he had spoken to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney about fresh and effective sanctions against Russia.

During the Istanbul talks, the Ukrainian side said Russia had made "unacceptable" territorial demands.

Moscow claims annexation of five Ukrainian regions -- four since its 2022 invasion, and Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.​

 

[Saif]

Trump speaks to Putin amid 'impasse' on ending war in Ukraine

US President Donald Trump spoke to Russia's Vladimir Putin on Monday about peace in Ukraine after Washington said there was an impasse over ending Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two and that the United States may have to walk away. President Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Trump speaks to Putin amid 'impasse' on ending war in Ukraine
REUTERS
Published :
May 19, 2025 21:56
Updated :
May 19, 2025 21:56

Firefighters work at the site of a private enterprise hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, outside of Kyiv, Ukraine May 18, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

US President Donald Trump spoke to Russia's Vladimir Putin on Monday about peace in Ukraine after Washington said there was an impasse over ending Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two and that the United States may have to walk away.

President Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the gravest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Trump, who says he wants to be remembered as a peacemaker, has repeatedly called for an end to the "bloodbath" of Ukraine, which his administration casts as a proxy war between the United States and Russia.

Under pressure from Trump, delegates from the warring countries met last week in Istanbul for the first time since 2022, after Putin proposed direct talks and Europeans and Ukraine demanded an immediate ceasefire.

A White House official said the call was underway. Putin was speaking from Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi while Trump was in Washington.

Shortly before the call, US Vice President JD Vance told reporters that Washington recognised there was an impasse in ending the war - and that if Moscow was not willing to engage then eventually the United States would have to say it was not its war.

"We realize there's a bit of an impasse here. And I think the president's going to say to President Putin: 'Look, are you serious? Are you real about this?'" Vance said as he prepared to depart from Italy.

"I think honestly that President Putin, he doesn't quite know how to get out of the war," Vance said, adding that he had just spoken to Trump.

He said it "takes two to tango. I know the President's willing to do that, but if Russia is not willing to do that, then we're eventually just going to say, this is not our war."

"We're going to try to end it, but if we can't end it, we're eventually going to say: 'You know what? That was worth a try, but we're not doing anymore.'"

PEACE OR WAR

Trump, whose administration has made clear that Russia could face additional sanctions if it does not take peace talks seriously, said he would also speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and various members of NATO.

Putin, whose forces control a fifth of Ukraine and are advancing, has stood firm on his conditions for ending the war, despite public and private pressure from Trump and repeated warnings from European powers.

On Sunday, Russia launched its largest drone attack on Ukraine since the start of the war.

Ukraine's intelligence service said it also believed Moscow intended to fire an intercontinental ballistic missile on Sunday, though there was no confirmation from Russia that it had done so.

In June 2024, Putin said Ukraine must officially drop its NATO ambitions and withdraw its troops from the entire territory of the four Ukrainian regions Russia claims.

On Sunday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer discussed Russia's war against Ukraine with leaders of the United States, Italy, France and Germany, a Downing Street spokesperson said.

"Tomorrow (Monday) President Putin must show he wants peace by accepting the 30-day unconditional ceasefire proposed by President Trump and backed by Ukraine and Europe," French President Emmanuel Macron said on X after Sunday's call.

Putin is wary of a ceasefire and says fighting cannot be paused until a number of crucial conditions are worked out or clarified.​

 

[Saif]

Zelensky accuses Russia of buying time to stall peace talks

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia on Tuesday of delaying peace talks in a bid to pursue its three-year invasion, even as US president Donald Trump pushes for an immediate ceasefire...

www.newagebd.net

Zelensky accuses Russia of buying time to stall peace talks
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 21 May, 2025, 00:08

Volodymyr Zelensky | AFP file photo

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia on Tuesday of delaying peace talks in a bid to pursue its three-year invasion, even as US president Donald Trump pushes for an immediate ceasefire.

Trump spoke by phone on Monday to both Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, while Russian and Ukrainian officials met in Istanbul on Friday for their first direct talks on the conflict in more than three years.

The talks failed to yield a truce, and Zelensky accused Putin of sending ‘empty heads’ to the negotiating table.

‘It is obvious that Russia is trying to buy time in order to continue its war and occupation,’ Zelensky said in a post on social media.

Trump framed his two-hour conversation with Putin, the third so far this year, as a breakthrough.

The Republican is seeking an elusive deal to end the war that he had promised on the election campaign trail to solve in 24 hours.

But Putin again rebuffed the call for a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire, instead saying only that he was ready to work with Ukraine on a ‘memorandum’ outlining a possible roadmap and different positions on ending the war.

Moscow is feeling confident, with its troops advancing on the battlefield and Trump having resumed dialogue with Putin after almost three years of the West shunning the Kremlin chief.

‘The memorandum buys time for Russia,’ Russian political analyst Konstantin Kalachev said.

‘The cessation of hostilities is not a condition for it, which means that Russia can continue its offensive,’ he added.

Zelensky said on Monday he had no details of what this ‘memorandum’ would be but was willing to look at Russia’s ideas.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and has since destroyed swathes of the country’s east, killed tens of thousands and now controls around one-fifth of its territory.

People who spoke to AFP both in Kyiv and Moscow were sceptical about peace prospects and thought the Putin-Trump call had not bring them closer.

‘I never had any faith in him and now I have none at all,’ a retired teacher Victoria Kyseliova said in Kyiv, when asked if she was losing confidence in Trump.

Vitaliy, a 53-year-old engineer from Kyiv, said Trump was no ‘messiah’ and that his flurry of diplomacy has changed little.

Ukrainian political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said Trump’s latest calls had only added to the uncertainty.

‘This conversation not only failed to clarify the future of the negotiations but further confused the situation,’ he said.

He said Trump had fallen for Putin’s tactics of trying to use talks ‘as a cover to continue and intensify the war’.

In Moscow, there was defiance and confidence.

‘I believe that we don’t need these negotiations. We will win anyway,’ Marina, a 70-year-old former engineer, said.

Ukraine and Europe are trying to put pressure on Trump to impose on Moscow a new package of massive sanctions after Putin declined to travel to Turkey for face-to-face talks with Zelensky.

Kyiv accused Moscow’s negotiators of making unrealistic demands at the Istanbul talks, including sweeping territorial claims that Ukraine has repeatedly rejected.

Zelensky said on Monday that Kyiv and its allies needed to ‘work hard’ to convince Trump of the need for more sanctions.

On Tuesday, the European Union formally adopted its 17th round of sanctions on Moscow, targeting 200 vessels of Russia’s so-called shadow maritime fleet, and drawing fire from Russia.

‘Western politicians and the media are making titanic efforts to disrupt the constructive dialogue between Russia and the United States,’ said Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s Direct Investment Fund and lead economic negotiator with the United States.

Russia has successfully withstood sanctions, rerouting its vital oil and gas supplies to India and China.

Zelensky said he had discussed preparations for the next sanctions package with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

‘Russian oil, energy trade infrastructure, banks and financial schemes — these are the areas that hurt Russia the most and therefore contribute the most to peace,’ he said.

The Ukrainian president added he was closely coordinating every step with the European partners following yesterday’s conversation with Trump.

Russia’s key ally China said on Tuesday it also backed direct dialogue between the warring sides.

‘It is hoped that the parties concerned will carry on with the dialogue to reach a fair, lasting and binding peace agreement acceptable to all parties,’ foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine pitches tougher Russia sanctions plan to EU as US wavers

Ukraine will ask the EU next week to consider big new steps to isolate Moscow, including seizing Russian assets and bringing in sanctions for some buyers of Russian oil, as US President Donald Trump has backed off from tightening sanctions. A previously unreported Ukrainian white paper to be prese

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Ukraine pitches tougher Russia sanctions plan to EU as US wavers
REUTERS
Published :
May 21, 2025 16:40
Updated :
May 21, 2025 17:06
​

​

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, France's President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk speak with US President Donald Trump via phone during the European Political Community Summit inTirana, Albania May 16, 2025. Photo : Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS/Files

Ukraine will ask the EU next week to consider big new steps to isolate Moscow, including seizing Russian assets and bringing in sanctions for some buyers of Russian oil, as US President Donald Trump has backed off from tightening sanctions.

A previously unreported Ukrainian white paper to be presented to the EU calls for the 27-member bloc to take a more aggressive and independent position on sanctions as uncertainty hangs over Washington's future role.

Among 40 pages of recommendations were calls to adopt legislation that would speed up the EU's seizure of assets from sanctioned individuals, and send them to Ukraine. Those under sanctions could then seek compensation from Russia.

The EU should consider a range of steps to make its sanctions apply more forcefully beyond its own territory, including targeting foreign companies that use its technology to help Russia, and "the introduction of secondary sanctions on purchasers of Russian oil".

Such secondary sanctions, which could hit big buyers such as India and China, would be a major step that Europe has so far been reluctant to take. Trump had publicly discussed this before taking the decision not to act for now.

The white paper also calls for the EU to consider using more majority-rules decision making over sanctions, to prevent individual member states from blocking measures that otherwise require unanimity.

After speaking to Putin on Monday, Trump opted not to impose fresh sanctions on Russia, dashing hopes of European leaders and Kyiv who had been lobbying him for weeks to ratchet up pressure on Moscow.

Trump spoke to Ukrainian and European leaders after his call with Putin and told them he didn't want to impose sanctions now and to give time for talks to take place, a person familiar with conversation told Reuters.

The EU and Britain imposed additional sanctions against Russia on Tuesday anyway, saying they still hope Washington will join them. But Europeans are openly discussing ways they can maintain pressure on Moscow if Washington is no longer prepared to participate.

Britain suffered a bigger than expected inflation surge in April.

'CATALYSE THE EU'

Publicly, Ukraine has tried to avoid any hint of criticism of Washington since President Volodymyr Zelenskiy received a dressing down from Trump in the White House in February.

The sanctions white paper emphasises the "unprecedented" sanctions imposed by the EU so far and talks up their potential to do more. It also includes a stark assessment of the Trump administration's commitment to coordination efforts so far.

"Today, in practice, Washington has ceased participation in nearly all intergovernmental platforms focused on sanctions and export control," it said.

Washington had slowed work in the monitoring group for enforcing price caps on Russian oil, dissolved a federal taskforce focused on prosecuting sanctions violations and reassigned a significant number of sanctions experts to other sectors, it added.

It noted that two potentially major US sanctions packages had been drawn up - one by the government and another by pro-Trump senator Lindsey Graham - but that it was "uncertain" whether Trump would sign off on either of them.

Uncertainty over the US stance had slowed the pace of economic countermeasures and multilateral coordination, but "should not prompt the European Union to ease sanctions pressure", it said.

"On the contrary, it should catalyse the EU to assume a leading role in this domain."

'HUGE STRIKE'

Ukraine is worried that Washington peeling away from the Western consensus on sanctions could also cause vacillation in the EU, which traditionally requires consensus for major decisions.

"American withdrawal from the sanctions regime (would) be a huge strike on the unity of the EU. Huge," a senior Ukrainian government official told Reuters.

The EU cannot fully replace the heft of the United States in applying economic pressure on Russia. Much of the impact of US sanctions comes from the dominance of the dollar in global trade, which the euro cannot match.

Still, US sanctions relief for Russia would not spur a significant return of foreign investors and investment if Europe held firm, said Craig Kennedy, a Russian energy expert at the Davis Center, Harvard.

"Europe holds a lot more cards than you'd think," he said.​

 

[Saif]

Russia downs 105 Ukrainian drones, fires Iskander missile

Russia said yesterday it had shot down 105 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions, including dozens heading towards Moscow, as the war in Ukraine heats up even as major powers talk about ways to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two.

www.thedailystar.net

Russia downs 105 Ukrainian drones, fires Iskander missile
Flights at Moscow airports briefly halted

Russia said yesterday it had shot down 105 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions, including dozens heading towards Moscow, as the war in Ukraine heats up even as major powers talk about ways to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two.

US President Donald Trump is pressuring Russia and Ukraine to end the more than three-year war but the two sides remain far apart. But while leaders talk of the prospects for peace, the war is intensifying: swarms of drones are being launched by both sides while fierce fighting is underway along key parts of the front.

Russia's defence ministry said 105 drones had been shot down over Russian regions between midnight and the early morning yesterday, including 35 over the Moscow region. The previous day, Russia said it shot down well over 300 Ukrainian drones.

Sergei Sobyanin, Moscow's mayor, said multiple drones had been shot down heading towards the capital, which along with the surrounding region has a population of 21 million people. Moscow's Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports briefly halted flights.

Separately, Russia said yesterday it had fired an Iskander-M missile at part of the city of Pokrov, formerly known as Ordzhonikidze, in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, destroying two Patriot missile launchers and an AN/MPQ-65 radar set.

Ukraine's air force reported damage in the Dnipropetrovsk region after an attack but did not specify the type of weapon.

Russia's defence ministry said its forces were advancing at key points along the front, and pro-Russian war bloggers said Russia had pierced Ukrainian lines between Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address that the heaviest frontline battles were around Pokrovsk.​

 

[Saif]

Major Russia-Ukraine prisoner-of-war exchange under way

Russia and Ukraine began a major prisoner swap on Friday expected to be the biggest of the war, as agreed last week at their first direct talks in more than three years, a Ukrainian military source said. Ukrainian authorities told reporters to assemble at a location in the northern Chernihiv regio

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Major Russia-Ukraine prisoner-of-war exchange under way
REUTERS
Published :
May 23, 2025 19:20
Updated :
May 23, 2025 19:33

Residents are seen at a street near buildings damaged by Russian military strikes, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the frontline town of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine May 21, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Anatolii Stepanov

Russia and Ukraine began a major prisoner swap on Friday expected to be the biggest of the war, as agreed last week at their first direct talks in more than three years, a Ukrainian military source said.

Ukrainian authorities told reporters to assemble at a location in the northern Chernihiv region in anticipation that some freed prisoners could be brought there. The Ukrainian military source said the swap was still under way.

By mid-afternoon Moscow time, Russian state media had not yet reported the exchange was under way, and the Russian defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Russia and Ukraine each agreed after two hours of talks in Istanbul last week to swap 1,000 prisoners, but failed to agree to a ceasefire proposed by US President Donald Trump. Previous prisoner swaps have been mediated by the United Arab Emirates.

The prisoner swap was the only concrete step towards peace the two sides agreed at their talks in Istanbul.

“Congratulations to both sides on this negotiation. This could lead to something big???,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Trump had said the swap was already complete.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides are believed to have been wounded or killed in Europe’s deadliest war since World War Two, although neither side publishes accurate casualty figures. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians have also died as Russian forces have besieged and bombarded Ukrainian cities.

Ukraine says it is ready for a 30-day ceasefire immediately, but Russia, which launched the war by invading its neighbour in 2022 and now occupies about a fifth of Ukraine, says it will not pause its assaults until conditions are met first. A member of the Ukrainian delegation called those conditions “non-starters”.

Trump, who has shifted US policy from supporting Ukraine towards accepting some of Russia’s account of the war, had said he could tighten sanctions on Russia if Moscow blocked a peace deal. But after speaking to Putin on Monday he decided to take no action for now.

Moscow says it is ready for peace talks while the fighting goes on, and wants to discuss what it calls the war’s “root causes”, including its demands Ukraine cede more territory, and be disarmed and barred from military alliances with the West. Kyiv says that is tantamount to surrender and would leave it defenceless in the face of future Russian attacks.​

 

[Saif]

Russia, Ukraine each free first 390 prisoners in start of war's biggest swap

Russia and Ukraine each released 390 prisoners on Friday and said they would free more in the coming days, in what is expected to be the biggest prisoner swap of the war so far. The agreement to exchange 1,000 prisoners each was the only concrete step towards peace to emerge last week from the fir

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Russia, Ukraine each free first 390 prisoners in start of war's biggest swap

REUTERS
Published :
May 24, 2025 11:54
Updated :
May 24, 2025 11:54

A still image from a video released by the Russian Defence Ministry shows what it said to be Russian service personnel captured by Ukrainian forces and released during the latest exchange of prisoners of war in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, as they sit in a bus at an unknown location in Belarus, in this image taken from handout footage released May 23, 2025 — Russian Defence Ministry/Handout via REUTERS

Russia and Ukraine each released 390 prisoners on Friday and said they would free more in the coming days, in what is expected to be the biggest prisoner swap of the war so far.

The agreement to exchange 1,000 prisoners each was the only concrete step towards peace to emerge last week from the first direct talks between the warring sides in more than three years, when they failed to agree a ceasefire.

Both sides said they had each released 270 soldiers and 120 civilians so far, with more due to be released on Saturday and Sunday.

The released Ukrainians arrived at a hospital in the northern Chernihiv region in buses and filed out, pale, most of them with shaven heads and wrapped in Ukrainian flags.

"I have no words to describe (my feelings). I was in captivity for 22 months,” said Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr Nehir. He embraced his wife who said she had not been informed of his release and came from their home in Sumy region out of hope.

"You can’t make it out if you don’t believe. You have to believe every day," Nehir said.

Another soldier, Oleksandr Tarasov, 38, from Mykolaiv, said he had been captured a year and nine months ago on the Kherson front after its recapture by Ukraine in 2022.

"I didn’t believe until this moment that it could happen," he said of his release.

The freed Russians arrived in Belarus, which neighbours Ukraine, where they were receiving psychological and medical assistance, the Russian Defence Ministry said.

They include civilians captured inside Russia's Kursk region during a Ukrainian incursion.

Video released by the ministry showed civilians on a bus, some smiling and others crying. "This is our gift, happiness," one woman said.

Another video showed released soldiers wearing military fatigues holding up a Russian and a Soviet flag and shouting "Hurrah!"

"Everything will be all right! Glory to Russia!" said one soldier.

TRUMP HAILS RELEASE

Referring to the prisoner swap earlier on Friday, US President Donald Trump, who had pressed the sides to meet last week, wrote on Truth Social: "Congratulations to both sides on this negotiation. This could lead to something big???"

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides are believed to have been wounded or killed in Europe's deadliest war since World War Two, although neither side publishes accurate casualty figures. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians have also died as Russian forces have besieged and bombarded Ukrainian cities.

Ukraine on Friday reiterated that it is ready for a 30-day ceasefire immediately.

Russia, which launched the war by invading its neighbour in 2022 and now occupies about a fifth of Ukraine, says it will not pause its assaults until conditions are met first. A member of the Ukrainian delegation called those conditions "non-starters".

Trump, who has shifted US policy from supporting Kyiv towards accepting some of Moscow's account of the war, had said he could tighten sanctions on Russia if it blocked peace. But after speaking to Putin on Monday he decided to take no action for now.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov told reporters at the hospital that the swap was "the first stage" and that Kyiv still hoped to secure a ceasefire.

"We hope that the U.S. will support Ukraine in achieving the ceasefire," he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Moscow would hand Kyiv a draft document outlining its conditions for a long-term peace agreement once the prisoner exchange is completed.

STILL HOPING

Near the hospital in the Chernihiv region, dozens of people, mostly women, stood in line along a street holding up photographs of men they hoped would be included in the swap.

Many said they had relatives who were missing in action and that they had come to find out any news they could from those who had just been released.

"It’s very difficult," said Oksana Astapenko, carrying her daughter Anhelina on her shoulders and tearing up as she spoke.

"We're still hoping. We don't know if he's in captivity or not… he's just missing. We're hoping for positive news that he's there."​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine’s Zelensky expected to visit Berlin on Wednesday, sources say

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to visit Berlin on Wednesday, several sources told Reuters on Monday. A spokesperson for the chancellery declined to comment on the planned meeting, which was first reported by news outlet Spiegel. Spiegel said Zelensky would hold talks with Germ

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Ukraine’s Zelensky expected to visit Berlin on Wednesday, sources say

REUTERS
Published :
May 26, 2025 19:33
Updated :
May 26, 2025 19:33

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to visit Berlin on Wednesday, several sources told Reuters on Monday.

A spokesperson for the chancellery declined to comment on the planned meeting, which was first reported by news outlet Spiegel.

Spiegel said Zelensky would hold talks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz about possible steps towards further technical talks between Ukraine and Russia as well as briefing him on plans for a new EU sanctions package against Russia, Spiegel reported.

The leaders are also expected to discuss further military support for Ukraine, the report said, adding that Zelensky would also meet with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Shortly after taking office earlier this month, Merz travelled with his French, British and Polish counterparts to Kyiv where they declared that Russia would be hit by new punitive measures if it did not heed calls for a 30-day ceasefire within days.​

 

[Saif]

Russia fired record barrage of 355 drones at Ukraine overnight: Kyiv

In the western Khmelnytsky region, local authorities said that 18 residential buildings were damaged by Russian drones.

en.prothomalo.com

Russia fired record barrage of 355 drones at Ukraine overnight: Kyiv
AFP Kyiv, Ukraine
Published: 26 May 2025, 15: 08

People look at a multistory residential building damaged following a drone strike in Kyiv on May 25, 2025, amid Russian invasion in Ukraine. Russia launched a record number of drones against Ukraine and killed 12 people across the country, officials said on May 25, even as Kyiv and Moscow completed their biggest prisoner exchange since the start of the war. AFP

Russia fired 355 drones at Ukraine overnight in the biggest such attack since Moscow’s 2022 invasion, Kyiv said on Monday, a day after Russian strikes killed 13 people.

US President Donald Trump earlier said that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had gone “absolutely crazy” in a rare rebuke of the Kremlin chief as Moscow bombed Ukraine during a major prisoner exchange.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched “355 Shahed-type drones”, including decoys, as well as nine cruise missiles, with its spokesman Yuriy Ignat confirming to AFP that it was the largest drone attack since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The drone strikes on Monday came after what Kyiv described as a weekend of “terror”.

Kyiv has so far not reported deaths from the drone attack, but said that Russian shelling in the last 24 hours had killed one civilian man in the north-eastern Sumy region, which has been under relentless Russian attack for several months.

Air alerts in Kyiv lasted for six hours, the capital’s authorities said.

In the western Khmelnytsky region, local authorities said that 18 residential buildings were damaged by Russian drones.

The head of the southern Odesa region said a 14-year-old boy was wounded there.​

 

[Saif]

Russia says Ukraine, backed by Europe, is trying to wreck peace talks

Russia's defence ministry said on Tuesday that Ukraine, backed by certain European countries, had taken several 'provocative steps' aimed at derailing Moscow-initiated direct peace talks with Kyiv. The first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in over three years took place on May 16, but fail

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Russia says Ukraine, backed by Europe, is trying to wreck peace talks

REUTERS
Published :
May 27, 2025 16:58
Updated :
May 27, 2025 16:58

Russia's Defence Minister Andrei Belousov attends a military parade on Victory Day, marking the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/Files

Russia's defence ministry said on Tuesday that Ukraine, backed by certain European countries, had taken several 'provocative steps' aimed at derailing Moscow-initiated direct peace talks with Kyiv.

The first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in over three years took place on May 16, but failed to produce a ceasefire agreement.

"At the initiative of the Russian Federation, direct Russian-Ukrainian dialogue on a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine has been resumed," the ministry said.

"At the same time, the Kyiv regime, supported by certain European countries, has taken a number of provocative steps aimed at disrupting the negotiation process."

According to the Russian ministry, since May 20, Ukraine has significantly increased drone and missile attacks on Russian territory, using Western-supplied munitions and targeting civilian areas.

Between the evening of May 20 and the morning of May 27, Russian air defence systems intercepted and destroyed 2,331 Ukrainian drones, including 1,465 outside the immediate conflict zone, the ministry said.

Ukraine has also reported a sharp escalation in Russian attacks on its territory, including a record barrage on Sunday night.

The intensification prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to comment that Russian President Vladimir Putin had "gone absolutely CRAZY," while also threatening new sanctions.

Russia's defence ministry on Tuesday said that its strikes were retaliatory, precise, and targeted solely at military facilities and enterprises within Ukraine’s military-industrial complex.​

 

[Saif]

Kremlin on Trump's 'playing with fire' comments: National interests paramount for Putin

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in comments about US President Donald Trump's remark that Vladimir Putin was "playing with fire" by refusing to engage in ceasefire talks with Kyiv, said the national interest was paramount for the Russian leader. He also said in a conference call with reporters on

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Kremlin on Trump's 'playing with fire' comments: National interests paramount for Putin

REUTERS
Published :
May 28, 2025 20:53
Updated :
May 28, 2025 20:53

Russian President Vladimir Putin gives a statement to the media at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia May 11, 2025. Photo : Sergey Bobylev/Host agency RIA Novosti/Handout via REUTERS/Files

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in comments about US President Donald Trump's remark that Vladimir Putin was "playing with fire" by refusing to engage in ceasefire talks with Kyiv, said the national interest was paramount for the Russian leader.

He also said in a conference call with reporters on Wednesday that a possible meeting of Putin with Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy should take place only following preparations and talks.​

 

[Saif]

Is Trump’s approach to the Russia-Ukraine war a geopolitical gamble or a strategic withdrawal?

Trump’s strategy has devolved into a pattern of contradictions and disengagement.

www.thedailystar.net

Is Trump’s approach to the Russia-Ukraine war a geopolitical gamble or a strategic withdrawal?

An explosion of a drone lights up the sky over the city during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine May 24, 2025. PHOTO: REUTERS

When Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, he vowed to end the Russia-Ukraine war, saying that he would end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. This aptitude, repeated relentlessly during his campaign, hinged on his self-proclaimed prodigy for dealmaking and personal rapport with Vladimir Putin. Yet over 100 days into his presidency, the war rages on, as well as Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities have intensified. Trump's strategy has devolved into a pattern of contradictions and disengagement. The US president's initial bravado has collided with the grim realities of a war now in its fourth year, with escalating drone warfare and a large number of casualties on both sides. Trump's policy reversals—abandoning sanctions threats to Russia by lowering them, downplaying the US leadership, prioritising rare-earth mineral deals with Ukraine—have left the Kremlin emboldened and strained transatlantic unity.

However, the roots of this shift lie in Trump's transactional worldview. His administration inherited a war that had settled into a brutal attritional grind under President Joe Biden, with Ukraine relying on Western arms to thwart Russian advances. However, where Biden's approach marked the war as a struggle for "democratic sovereignty," Trump has treated it as a nuisance—an obstacle to his vision of a grand bargain with Moscow. Since Trump's win, US direct involvement has decreased. Meanwhile, enforcement of sanctions has ground to a halt and ceasefire plans have only advanced demands favourable to Russia. Yet in May 2025 alone, Russia carried out its largest aerial bombardment in the war. In this respect, Trump's recent calling of Putin "absolutely crazy" has been notable, but how much impact it will pose on the US approach remains a critical question.

The surge of Russian attacks coincided with Trump's diplomatic inertia. His sole tangible intervention—a two-hour call with Putin in mid-May—yielded little beyond vague Russian commitments to draft a "memorandum" on peace. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed Russia for the delay, while some other officials dismissed the "document" as a stalling tactic. Also, the US president's criticism of Putin contrasted sharply with his reproach of Zelensky, whom he accused of "causing problems," demanding that he "better stop."

The administration's failure to act decisively has had dire consequences. While Trump's Defense Intelligence Agency warned that Russia planned to fight through 2025, Trump at first kept pressuring Kyiv to make concessions without visible pressure on Russia to halt its attacks. Civilian casualties soared, with over 664 civilians killed and 3,425 injured, reported in the first four months of 2025, as reported by Kyiv Independent. All the while, the US president emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin by declining to impose pressure for an immediate ceasefire—backed by Europe—of meaningful sanctions. After Trump's two-hour phone call with Putin, he told reporters on May 19 that the call was "meaningful and frank" while the Russian leader declined to support the 30-day ceasefire plan. Putin instead ordered a "security buffer zone" along Ukraine's Eastern borders, and strikes on Ukraine's civilian buildings escalated to the heaviest bombings on May 10, with 70 missiles and almost 300 drones. Russian air raids continued on May 25, and Trump remained silent until May 27, when he finally addressed the massive aerial attacks on Ukraine. Posting on TruthSocial, Trump referring to the Russian President, said, "Something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY!" On the same day, sources interviewed by The Wall Street Journal said Trump is considering renewed sanctions, but he could also decide to not impose sanctions at all. One of Trumpʼs key considerations, according to US officials interview by The Wall Street Journal, was his belief that he knew Putin well and that the Russian leader would end the war as a favour.

Trump's dynamic of bluster and retreat has undermined US credibility. It left Kyiv to face intensified attacks and fractured Europe's trust. Critics argue that Trump's approach has been less about diplomacy than coercion, pressuring Ukraine to comply with the territorial concessions. It became explicit in May, when the US declined to join the European-led sanctions, instead suggesting that Kyiv and Moscow resolve the conflict "independently." For Ukraine, already strained by dwindling Western aid, the lack of US leadership has been critical.

The differing approaches of the Biden and Trump administrations divulge a dichotomy. Biden considered the war as "a defense of democratic values," rallying NATO allies to supply tanks, artillery, and air defence systems. His strategy reached a fragile stalemate, suggesting the preservation of Ukraine's territory while avoiding direct confrontation between NATO and Russia. On the other hand, Trump has been considering the war through a transactional viewpoint. His early moves—halting arms shipments to pressure Kyiv into ceasefire talks—allowed Russian forces to regain momentum in eastern Ukraine. Diplomatically, Trump sidelined European partners, insisting Ukraine and Russia negotiate bilaterally. This approach became more apparent when Vice President JD Vance said that the war is "not our conflict." It drew sharp rebukes in Kyiv. Consequently, the contrast extends to their handling of alliances. Biden's administration worked closely with Europe to coordinate sanctions and aid. By contrast, Trump's "America First" policy gave rise to cynicism. Therefore, European leaders question whether NATO can function without US commitment, particularly after Trump hinted at withdrawing troops from Europe's eastern border.

Trump's policy has been marked by a reluctance to leverage sanctions against Russia, a departure from the Biden-era consensus. Biden used to believe that economic pressure could curb Moscow's aggression. Where the European Union (EU) imposed 17 rounds of sanctions targeting Russian energy, finance, and technology sectors, Trump deemed such measures as obstacles to maximising opportunities for Americans. This shift was clear during Trump's call with Putin this May, where discussions focused less on ending the war than on post-conflict economic collaboration. The Kremlin later emphasised Trump's enthusiasm for Russian rare-earth minerals and energy exports—sectors critical to US tech and manufacturing. In the meantime, the lack of US enforcement diluted EU efforts to isolate Moscow. One EU diplomat remarked, "We cannot deter Putin if America prioritises trade over security."

Putin's chess game is complex. On May 27, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan went on a two-day visit to Moscow, and Russian stressed on bilateral relations rather than Ukraine. Russian sources have said they viewed Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman as potentially suitable venues for direct talks with Ukraine in a direct blow to Trump who posed himself as the chief negotiator to end the war. The Kremlin's state media in February, framed Trump's deference as a victory. For Putin, Trump's isolationism validates a long-standing assumption: that Western resolve would fracture under economic and political pressure.

In March, the EU unveiled an 800-billion-euro defence plan with a view to bolstering arms production and making a joint rapid-response force. However, internal divisions persist. Poland and the Baltics advocate for unswerving military aid to Ukraine, while Hungary's Viktor Orbán—echoing Trump's rhetoric—calls for pragmatic engagement with Moscow. The EU's May 2025 sanctions package, targeting Russian LNG and shadow tankers, marks progress but highlights lacunae. Europe lacks the capacity to replace US intelligence sharing or advanced air defences. It leaves Ukraine vulnerable to missile strikes. At the same time, Trump's threats to withdraw US troops from NATO's eastern flank have given rise to concerns. If the US does not ensure its commitments, Europe cannot help but prepare to defend itself. For Ukraine, Europe's resolve is a lifeline, but doubts linger. Although the EU amplified aid, Kyiv's battlefield prospects depend on sustained Western unity—a unity questioned and puzzled by Trump's ambivalence.

Trump's approach to Ukraine raises questions regarding transatlantic ties (with NATO and the EU) as it has insofar left Kyiv fighting for survival with waning support. For Europe, the lesson should be clear. The EU's push for strategic autonomy faces immense hurdles—from internal divisions to military inadequacies. For the US, the cost of winning a trade deal with Russia may be the loss of its role as the self-proclaimed anchor of global stability. The war in Ukraine has become a referendum on something far larger: whether a world order built on rules and alliances can withstand the rise of transactional nationalism. In the era of a geopolitical and geoeconomic crux, ambiguity is the only certainty.

Kawsar Uddin Mahmud is a geopolitical analyst and researcher based in Dhaka.​

 

[Saif]

Russia masses 50,000 troops near Sumy front

Russia has massed more than 50,000 troops, including some of its best forces, near Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, but Kyiv has taken steps to prevent them from conducting a large-scale offensive, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

www.thedailystar.net

Russia masses 50,000 troops near Sumy front
Says Ukraine’s Zelensky; US, Russia clash in public over intensifying war

Russia has massed more than 50,000 troops, including some of its best forces, near Ukraine's northeastern Sumy region, but Kyiv has taken steps to prevent them from conducting a large-scale offensive, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

The build-up comes as Russia appears to be gearing up for a summer offensive in Ukraine while Kyiv waits for Moscow to present a memorandum laying out its conditions to proceed with ceasefire talks.

Sumy lies across the border from Russia's Kursk region where Ukraine previously seized and held a pocket of land for months, before being almost fully pushed out last month, although it says it still holds some small areas there.

"Their largest, strongest forces are currently on the Kursk front," Zelensky told reporters on Tuesday. "To push our troops out of the Kursk region and to prepare offensive actions against the Sumy region."

Putin has said he wants a "buffer zone" along Russia's border with Ukraine. Zelensky said he believed Russia wants to carve out an area of Ukrainian territory about 10 km (6 miles) deep.

Kremlin rebuffs a call by Zelensky for a three-way summit with Trump and Putin

Meanwhile, the Kremlin yesterday rebuffed a call by Zelensky for a three-way summit with Trump and Putin.

The United States and Russia also quarrelled in public yesterday over the intensifying Ukraine war after US President Donald Trump warned that President Vladimir Putin was "playing with fire"

Trump, in a post on Truth Social, said that Putin was playing with fire and cautioned that "REALLY BAD" things would have happened already to Russia if it was not for Trump himself.

Top Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev, a former president, dismissed Trump's criticism.

"Regarding Trump's words about Putin 'playing with fire' and 'really bad things' happening to Russia. I only know of one REALLY BAD thing — WWIII. I hope Trump understands this!" Medvedev wrote in English on the social media platform X.​

 

[Saif]

Russia and Ukraine step up the war on eve of peace talks

On the eve of peace talks, Ukraine and Russia sharply ramped up the war with one of the biggest drone battles of their conflict, a Russian highway bridge blown up over a passenger train and an ambitious attack on nuclear-capable bombers deep in Siberia. After days of uncertainty over whether or no

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Russia and Ukraine step up the war on eve of peace talks

REUTERS
Published :
Jun 01, 2025 21:25
Updated :
Jun 01, 2025 21:49

Specialists of emergency services work at the scene, after a road bridge collapsed onto railway tracks due to an explosion in the Bryansk region, Russia, June 1, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Stringer

On the eve of peace talks, Ukraine and Russia sharply ramped up the war with one of the biggest drone battles of their conflict, a Russian highway bridge blown up over a passenger train and an ambitious attack on nuclear-capable bombers deep in Siberia.

After days of uncertainty over whether or not Ukraine would even attend, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Defence Minister Rustem Umerov would sit down with Russian officials at the second round of direct peace talks in Istanbul on Monday.

The talks, proposed by President Vladimir Putin, have so far yielded the biggest prisoner exchange of the war - but no sense of any consensus on how to halt the fighting.

Amid talk of peace, though, there was much war.

At least seven people were killed and 69 injured when a highway bridge in Russia's Bryansk region, neighbouring Ukraine, was blown up over a passenger train heading to Moscow with 388 people on board. No one has yet claimed responsibility.

Ukraine attacked Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers at a military base deep in Siberia on Sunday, the first such attack so far from the front lines more than 4,300 km (2,670 miles) away. A Ukrainian intelligence official said 40 Russian warplanes were struck.

Russia launched 472 drones at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine's air force said, the highest nightly total of the war so far. Russia had also launched seven missiles, the air force said.

Russia said it had advanced deeper into the Sumy region of Ukraine, and open source pro-Ukrainian maps showed Russia took 450 square km of Ukrainian land in May, its fastest monthly advance in at least six months.

US President Donald Trump has demanded Russia and Ukraine make peace and he has threatened to walk away if they do not - potentially pushing responsibility for supporting Ukraine onto the shoulders of European powers - which have far less cash and much smaller stocks of weapons than the United States.

According to Trump envoy Keith Kellogg, the two sides will in Turkey present their respective documents outlining their ideas for peace terms, though it is clear that after three years of intense war, Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart.

Putin ordered tens of thousands of troops to invade Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops. The United States says over 1.2 million people have been killed and injured in the war since 2022.

Trump has called Putin "crazy" and berated Zelenskiy in public in the Oval Office, but the US president has also said that he thinks peace is achievable and that if Putin delays then he could impose tough sanctions on Russia.

In June last year, Putin set out his opening terms for an immediate end to the war: Ukraine must drop its NATO ambitions and withdraw all of its troops from the entirety of the territory of four Ukrainian regions claimed and mostly controlled by Russia.

Ukrainian negotiators in Istanbul will present to the Russian side a proposed roadmap for reaching a lasting peace settlement, according to a copy of the document seen by Reuters.

According to the document, there will be no restrictions on Ukraine's military strength after a peace deal is struck, no international recognition of Russian sovereignty over parts of Ukraine taken by Moscow's forces, and reparations for Ukraine.

The document also stated that the current location of the front line will be the starting point for negotiations about territory.

Russia currently controls a little under one fifth of Ukraine, or about 113,100 square km, about the same size as the US state of Ohio.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine drones strike deep in Russian territory on eve of new talks

Ukraine said Sunday that its drones destroyed Russian bombers worth billions of dollars as far away as Siberia in its longest-range assault of the war, as it geared up for talks on prospects for a ceasefire. In a spectacular claim, Ukraine said it damaged $7 billion worth of Russian aircraft...

en.prothomalo.com

Ukraine drones strike deep in Russian territory on eve of new talks

AFP Kyiv, Ukraine
Published: 02 Jun 2025, 11: 07

A drone attack inside Russia Reuters

Ukraine said Sunday that its drones destroyed Russian bombers worth billions of dollars as far away as Siberia in its longest-range assault of the war, as it geared up for talks on prospects for a ceasefire.

In a spectacular claim, Ukraine said it damaged $7 billion worth of Russian aircraft parked at four airbases thousands of kilometres across the border, with unverified video footage showing aircraft engulfed in flames and black smoke.

A source in the Ukrainian security services (SBU) said the strikes hit 41 planes that were used to “bomb Ukrainian villages”.

The drones were concealed in the ceilings of transportation containers that were opened remotely for the assault, the source added.

Ceasefire talks

The long-planned operation came at a delicate moment three years into Russia’s invasion.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that he was sending a delegation to Istanbul led by his Defence Minister Rustem Umerov for talks on Monday with Russian officials.

Turkey is hosting the meeting, which was spurred by US President Donald Trump’s push for a quick deal to end the three-year war.

Zelensky, who previously voiced scepticism about whether Russia was serious in proposing Monday’s meeting, said priorities included “a complete and unconditional ceasefire” and the return of prisoners and abducted children.

Russia, which has rejected previous ceasefire requests, said it had formulated its own peace terms but refused to divulge them in advance.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his US counterpart Marco Rubio spoke by telephone Sunday about “several initiatives aimed at a political solution to the Ukraine crisis”, including Monday’s talks, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the TASS news agency.

‘Spider’s Web’

Zelensky on Sunday hailed “brilliant” results of the coordinated attack, code-named “Spider’s Web”, which he said had used 117 drones and was the country’s “most long-range operation” in more than three years of war.

Russia’s defence ministry confirmed on Telegram that several of its military aircraft “caught fire”, adding that there were no casualties.

Rybar, an account on the Telegram message platform that is close to the Russian military, called it a “very heavy blow” for Moscow and pointed to what it called “serious errors” by Russian intelligence.

The SBU source said the strikes targeted Russian airbases in the eastern Siberian city of Belaya, in Olenya, in the Arctic near Finland, and in Ivanovo and Dyagilevo, both east of Moscow.

The operation was prepared for over a year and a half, the SBU source said, and aimed to destroy “enemy bombers far from the front”.

Zelensky said one of the targeted locations was right next to one of the offices of the FSB Russian security services.

‘First such strike on Siberia’

Russia said it had arrested several suspects, including the driver of a truck from which a drone had taken off, state agencies said.

But Zelensky said people involved in preparing the attacks were “extracted from Russian territory in time”.

Igor Kobzev, governor of Russia’s Irkutsk region, which hosts the Belaya airbase, said it was “the first attack of this sort in Siberia”.

He called on the population not to panic and posted an amateur video apparently showing a drone in the sky and a large cloud of grey smoke.

Russia drone strikes

Russia has been announcing Ukrainian drone attacks on a near-daily basis, usually saying they had all been shot down.

At the same time, Russia has been carrying out constant attacks on Ukraine.

On Sunday, Ukraine’s air force said it was hit by 472 Russian drones and seven missiles overnight, a record number since the beginning of the invasion in February 2022.

In a rare admission of its military losses, the Ukrainian army said Russia’s “missile strike on the location of one of the training units” had killed a dozen soldiers, most of whom had been in shelters during the attack, and wounded more than 60.

The attack led Ukrainian ground forces commander Mykhailo Drapaty to announce his resignation, saying he felt “responsibility” for the soldiers’ deaths.

Separately on Sunday, the Russian army said it had captured another village in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, where Kyiv fears Moscow could mount a renewed ground assault.​

 

[Saif]

Russia deliberately targeting civilians: Zelensky

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday accused Russia of ‘deliberately’ targeting civilians in a rocket attack on the city of Sumy, a day after officials from the two countries met for fresh peace talks...

www.newagebd.net

Russia deliberately targeting civilians: Zelensky
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 03 June, 2025, 23:31

Volodymyr Zelensky | AFP file photo

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday accused Russia of ‘deliberately’ targeting civilians in a rocket attack on the city of Sumy, a day after officials from the two countries met for fresh peace talks.

At a second round of direct negotiations in Istanbul, the two sides again failed to strike a deal on a truce, agreeing only on a large-scale exchange of captured soldiers.

Moscow has appeared to stick to its hardline demands — calling for Ukraine to pull its troops out of four eastern and southern regions that Moscow claims to have annexed as a precondition to pausing its invasion, according to a memorandum handed to the Ukrainians that was published by Russian state media.

Russia’s troops have also accelerated their advance, seeking to establish what Russian president Vladimir Putin called a ‘buffer zone’ inside Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region.

A rocket attack on the city, some 30 kilometres from the Russian border, on Tuesday killed at least three people, Zelensky said.

‘The Russians launched a savage strike on Sumy — directly targeting the city and its ordinary streets with rocket artillery. It was a fully deliberate attack on civilians,’ he said in a post on social media.

He posted a video from the emergency services showing destroyed cars and the body of one victim lying on the road.

Local officials said Russia fired five MLRS rockets at the city around 09:00am (0600 GMT).

Zelensky said the attack ‘says everything one needs to know about Russia’s so-called ‘desire’ to end this war’.

He called for ‘decisive actions’ from the United States and Europe to push Russia into a ceasefire.

‘Every day, Russia gives new reasons for tougher sanctions and stronger support for our defence,’ he said.

In Monday’s meeting, Ukraine said that Moscow had rejected its call for an unconditional ceasefire. It offered instead a partial truce of two to three days in some areas of the frontline.

A delegation of top Ukrainian officials landed in Washington on Tuesday for talks with US officials on defence and economic issues, including the possibility of new sanctions, Zelensky’s office said.

‘We plan to talk about defence support and the situation on the battlefield, strengthening sanctions against Russia,’ Andriy Yermak, president Volodymyr Zelensky’s top aide, said on social media.

US president Donald Trump, who promised to end the war in Ukraine swiftly when he returned to the White House in January, has repeatedly expressed anger at both Putin and Zelensky as the war drags through its fourth year with no end in sight.

Russia’s army said Tuesday it had captured another village in the Sumy region, Andriivka, located around five kilometres from the Russian border.

Sumy was a key logistics hub for Ukraine’s months-long offensive into Russia’s Kursk region.

Attacks on the city have escalated since Russia said in April it had fully recaptured the Kursk region.

More than 30 were killed there in a Russian ballistic missile strike on the city centre in April, one of the deadliest single attacks of the three-year war.

Zelensky said last week that Russia was amassing some 50,000 troops for an offensive on the region.

A separate Russian drone attack on Kharkiv killed one person, the prosecutor’s office said, while the cities of Odesa and Chernigiv were also hit in overnight attacks.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine peace efforts are complex: Kremlin

The Kremlin warned yesterday that work on trying to reach a settlement to end the war in Ukraine was extraordinarily complex and that it would be wrong to expect any imminent decisions.

www.thedailystar.net

Ukraine peace efforts are complex: Kremlin
Says no quick decisions to be expected; Russia ‘deliberately’ targeting civilians after 3 killed in Sumy: Zelensky

The Kremlin warned yesterday that work on trying to reach a settlement to end the war in Ukraine was extraordinarily complex and that it would be wrong to expect any imminent decisions.

It was commenting after Russia told Ukraine at peace talks in Turkey on Monday that it would only agree to end the fighting if Kyiv gives up big new chunks of territory and accepts limits on the size of its army, demands Ukraine has repeatedly rejected.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters yesterday that agreements reached at the Istanbul talks to exchange prisoners and the bodies of dead soldiers would be honoured however, and that work on agreeing a possible settlement would continue.

He said Russia and the US had not yet agreed on specific future contacts between President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump, but that Putin was ready for various high-level contacts if they were properly prepared, reports Reuters.

It was unlikely, added Peskov when asked, that Putin, Trump and Zelensky would hold face-to-face talks together in the near future.

Meanwhile, Zelensky yesterday accused Russia of "deliberately" targeting civilians in a rocket attack on the city of Sumy.

Russia's troops have also accelerated their advance, seeking to establish what Putin called a "buffer zone" inside Ukraine's northeastern Sumy region

A rocket attack on the city, some 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the Russian border, yesterday killed at least three people, Zelensky said.

"The Russians launched a savage strike on Sumy -- directly targeting the city and its ordinary streets with rocket artillery. It was a fully deliberate attack on civilians," he said in a post on social media.

He posted a video from the emergency services showing destroyed cars and the body of one victim lying on the road, reports AFP.​

 

[Saif]

Russian ceasefire memorandum is an ultimatum: Zelensky

PRESIDENT Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday said that Russia was giving Ukraine an ultimatum at peace negotiations but said he was ready to hold direct talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and US president Donald Trump ‘any day’...

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Russian ceasefire memorandum is an ultimatum: Zelensky
Agence France-Presse Kyiv, Ukraine 05 June, 2025, 04:24

Volodymyr Zelensky

PRESIDENT Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday said that Russia was giving Ukraine an ultimatum at peace negotiations but said he was ready to hold direct talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and US president Donald Trump ‘any day’.

His comments came after Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul swapped terms for agreeing to a ceasefire and said they were ready to host another round of prisoner exchanges.

Zelensky told reporters - including from AFP - that the Russian document outlining Moscow’s requirements to halt its invasion amounted to an ultimatum.

‘That is, it is not a memorandum of understanding. At least a memorandum of understanding should be signed by two parties, not just one party demanding,’ something, he said sitting around a table with international and Ukrainian media.

Therefore, it cannot be called a memorandum. It is, after all, an ultimatum from the Russian side to us,’ he added.​

 

[Mainerik]

 

[Vsdoc]

Cant see.

 

[Saif]

Three killed, 49 wounded in intense Russian air attacks on Ukraine

Russia launched an intense missile and drone barrage at the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in the early hours of Friday and three people were killed, Ukrainian officials said, as powerful explosions reverberated across the country. The attacks followed a warning from Russian President Vladimir Putin, conv

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Three killed, 49 wounded in intense Russian air attacks on Ukraine

REUTERS
Published :
Jun 06, 2025 18:29
Updated :
Jun 06, 2025 18:29

Fire and smoke rise in the aftermath of a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 6, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

Russia launched an intense missile and drone barrage at the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in the early hours of Friday and three people were killed, Ukrainian officials said, as powerful explosions reverberated across the country.

The attacks followed a warning from Russian President Vladimir Putin, conveyed via US President Donald Trump, that the Kremlin would hit back after Ukrainian drones destroyed several strategic bomber aircraft in attacks deep inside Russia.

Kyiv's military administration said three people were killed in the missile and drone salvo againstthe capital. They were first responders who had rushed to the scene of one of the strikes, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.

"Overnight, Russia 'responded' to its destroyed aircraft... by attacking civilians in Ukraine.... Multi-storey buildings hit. Energy infrastructure damaged," Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X.

Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces had carried out the strike on military and military-related targets in response to what it called Ukrainian "terrorist acts" against Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said 49 people nationwide had been injured in the attacks, which also struck several other towns and cities as well as Kyiv, as he called on Ukraine's Western allies to ramp up pressure on Russia.

The air force said Russia had used 407 drones, one of the largest numbers recorded in a single attack. Forty-five cruise and ballistic missiles were also fired, it said.

Kyiv's metro transport system was disrupted by a Russian strike that hit and damaged tracks between stations, the military administration said. The state rail company said it was also diverting some trains due to rail damage outside the city.

BOOMING EXPLOSIONS

Reuters witnesses reported a series of booming explosions powerful enough to rattle windows far from the impact sites.

Some Kyiv residents sought shelter in metro stations, or in underground car parks.

In the capital's Solomianskyi district, a Russian drone slammed into the side of an apartment building, leaving a gaping hole and burn marks, a Reuters photographer at the scene said.

Falling concrete blocks from the building crushed cars parked below. Two police investigators were examining what appeared to be the drone's engine.

Earlier in the night, Reuters reporters heard the sound of Russian kamikaze drones buzzing in the sky, accompanied by the sounds of outgoing fire from Ukrainian anti-aircraft batteries.

Zelensky called for concerted pressure on Russia.

"If someone is not applying pressure and is giving the war more time to take lives – that is complicity and accountability. We must act decisively," he wrote on X.

As well as Kyiv, Russian forces also struck industrial facilities and infrastructure in the western city of Ternopil, leaving parts of it without power, Mayor Serhii Nadal said.

The regional administration said the attack had injured 10 people and recommended that residents temporarily stay inside due to a high concentration of toxic substances in the air after a fire.

Fifteen people were injured in the northwestern city of Lutsk where an attack damaged private homes, educational institutions and a government building, prosecutors said.

The Ukrainian military said it had launched a pre-emptive strike overnight on the Engels and Dyagilevo airfields in the Russian regions of Saratov and Ryazan, in addition to striking at least three fuel reservoirs.

In one of the most audacious attacks of the three-year-old war between Ukraine and Russia, Ukrainian spies last weekend destroyed some of Russia's strategic bomber aircraft on the ground using quadrocopter drones hidden in wooden sheds.

After a phone conversation with Putin on Wednesday, Trump said the Kremlin was planning an unspecified response to the Ukrainian attack on the Russian air bases.​

 

[Saif]

Three killed in Russian attack on Ukraine’s Kharkiv

Overnight missile and bomb strikes by Russia on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv left three people dead and 22 hurt, while a Ukrainian drone attack in the Moscow region wounded two people, officials from both countries said separately on Saturday. Russian forces used high-precision long-range weapons

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Three killed in Russian attack on Ukraine’s Kharkiv
Ukrainian drones injure two near Moscow

REUTERS
Published :
Jun 07, 2025 19:47
Updated :
Jun 07, 2025 19:47

Firefighters work inside an apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine June 7, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Vitalii Hnidyi

Overnight missile and bomb strikes by Russia on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv left three people dead and 22 hurt, while a Ukrainian drone attack in the Moscow region wounded two people, officials from both countries said separately on Saturday.

Russian forces used high-precision long-range weapons and drones to hit designated military targets in Ukraine overnight, hitting all of them, according to Russia’s Defence Ministry.

Separately, Ukraine denied an accusation made by Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky that it had indefinitely postponed accepting the bodies of its killed soldiers and the exchange of prisoners of war.

“Today’s statements by the Russian side do not correspond to reality or to previous agreements on either the exchange of prisoners or the repatriation of bodies,” Andriy Kovalenko, an official with the National Security and Defence Council said on the Telegram app.

In an agreement at a second round of peace talks in Istanbul on Monday, the two sides said they would swap more prisoners and return the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers.

The northeastern city of Kharkiv, one of Ukraine’s largest, is just a few dozen kilometres (miles) from the Russian border and has been under frequent Russian shelling during more than three years of war triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion.

“Kharkiv is currently experiencing the most powerful attack since the start of the full-scale war,” Mayor Ihor Terekhov said in a post on Telegram earlier on Saturday.

Residential buildings, educational and infrastructure facilities were attacked, he said, and photos showed buildings burnt and reduced partially to rubble, as rescuers carried the wounded away for treatment.

Kharkiv regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said there could still be people buried under the rubble after one civilian industrial facility was hit by 40 drones and several bombs.

In the Moscow region, two people were injured after a drone attack by Ukraine overnight and on Friday, Governor Andrei Vorobyov said on Telegram, with nine drones shot down.

Russia’s aviation watchdog said operations had resumed at the Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky airports in the Moscow region after being suspended temporarily for flight safety reasons.

The Defence Ministry said that since midnight, air defence units had intercepted and destroyed 36 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory, including the Moscow region.

Ukraine’s air forces also shot down a Russian Su-35 fighter jet on Saturday morning, its military said without providing further details. Russian forces have not yet commented on the matter while Reuters could not independently verify the report.

A Ukrainian drone attack deep inside Russian territory last weekend likely damaged around 10% of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet and hit some of the aircraft as they were being prepared for strikes on Ukraine, a senior German military official said in a YouTube podcast set for broadcast later on Saturday.​

 

[Saif]

Russia accuses Ukraine of ‘postponing’ POW swap

Russia on Saturday accused Ukraine of postponing a large-scale prisoner swap and the repatriation of the bodies of dead soldiers they had agreed on during peace talks in Istanbul...

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Russia accuses Ukraine of ‘postponing’ POW swap
Agence France-Presse . Moscow, Russia 07 June, 2025, 19:15

A firefighter extinguishes a fire at a civilian plant following Russian powerful attacks on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv early on June 7, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. | AFP photo

Russia on Saturday accused Ukraine of postponing a large-scale prisoner swap and the repatriation of the bodies of dead soldiers they had agreed on during peace talks in Istanbul.

‘The Ukrainian side has unexpectedly postponed for an indefinite period, both the acceptance of the bodies and the exchange of prisoners of war,’ Russia’s top negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said on social media.

Delegations from Moscow and Kyiv agreed on Monday to swap all wounded soldiers and those under the age of 25 who were still held as POWs.

It was the only concrete outcome from the talks, at which Russia has repeatedly rejected Ukrainian calls for an immediate ceasefire.

Medinsky said Russia had brought the bodies of 1,212 killed Ukrainian soldiers to the ‘exchange area’ -- the first of 6,000 to be handed over.

Moscow had also handed over a list to Kyiv with the names of 640 POWs to be swapped in the first stage.

More than 1,000 prisoners from each side are set to be released in the largest exchange of the three-year conflict.

‘We urge Kyiv to strictly adhere to the timetable and all agreements reached, and begin the exchange immediately,’ Medinsky said.

Kyiv did not immediately respond to the accusation.

After the Istanbul talks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the exchange would take place this weekend, while Russia said it was ready for Saturday, Sunday or Monday.​

 

[Saif]

Russia shoots down 131 Ukrainian drones in 24 hours

Russian air defenses shot down 131 Ukrainian drones in the last 24 hours, including 73 devices outside the air defense zone, the Defense Ministry said on Sunday. The ministry further said that the drones were destroyed over the Tula, Bryansk, Kaluga, Oryol, Belgorod, Kursk, and Moscow regions as w

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Russia shoots down 131 Ukrainian drones in 24 hours

Xinhua
Published :
Jun 08, 2025 19:19
Updated :
Jun 08, 2025 19:19

Russian air defenses shot down 131 Ukrainian drones in the last 24 hours, including 73 devices outside the air defense zone, the Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

The ministry further said that the drones were destroyed over the Tula, Bryansk, Kaluga, Oryol, Belgorod, Kursk, and Moscow regions as well as Crimea.​

 

[Saif]

Russia fired record 479 drones at Ukraine overnight

Moscow fired a record 479 drones at Ukraine, including on the western region of Rivne that has been largely spared from attacks, Kyiv said on Monday, also claiming an attack on a Russian factory hundreds of miles east of Moscow...

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Russia fired record 479 drones at Ukraine overnight
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 09 June, 2025, 18:33

Police experts work on a crater at a children’s railway near the central park of Kharkiv following an aerial attack, in Kharkiv on June 7, 2025, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. | AFP photo.

Moscow fired a record 479 drones at Ukraine, including on the western region of Rivne that has been largely spared from attacks, Kyiv said on Monday, also claiming an attack on a Russian factory hundreds of miles east of Moscow.

Russia has escalated its attacks across Ukraine in recent weeks, which Kyiv says demonstrate that the Kremlin has no intention of stopping its more than three-year invasion and is not serious about peace talks.

Moscow said Monday its strikes are continued retaliation for a bold Ukrainian attack on its bomber planes parked deep inside Russia, including in Siberia, that infuriated the Kremlin.

The overnight Russian attacks caused damage in several Ukrainian regions. There were no reports of people killed or mass casualties.

‘Enemy air strikes were recorded in 10 spots,’ the Ukrainian air force said.

The mayor of the western city of Rivne, Oleksandr Tretyak, called it ‘the largest attack’ on the region since the start of the war.

Regional governor Oleksandr Koval said 70 buildings -- including private houses and a nursery -- were damaged in the attack.

Russia said it had targeted an airfield near the village of Dubno in the Rivne region.

‘This is one of the retaliatory strikes against terrorist attacks by the Kyiv regime on Russian military airfields,’ its defence ministry said.

Russia had vowed revenge last week and had already called strikes on Kyiv retaliation to the brazen Ukrainian operation.

Ukraine also said it had launched its own overnight strike on an electronics factory that makes part for Russian drones, in the city of Cheboskary in Chuvashia -- some 600 kilometres (372 miles) east of Moscow.

Russian officials said the facility had to temporarily suspend production after the attack.

‘This morning, Ukrainian attempts to use drones in Chuvashia were detected,’ Chuvashia Governor Oleg Nikolayev said on Telegram, adding: ’Two drones fell on the territory of the VNIIR factory.’

Ukraine’s army said the factory manufactured ‘antennas for Shahed’ (drones). Russia fires dozens of Iranian-designed Shahed attack drones at Ukrainian cities on a daily basis.

Russia said a Ukrainian strike killed one person in its border Kursk region Monday.

The acting governor of the region, Alexander Khinstein, said the strike hit a ‘cultural-service centre’ in the Rylsky district, killing a 64-year-old man.​

 

[Saif]

Russian strikes in Kyiv, Odesa kill three

Russia launched fresh drone and missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and port city of Odesa early on Tuesday, killing three people and hitting a maternity hospital, Ukrainian officials said...

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Russian strikes in Kyiv, Odesa kill three
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv 10 June, 2025, 23:53

Russia launched fresh drone and missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and port city of Odesa early on Tuesday, killing three people and hitting a maternity hospital, Ukrainian officials said.

Moscow has escalated its bombardments of Ukraine and Kyiv has retaliated with strikes deep inside Russian territory.

Talks in Turkey last week failed to yield a breakthrough towards ending the three-year war.

Aside from an agreement to exchange prisoners, progress has stalled and Russia has repeatedly rejected calls for an unconditional ceasefire.

After the overnight barrage of more than 300 drones and seven missiles, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky urged Kyiv’s Western allies to respond with ‘concrete action’.

‘Action from America, which has the power to force Russia into peace. Action from Europe, which has no alternative but to be strong,’ Zelensky wrote in a post on social media.

He added that two of the missiles fired in the latest wave attacks were made in North Korea.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had targeted ‘Ukrainian aviation, missile, armoured vehicle and ship-building facilities in Kyiv’ with a ‘group strike’.

‘The goal of the strikes was achieved. All designated objects were hit,’ the ministry said.

But residential and hospital buildings were struck in Odesa, where two people were killed and at least nine others were wounded, Governor Oleg Kiper said.

‘The enemy massively attacked Odesa with strike drones,’ Kiper wrote on Telegram.

‘The Russians hit a maternity hospital, an emergency medical ward and residential buildings,’ he said, adding that the maternity hospital had been evacuated in time.

In central Kyiv, an AFP journalist heard at least a dozen explosions, anti-aircraft fire and the buzzing of drones.

City officials said one woman was killed and four people were wounded.

The mayor said strikes hit at least seven districts, setting buildings and cars on fire.

Russia’s 2022 invasion of its neighbour triggered the biggest European conflict since World War II, forcing millions to flee their homes and decimating much of eastern and southern Ukraine.

Ukrainian cities are targeted by Russian air strikes almost daily.

Russia launched a record 479 explosive drones at Ukraine overnight into Monday morning, the Ukrainian Air Force said.

Kyiv has responded with attacks on Russian territory, targeting transport and weapons production infrastructure.

Russia’s transport agency Rosaviatsia said on Tuesday that flight operations had been temporarily restricted at more than a dozen Russian airports—standard procedure during Ukrainian drone attacks.

In the city of Belgorod near the border with Ukraine, Russian emergency services said one person was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on a petrol station.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had intercepted 102 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Despite pressure from US president Donald Trump to reach a ceasefire agreement, peace talks are at a standstill.

The only concrete agreement reached at talks in Istanbul last week was a large-scale prisoner exchange and the repatriation of dead soldiers’ bodies.

Russia and Ukraine swapped a first group of captured soldiers on Monday and Zelensky announced the exchange would ‘continue in several stages over the coming days’.

The deal should see the freeing of all captured soldiers under the age of 25, as well as those who are sick or severely wounded.

But Zelensky said last week it was ‘pointless’ to hold further talks with the current Russian delegation—who he previously dismissed as ‘empty heads’—since they could not agree to a ceasefire.

Russian forces meanwhile are making steady advances across the front line.

Over the weekend Moscow said it had pushed its offensive into the Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time, marking a significant territorial escalation.

‘Time for everyone to finally accept the fact that Russia understands only strikes, not rational words,’ Zelensky’s top aide, Andriy Yermak, said on Tuesday, in a thinly veiled criticism of the Trump administration.

As a condition for halting its invasion, Russia has demanded that Ukraine cede the territories Moscow says it has annexed and forswear joining NATO.

It has also rejected a proposed 30-day unconditional ceasefire sought by Kyiv and the European Union, arguing that this would allow Ukrainian forces to rearm with Western deliveries.

Ukraine is demanding a complete Russian withdrawal of from its territory and security guarantees from the West.​

 

[Saif]

Russia launches deadly strike in east Ukraine

Fresh Russian strikes on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv killed three people and wounded 60 others, including children, on Wednesday, authorities said, as Moscow pushed ahead with attacks after rejecting an unconditional ceasefire...

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Russia launches deadly strike in east Ukraine
Agence France-Presse . Kharkiv, Ukraine 12 June, 2025, 01:06

Fresh Russian strikes on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv killed three people and wounded 60 others, including children, on Wednesday, authorities said, as Moscow pushed ahead with attacks after rejecting an unconditional ceasefire.

Ukraine said it had received the bodies of more than 1,200 soldiers, handed over by Moscow, part of a repatriation deal the two sides agreed at talks last week.

Russia has fired record numbers of drones and missiles at Ukraine over recent weeks, escalating three years of daily bombardments as it outlines hardline demands — rejected by Kyiv as ‘ultimatums’ — to halt its three-year invasion.

The northeastern city of Kharkiv, just 30 kilometres from the Russian border, again bore the brunt of the attack.

‘Seventeen strikes by enemy UAVs (drones) were carried out in two districts of the city tonight,’ Kharkiv mayor Igor Terekhov said on Telegram.

Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Synegubov said three people had been killed.

‘Every new day now brings new cowardly strikes from Russia, and almost every strike is demonstrative. Russia deserves increased pressure,’ Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media after the shelling of Kharkiv.

AFP journalists in the city saw damaged apartment blocks, burnt out cars and streets strewn with debris after the attacks.

Olena Khoruzheva had run into a hallway — away from the windows — with her two children when she heard the incoming drones.

‘The younger one lay on the floor, hands on his head. I was on top of him,’ the 41-year-old pharmacist said.

‘We heard it approaching, silence, and then we were thrown against the wall there were more explosions, then we heard people shouting ‘Help! Help!’

Her 65-year-old neighbour was one of those killed in the attack.

Early on Wednesday morning, an AFP reporter saw first responders removing the body of one killed resident from a block of apartments in a black body bag.

Ukraine’s air force said that Russia had fired 85 drones overnight — fewer than in recent days.

On the front line, Moscow’s troops have been advancing steadily.

The Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday that more units had crossed into the Dnipropetrovsk region, where it is mounting an offensive for the first time in its 40-month-long invasion.

US president Donald Trump has been urging the two sides to strike a peace deal, but has seen little progress.

Zelensky has in turn called on the West to increase the pressure on Russia with hard-hitting economic sanctions that he says would limit its capacity to wage war.

He is expected to press that message with Trump and European leaders at a G7 summit in Canada, which kicks off on Sunday.

Leaders from several countries across southeastern Europe were expected in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Wednesday, hours after it was targeted by Russian strikes.

Two rounds of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have failed to yield a breakthrough in ending the war.

Russia has rejected calls for an unconditional ceasefire and demanded that Ukraine give up large swathes of territory and its bid to join NATO.

But the two sides agreed to swap more than 1,000 prisoners of war and hand over the bodies of dead soldiers.

Ukraine said on Wednesday that Russia had handed over the corpses of 1,212 killed soldiers and was working to identify them.

Russia’s top negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, confirmed the handover and said Russia had received ‘the remains of 27 Russian soldiers.’

Ukraine did not say how many bodies it returned to Russia, which says Western estimates of the number of its deaths are untrue.

Moscow spent days accusing Kyiv of not wanting to collect the bodies, after it said that they had been delivered to the border in refrigerated trucks on Saturday.

The two countries swapped groups of captured soldiers on Monday and Tuesday, though neither said how many were freed.

Fresh exchange of ‘severely wounded’ was set for Thursday, Medinsky has said.

After Russia’s attacks, Kyiv has hit back with retaliatory drone strikes.

Moscow’s defence ministry said that 32 Ukrainian drones were intercepted overnight.

Both sides have downplayed any chance of progress at talks in Istanbul.

While not rejecting diplomacy, Zelensky called it ‘pointless’ to hold further talks with the current Russian delegation — whom he previously dismissed as ‘empty heads’ — since they could not agree to a ceasefire.

Russian president Vladimir Putin last week called Kyiv a ‘terrorist’ regime and questioned why he should negotiate with them.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine, Russia exchange new group of POWs

Ukraine and Russia said on Thursday they had swapped a fresh group of prisoners of war, the third exchange this week as part of a deal agreed at peace talks in Turkey...

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Ukraine, Russia exchange new group of POWs
Agence France-Presse . Ukraine 13 June, 2025, 00:01

Ukraine and Russia said on Thursday they had swapped a fresh group of prisoners of war, the third exchange this week as part of a deal agreed at peace talks in Turkey.

In Istanbul last week the two sides agreed to each free more than 1,000 prisoners of war — all wounded or under the age of 25 — and return the bodies of killed fighters.

‘Today, warriors of our Armed Forces, National Guard, and Border Guard Service are back home,’ Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media.

‘They all require medical treatment,’ as they were ‘severely wounded and seriously ill,’ he added.

Russia’s defence ministry also confirmed the swap, saying in a Telegram post that ‘a group of Russian servicemen was returned’ from Ukraine.

The swapped Russian soldiers were now in Belarus, Moscow’s close ally.

‘We continue working to bring everyone home from Russian captivity. We thank everyone who helps make these exchanges possible — so that each and every one of them can be home, in Ukraine,’ Zelensky said.

He published pictures of the Ukrainian servicemen, all with freshly shaved heads — draped in national flags.

The oldest Ukrainian soldier freed on Thursday was 59, with the youngest 22, and they include some who were believed to be ‘missing in action,’ Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said.

Russian state media showed Moscow’s troops in camouflage chanting ‘Russia, Russia’ with national flags around their shoulders.

The exchanges are the only concrete outcome from two rounds of peace talks in Istanbul, at which Russia rejected calls for an unconditional ceasefire and demanded Ukraine give up large swathes of territory and its bid to join NATO.

The first stages of the swap took place on Monday and Tuesday, with Russia on Wednesday handing back the bodies of 1,212 Ukrainian soldiers killed fighting Moscow’s invasion.

Meanwhile, Russian night-time strikes on Kharkiv wounded 14 people, including four children, Ukraine said, in the latest heavy bombardment of the northeastern city.

The strikes came a day after Russian attacks killed three people and wounded some 60 others in the city, some 30 kilometres from the Russian border.

Kharkiv has been heavily hit by Russian forces throughout their more than three-year invasion.​

 

[Saif]

Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners of war, but Moscow received no war dead, Russia says

Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners-of-war (POWs) on Saturday, the Russian defence ministry said, and Russia handed over the bodies of 1,200 dead Ukrainian soldiers to Kyiv. The exchanges are part of agreements reached by the warring sides during talks in Istanbul earlier this month. Ukraine ea

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners of war, but Moscow received no war dead, Russia says

REUTERS
Published :
Jun 14, 2025 18:51
Updated :
Jun 14, 2025 18:51

People in hazmat suits carry what is said to be remains of Ukrainian soldiers received from Russia in an unknown location in a screen grab from a Handout video released on June 13, 2025. Photo : Security Service Of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERS/Files

Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners-of-war (POWs) on Saturday, the Russian defence ministry said, and Russia handed over the bodies of 1,200 dead Ukrainian soldiers to Kyiv.

The exchanges are part of agreements reached by the warring sides during talks in Istanbul earlier this month. Ukraine earlier on Saturday confirmed it had received the bodies of its soldiers killed in action.

However, Russian state media reported, citing sources, that Moscow had not received any of its war dead back from Kyiv, echoing a statement Russia made on Friday, when it said it had returned the bodies of 1,200 slain Ukrainian soldiers and received none of its own.

The Russian defence ministry did not say how many POWs were involved in the swap with Ukraine on Saturday, but it posted video showing its soldiers holding Russian flags and cheering before boarding a bus.

The Russian soldiers are in Belarus, where they are receiving medical treatment before transfer back to Russia, the defence ministry said.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine hopes Israel-Iran crisis won’t decrease military aid

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he hoped the escalation between Israel and Iran would not result in a drop in military aid to Kyiv, according to remarks published on Saturday.

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Ukraine hopes Israel-Iran crisis won’t decrease military aid
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 14 June, 2025, 22:33

This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on Saturday shows Ukrainian prisoners of war wrapped with Ukrainian national flags hugging after an exchange of prisoners at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. | AFP photo

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he hoped the escalation between Israel and Iran would not result in a drop in military aid to Kyiv, according to remarks published on Saturday.

‘We would like to see aid to Ukraine not decrease because of this,’ he said. ‘Last time, this was a factor that slowed down aid to Ukraine.’

Israel unleashed large-scale attacks on Iran Friday, targeting nuclear and military facilities as well as high-ranking generals and atomic scientists, sparking international calls to restraint as fears of broader conflict grow.

The attack on Iran sparked a rise in oil prices, which Zelensky said would benefit Russia.

‘The attacks led to a sharp rise in oil prices. This is bad for us,’ he added, reiterating a call to introduce price caps on Russian oil exports.

He added that hoped to raise the issue of price caps at a potential meeting with the US president Donald Trump in the near future.

However, the Israeli strikes might be favourable for Kyiv as well, if they lead to a reduction of military equipment supplies from Tehran to Moscow, which has relied heavily on Iranian-made attack drones.

The Ukrainian leader also warned that Europe’s support was stalling without Washington’s engagement, as ‘Europe has not yet decided for itself what it will do with Ukraine if America is not there’.

He also urged the United States to ‘shift tone’ in its dialogue with Russia, warning that it was ‘too warm’ now and that this would not help to end the war.

Meanwhile, Ukraine and Russia conducted another POW swap — the fourth one in a week — the warring sides said on Saturday, under agreements reached in Istanbul earlier this month.

‘We continue to take our people out of Russian captivity. This is the fourth exchange in a week,’ Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social media.

‘In accordance with the Russian-Ukrainian agreements another group of Russian servicemen was returned from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime,’ Russia’s defence ministry said on Telegram.

Kyiv also said it had received another batch of 1,200 unidentified bodies from Russia, which it said Russia claimed ‘belong to Ukrainian citizens, including military personnel,’ as part of the Istanbul agreements as well.

Ukraine did not say whether it returned any bodies to Russia.

Photos published by Zelensky on Telegram showed men of various ages, mostly with shaved heads, wearing camouflage and draped in Ukrainian flags.

Some were injured, others disembarked from buses and hugged those welcoming them, or were seen calling someone by phone, sometimes covering their faces or smiling.

Moscow’s defence ministry released its own video showing men in uniforms holding Russian flags, clapping and chanting ‘Russia, Russia’, ‘glory to Russia’ and ‘hooray’, some raising their fists in the air.

The exchange came as Russia repeatedly rejected ceasefire calls and intensified its offensive along the front line, and especially in the northeastern Sumy region, where it seeks to establish a ‘buffer zone’ to protect its Kursk region, previously partly occupied by Ukraine.

Zelensky claimed Russia’s advance on Sumy was stopped, adding that Kyiv’s forces have managed to retake one village.

According to the Ukrainian president, Russia was using 53,000 men in the Sumy operation.​

 

[Saif]

Russian advance nears Ukraine’s Sumy region

Despite the driving rain, a few elderly residents wander into the streets of Stets’kivka in northeast Ukraine to catch a yellow bus to go shopping in nearby Sumy, the regional capital...

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Russian advance nears Ukraine’s Sumy region
Agence France-Presse . Stets’kivka, Ukraine 15 June, 2025, 23:44

Despite the driving rain, a few elderly residents wander into the streets of Stets’kivka in northeast Ukraine to catch a yellow bus to go shopping in nearby Sumy, the regional capital.

They are worried about the Russian drones that have been striking the area with increasing regularity, more than three years into Moscow’s invasion.

‘I’m afraid. Nobody knows what could happen to the bus we take,’ Galyna Golovko, 69, told AFP at the small shop she runs near the bus stop.

Golovko said she never goes out in the morning or evening when Russian drones criss-cross the sky.

‘It’s scary how many drones fly in the morning.... In the morning and in the evening it’s just hell,’ she said.

The border with the neighbouring Russian region of Kursk is just 17 kilometres away.

The Sumy region was the starting point for a Ukrainian incursion into Kursk last year.

Ukraine held swathes of the territory for eight months, until a spring offensive by Russian forces supported by North Korean troops pushed them back.

Moscow has since advanced towards the city of Sumy, taking several villages along the way and forcing mandatory evacuations of civilian residents.

At the Stets’kivka bus stop, an elderly woman said she had packed up in case Russian troops arrive in town, where Ukrainian soldiers have replaced a pre-war population of 5,500 people.

The town is just 10 kilometres from the front line, and residents said there is heavy fighting nearby.

Beyond Stets’kivka, ‘everything has been destroyed, there is not a single village,’ Golovko said.

On her shop counter, there was a plastic box with a few banknotes—donations for a local family that lost its home, destroyed by a Russian glide bomb.

Ten kilometres to the south lies Sumy, a city that had 255,000 inhabitants before the war.

So far, restaurants are crowded and there seems little concern about the Russian advance. But buildings in the city bear the scars of Russian bombardments. And, when the sounds of car horns go down in the evenings, explosions can be heard in the distance.

The streets are lined with concrete bunkers against the increasingly frequent strikes from Russia, which has said it wants to set up a ‘buffer zone’ to prevent future Ukrainian incursions.

‘The enemy is trying to advance,’ said Anvar, commander of the drone battalion of the 225th regiment, which is leading the defence of the region.

‘We are pushing them back. Sometimes we advance, sometimes they do,’ he told AFP in an apartment that serves as a base for his unit.

‘We still have troops in the Kursk region. Nobody has tried to drive them out,’ he said, calling the conflict in the region a ‘war of positions’.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday said the Russian offensive in Sumy had been stopped, just a day after Russian forces said they had captured another village in the region.

Sitting next to Anvar, one of his men soldered microprocessors in silence, except for electronic clicking that made the room feel like a laboratory.

Surrounded by 3D printers and piles of batteries, the members of the brigade are busy transforming Chinese drones into flying weapons.

‘It is now a drone war,’ the commander said.

Anvar said that Russia was continually sending ‘cannon fodder’ along this part of the front to try and overwhelm Ukrainian troops.

‘I know people who have gone mad because of the number of people they manage to kill in a day’.

Russian soldiers ‘continue marching calmly’ amid the bodies of their fallen comrades, he said.

In Stets’kivka, Golovko voiced confidence that Ukrainian soldiers would hold the line and said she was ‘not going anywhere’.

‘I will stay at home,’ she said tearfully, beating the counter with her fist.

‘I have travelled to Russia. We have friends there, and relatives. Everything was fine before.

‘One day, this madness will end. The madness that Putin unleashed will end,’ she said in a shaky voice.​

 

[Saif]

Overnight Russian attack on Ukraine kills 15 and injures 156

An overnight Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed 15 people and injured 156, local officials said Tuesday, with the main barrage demolishing a nine-story Kyiv apartment building in the deadliest attack on the capital this year. At least 14 people were killed as explosions echoed

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Overnight Russian attack on Ukraine kills 15 and injures 156

REUTERS
Published :
Jun 17, 2025 21:42
Updated :
Jun 17, 2025 21:42

A Russian drone attacks a building during Russia's massive missile and drone air attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. Photo : AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky

An overnight Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed 15 people and injured 156, local officials said Tuesday, with the main barrage demolishing a nine-story Kyiv apartment building in the deadliest attack on the capital this year.

At least 14 people were killed as explosions echoed across the Ukrainian capital for almost nine hours, Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said, destroying dozens of apartments.

Russia fired more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, calling the Kyiv attack “one of the most terrifying strikes” on the capital.

Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said 139 people were injured in Kyiv. Mayor Vitalii Klitschko announced that Wednesday would be an official day of mourning.

The attack came after two rounds of direct peace talks failed to make progress on ending the war, now in its fourth year.

Russia steps up aerial attacks

Russia has repeatedly hit civilian areas of Ukraine with missiles and drones. The attacks have killed more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the United Nations. Russia says it strikes only military targets.

Russia has in recent months stepped up its aerial attacks. It launched almost 500 drones at Ukraine on June 10 in the biggest overnight drone bombardment of the war. Russia also pounded Kyiv on April 24, killing at least 12 people.

The intensified long-range strikes have coincided with a Russian summer offensive on eastern and northeastern sections of the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, where Ukraine is short-handed and needs more military support from its Western partners.

Uncertainty about U.S. policy on the war has fueled doubts about how much help Kyiv can count on. Zelenskyy had been set to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at a G7 summit in Canada on Tuesday to press him for more help. But Trump returned early to Washington on Monday night because of tensions in the Middle East.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer denied that Trump’s refusal to back new sanctions on Russia or provide U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine makes it all but impossible to compel the Kremlin to accept a ceasefire.

The U.K announced new sanctions Tuesday on Russia’s defense industry and its oil-carrying “shadow fleet” of about 500 ships of uncertain ownership that allowed Moscow to dodge sanctions. The announcement coincided with Zelenskyy’s arrival as a guest at the G7 summit.

Ukraine tries to keep the world’s attention

Zelenskyy is seeking to prevent Ukraine from being sidelined in international diplomacy. Trump said earlier this month it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia “fight for a while” before pulling them apart and pursuing peace, but European leaders have urged him to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin into accepting a ceasefire.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday it is unclear when another round of talks might take place.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Russia’s attacks during the G7 summit showed Putin’s “total disrespect” for the U.S. and other countries.

“Russia not only rejects a ceasefire or a leaders’ meeting to find solutions and end the war. It cynically strikes Ukraine’s capital while pretending to seek diplomatic solutions,” Sybiha wrote on social media.

Ukrainian forces have hit back against Russia with their own domestically produced long-range drones.

The Russian military said it downed 203 Ukrainian drones over 10 Russian regions between Monday evening and Tuesday morning.

Russian civil aviation agency Rosaviatsia reported briefly halting flights overnight in and out of all four Moscow airports, as well as those in the cities of Kaluga, Tambov and Nizhny Novgorod as a precaution.

Overnight Russian drone strikes also struck the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa, killing one person and injuring 17 others, according to Oleh Kiper, head of the regional administration.

Putin “is doing this simply because he can afford to continue the war. He wants the war to go on. It is troubling when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to it,” Zelenskyy said.

Russian attack demolishes apartment building

The Russian attack delivered “direct hits on residential buildings,” the Kyiv City Military Administration said in a statement. “Rockets — from the upper floors to the basement,” it said.

A U.S. citizen died in the attack after suffering shrapnel wounds, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko told reporters.

Thirty apartments were destroyed in a single residential block after it was struck by a ballistic missile, Klymenko said.

“We have 27 locations that were attacked by the enemy. We currently have over 2,000 people working there, rescuers, police, municipal services and doctors,” he told reporters at the scene of one attack.

Olena Lapyshniak, 49, was shaken from the strike that nearly leveled her apartment building. She heard a whistling sound and then two explosions that blew out her windows and doors.

“It’s horrible, it’s scary, in one moment there is no life,” she said. “There’s no military infrastructure here, nothing here, nothing. It’s horrible when people just die at night.”

People were wounded in the city’s Sviatoshynskyi and Solomianskyi districts. Fires broke out in two other city districts as a result of falling debris from drones shot down by Ukrainian air defenses, the mayor said.

Moscow escalated attacks after Ukraine’s Security Service agency staged an audacious operation targeting warplanes in air bases deep inside Russian territory on June 1.​

 

[Saif]

‘We won’t just sit in defence’

Ukraine’s top military commander vowed to increase the “scale and depth” of strikes on Russia in remarks made public yesterday, saying Kyiv would not sit idly by while Moscow prolonged its three-year invasion.

www.thedailystar.net

‘We won’t just sit in defence’
Ukraine army chief vows to expand strikes on Russia

Rescuers carry a body from a damaged building following a Russian strike in Kramatorsk yesterday, amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Photo: AFP

Ukraine's top military commander vowed to increase the "scale and depth" of strikes on Russia in remarks made public yesterday, saying Kyiv would not sit idly by while Moscow prolonged its three-year invasion.

Diplomatic efforts to end the war have stalled in recent weeks. The last direct meeting between the two sides was almost three weeks ago and no follow-up talks have been scheduled.

Russian attacks on Ukraine have killed dozens of people during the interim, including in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, according to officials.

"We will not just sit in defence. Because this brings nothing and eventually leads to the fact that we still retreat, lose people and territories," Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky told reporters including AFP.

Syrsky said Ukraine would continue its strikes on Russian military targets, which he said had proved "effective".

"Of course, we will continue. We will increase the scale and depth," he said.

Ukraine has launched retaliatory strikes on Russia throughout the war, targeting energy and military infrastructure sometimes hundreds of kilometres from the front line.

Kyiv says the strikes are a fair response to deadly Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure and civilians.

In wide-ranging remarks, Syrsky also conceded that Russia had some advantages in drone warfare, particularly in making fibre-optic drones that are tethered and difficult to jam.​

 

[Saif]

Russian barrage kills 10 in Kyiv

Russia fired dozens of drones and missiles at Ukraine on Monday, ripping open a housing bloc in Kyiv, killing 10 civilians and burying others beneath the rubble...

www.newagebd.net

Russian barrage kills 10 in Kyiv
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 23 June, 2025, 23:56

Russia fired dozens of drones and missiles at Ukraine on Monday, ripping open a housing bloc in Kyiv, killing 10 civilians and burying others beneath the rubble.

A flurry of diplomatic efforts to end the three-year-long war have stalled, with the last direct meeting between Kyiv and Moscow coming almost three weeks ago and no follow-up talks scheduled.

AFP journalists heard drones over the capital and explosions ringing out during the barrage.

Kyiv resident Natalia Marshavska was awake during the attack and described how the buzzing of a drone grew louder until it was directly overhead.

‘I realised it was right above us. And then there was an explosion — all in a matter of seconds,’ she said.

The blast threw her across the room and shattered the windows in her flat before smoke began billowing everywhere, she said.

‘It was horrible.’

The Russian army said it had used precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles to strike Ukrainian military facilities.

‘All the designated targets were destroyed,’ it claimed.

Prosecutors in Kyiv said nine people were killed in the capital’s Shevchenkivsky district, including an 11-year-old girl. Another person was killed in Bila Tserkva just outside the capital, officials said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia had launched 352 unmanned aerial vehicles — including Iranian-designed drones — and 16 missiles at Ukraine, adding that some of the munitions were provided by North Korea.

‘Everyone in countries neighbouring Russia, Iran and North Korea should be thinking carefully about whether they could protect lives if this coalition of murderers persists and continues spreading their terror,’ he added.

He landed in the United Kingdom — one of Kyiv’s staunchest allies — on Monday for a surprise visit, where he said he would be discussing defence issues and sanctions on Russia.

Zelensky met with Britain’s King Charles III at Windsor Castle and a Ukrainian source also said that he would meet UK prime minister Keir Starmer.

The visit comes ahead of a NATO summit later this week in The Hague.

Zelensky is set to attend on the side-lines but his involvement is being kept to a minimum to avoid a confrontation with US president Donald Trump.

Since returning to office, Trump has upended the West’s approach towards Russia’s war on Ukraine by undercutting Kyiv and opening the door to closer ties with Moscow.

The latest strikes came less than a week after another attack on Kyiv killed at least 28 people.

Separate Russian attacks on Monday in the southern Odesa region left two people killed and another dozen wounded, local authorities said.

Zelensky said a school was hit.

‘Sadly, some people may still be trapped under the rubble,’ he added.

In Moscow, the defence ministry said its air defence systems had downed 23 Ukrainian drones over western regions of Russia.

Russia occupies around a fifth of Ukraine and claims to have annexed four Ukrainian regions since invading in 2022. It captured Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014.

Kyiv has accused Moscow of deliberately sabotaging a peace deal in order to prolong its full-scale offensive and to seize more territory.​

 

[Saif]

Zelensky urges NATO before Hague summit to support Ukraine defence industry

President Volodymyr Zelensky urged NATO countries on Tuesday to support Ukraine’s defence industry, speaking before a summit that is likely to heed US calls to sign off a big new spending goal for the alliance. US President Donald Trump, en route to the summit in the Netherlands, singled out

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Zelensky urges NATO before Hague summit to support Ukraine defence industry

REUTERS
Published :
Jun 24, 2025 21:27
Updated :
Jun 24, 2025 21:34

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky reacts next to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (not pictured), European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (not pictured) and European Council President Antonio Costa (not pictured) on the first day of a NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands June 24, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Yves Herman

President Volodymyr Zelensky urged NATO countries on Tuesday to support Ukraine’s defence industry, speaking before a summit that is likely to heed US calls to sign off a big new spending goal for the alliance.

US President Donald Trump, en route to the summit in the Netherlands, singled out Spain for criticism after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared Madrid did not need to meet the spending target that the Americans have been demanding.

The two-day gathering is intended to signal to Russian President Vladimir Putin that NATO is united, despite Trump’s previous criticism of the alliance, and determined to expand and upgrade its defences to deter any attack from Moscow.

TRUMP AND ZELENSKIY SET TO MEET

Trump is expected to meet Zelensky for talks at some point during the summit in the Dutch city of The Hague.

Zelensky said it was essential that Ukraine led in drone technology, which has shaped the battlefield and developed at breathtaking pace in the 40 months the war has lasted so far.

“Please, let’s make sure that our defence potential and potential of our partners work for our peace, not for Russia’s madness,” he said.

Rutte said the US leadership was committed to NATO. He added, however, that this came with an expectation that European countries and Canada spend more on defence.

The former Dutch prime minister underlined the need for transatlantic cooperation in the defence industry to meet the challenge of rearmament.

“Today, NATO’s military edge is being aggressively challenged by a rapidly rearming Russia, backed by Chinese technology and armed with Iranian and North Korean weapons,” he said.

“Only Europe and North America together can rise up to meet the challenge of rearmament.”

RUSSIA CRITICISES NATO’S SPENDING BOOST

The Kremlin accused NATO of being on a path of rampant militarisation and portraying Russia as a “fiend of hell” in order to justify its big increase in defence spending.

The summit and its final statement will be focused on heeding Trump’s call to spend 5% of GDP on defence - a significant jump from the current 2 percent goal. It is to be achieved both by spending more on military items and by including broader security-related spending in the new target.

However, the war between Israel and Iran and the uncertain status of a ceasefire make the summit much less predictable than Rutte - hosting the gathering in his home city - and other NATO member countries would like.

Russia has cited its neighbour’s desire to join the US-led transatlantic defence pact as one of the reasons why it invaded Ukraine in 2022.

NATO was founded by 12 Western countries in 1949 to resist the threat from the communist Soviet Union.

Russia denies any plan to attack the alliance, which now boasts 32 members, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was “largely a wasted effort” to assure the grouping of this because it was determined to demonise Russia.

“It is an alliance created for confrontation ... It is not an instrument of peace and stability,” he said.​

 

[Saif]

Trump says he will probably meet Zelensky at NATO summit

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he will probably meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a NATO summit this week, opening a door for Kyiv to press its case for buying US Patriot missile systems and tougher sanctions to fight Russia. Trump made the comments to reporters on boar

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Trump says he will probably meet Zelensky at NATO summit

REUTERS
Published :
Jun 24, 2025 21:22
Updated :
Jun 24, 2025 21:22

US President Donald Trump walks to board Marine One to depart to attend the NATO Summit in The Hague, Netherlands, from the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, DC, US, Jun 24, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he will probably meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a NATO summit this week, opening a door for Kyiv to press its case for buying US Patriot missile systems and tougher sanctions to fight Russia.

Trump made the comments to reporters on board Air Force One on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, a White House official said Trump was scheduled to meet Zelensky at some point during the NATO summit, taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday in The Hague.

Trump pulled out from a hoped-for meeting with Zelensky last week, when the US president left the G7 meeting in Canada early, saying he needed to focus on the crisis in the Middle East.

In comments released by his office on Saturday, Zelensky outlined his three priorities if a meeting with Trump were to take place at the NATO summit.

Firstly, he said he wanted to discuss weapons, saying that during the G7 summit, his aides had given US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent a wish-list of arms, including Patriot missile defence systems, which he described as worth “a very large amount”.

Zelensky said Ukraine was “ready to find the money for this whole package” rather than requesting it as military aid.

Secondly, he wanted to talk about sanctions on Russia, and thirdly about other diplomatic ways of applying greater pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.​

 

[Saif]

Russian strikes kill 11 in Ukraine

Russian missiles on Tuesday crashed into schools, hospitals and kindergartens in central Ukraine, killing at least 11 and wounding dozens more in a region coming under mounting pressure...

www.newagebd.net

Russian strikes kill 11 in Ukraine
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 25 June, 2025, 00:05

Russian missiles on Tuesday crashed into schools, hospitals and kindergartens in central Ukraine, killing at least 11 and wounding dozens more in a region coming under mounting pressure.

The attacks came as president Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the Netherlands to meet with allies on the side-lines of the NATO defence alliance summit.

He is expected to meet with US president Donald Trump on Wednesday to discuss more sanctions on Russia and arms procurement, a senior Ukrainian source said.

Emergency services in the Dnipropetrovsk region, now threatened by Russian battlefield advances, published photos of rescuers helping civilians covered in blood after the attack.

‘This is not a fight where it’s hard to choose a side. Standing with Ukraine means defending life,’ Zelensky said after the attack.

Ukraine’s foreign minister said the strikes amounted to a ‘rejection of peace’ from Russia, which has rejected US and Ukrainian ceasefire proposals.

‘It is a matter of credibility for allies to step up pressure on Moscow,’ Andriy Sybiga said.

Ukrainian police said 11 residents of Dnipro were killed and two more were left dead in the nearby town of Samar. More than 100 people were wounded, according to a statement.

Police added that an administrative building, shops, educational facilities and a children’s hospital were damaged.

Russian forces, which invaded Ukraine just over three years ago, recently claimed to have reached the border of the central industrial Dnipropetrovsk region, to gain a foothold there for the first time of the war.

The attacks on Dnipro city, the region’s capital, came just hours after deadly overnight drone attacks.

Three people including a toddler were killed earlier in the northeastern Sumy region that borders Russia during the barrage, local officials said.

Oleg Grygorov, head of the Sumy region’s military administration, said a five-year-old boy was pulled from the rubble of a destroyed house.

‘The strike took the lives of people from different families. They all lived on the same street. They went to sleep in their homes but the Russian drones interrupted their sleep — forever,’ he said.

One man died next to his spouse in a Ukrainian drone strike on Russia’s western border region of Belgorod, the region’s governor said, adding that the woman survived the attack.

Another drone had targeted a residential building in Moscow overnight, wounding two people, including a pregnant woman, the local authorities said.

Russia occupies around a fifth of Ukraine and claims to have annexed four Ukrainian regions as its own since launching its invasion in 2022 — in addition to Crimea, which it captured in 2014.

Kyiv has accused Moscow of deliberately sabotaging peace talks to prolong its full-scale offensive and to seize more territory.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine's top general says Ukraine stopped Russian advances in northern Sumy region

Ukraine's forces stopped Russian advances in the border area of the northern region of Sumy this week, the country's top general said in a statement on Thursday. "The advance of Russian troops in the border areas of Sumy region has been halted, and the line of combat has stabilised," Oleksandr Syr

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Ukraine's top general says Ukraine stopped Russian advances in northern Sumy region

REUTERS
Published :
Jun 26, 2025 16:35
Updated :
Jun 26, 2025 16:35

Colonel general Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, attends an interview with Reuters, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine January 12, 2024. Photo : REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/Files

Ukraine's forces stopped Russian advances in the border area of the northern region of Sumy this week, the country's top general said in a statement on Thursday.

"The advance of Russian troops in the border areas of Sumy region has been halted, and the line of combat has stabilised," Oleksandr Syrskyi said in the statement about his visit to the front.

Russia in April said it had ejected Ukrainian forces from the western Russian region of Kursk, and President Vladimir Putin has ordered his forces to follow up by carving out a "buffer zone" in the adjoining Sumy region.

After Russian advances there in early June, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his troops were repelling the attacks and had recaptured the village of Andriivka.

Syrskyi said additional fortifications and defensive measures, including creating anti-drone corridors, should be done more promptly in the area.

"The primary tasks are to strengthen fortifications and build up the system of engineering and fortification barriers," he said.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine, Russia exchange another group of POWs

Ukraine and Russia exchanged a new group of captured soldiers on Thursday, the latest in a series of prisoner swaps agreed at peace talks in Istanbul earlier this month...

www.newagebd.net

Ukraine, Russia exchange another group of POWs
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 27 June, 2025, 00:21

Ukraine and Russia exchanged a new group of captured soldiers on Thursday, the latest in a series of prisoner swaps agreed at peace talks in Istanbul earlier this month.

Neither side said how many prisoners were released in the latest exchange.

The two countries pledged to swap at least 1,000 soldiers each during their direct meeting in Istanbul on June 2, but no follow-up talks have been scheduled.

The return of prisoners of war and the repatriation of war dead have been among the few areas of cooperation between the warring sides since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.

‘Today, warriors of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, and the State Border Guard Service are returning home,’ Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media.

He shared images of Ukrainian soldiers draped in blue-and-yellow national flags, smiling and tearfully embracing.

‘The vast majority of the defenders released today had been held captive for more than three years,’ Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said.

‘Many of them were captured during the defence of Mariupol,’ it added.

The gruelling siege of Mariupol at the start of Russia’s 2022 offensive is seen one of the most brutal battles of the conflict.

Russia said its soldiers had been transferred to Belarus and were receiving ‘psychological and medical care’.

‘Another group of Russian servicemen has been returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime,’ the defence ministry said in a statement.

It posted a video showing freed Russian soldiers draped in their national flag, chanting ‘Russia, Russia, Russia!’

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s army chief on Thursday ordered defensive lines to be built more quickly in the northeastern Sumy region, as Russian forces gained ground towards the industrial Dnipropetrovsk region.

Sumy lies over the border from Russia’s Kursk region where Ukrainian forces launched an audacious land grab last year that Moscow took months to push back, with the help of North Korean forces.

Kyiv says Russia, which invaded Ukraine more than three years ago, has now amassed 50,000 troops with the goal of advancing deeper into the Sumy region.

‘Work is on-going, but it needs to be accelerated, given the demands of modern warfare,’ Ukraine commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said, following a working trip to Sumy where he met with military officials.

Syrsky said ‘anti-drone corridors’ — often comprising physical barriers like netting — were needed to protect Ukrainian troops and logistics routes. The speed at which this work was being carried out ‘must be significantly increased’, he added.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine calls for EU sanctions on Bangladeshi entities for import of ‘stolen grain’

Ukraine plans to ask the European Union to sanction Bangladeshi entities it says are importing wheat taken from Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia, after its warnings to Dhaka failed to stop the trade, a top Ukrainian diplomat in South Asia said. Russian forces have occupied large parts of U

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Ukraine calls for EU sanctions on Bangladeshi entities for import of ‘stolen grain’

REUTERS
Published :
Jun 27, 2025 17:30
Updated :
Jun 27, 2025 17:35

A crane loads wheat grain into the cargo vessel Mezhdurechensk before its departure for the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in the port of Mariupol, Russian-controlled Ukraine, Oct 25, 2023. Photo : REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko/Files

Ukraine plans to ask the European Union to sanction Bangladeshi entities it says are importing wheat taken from Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia, after its warnings to Dhaka failed to stop the trade, a top Ukrainian diplomat in South Asia said.

Russian forces have occupied large parts of Ukraine’s southern agricultural regions since 2014 and Kyiv has accused Russia of stealing its grain even before the 2022 invasion. Russian officials say there is no theft of grain involved as the territories previously considered part of Ukraine are now part of Russia and will remain so forever.

According to documents provided to Reuters by people familiar with the matter, the Ukraine Embassy in New Delhi sent several letters to Bangladesh’s foreign affairs ministry this year, asking them to reject more than 150,000 tonnes of grain allegedly stolen and shipped from Russian port of Kavkaz.

Asked about the confidential diplomatic communication, Ukraine’s ambassador to India, Oleksandr Polishchuk, said Dhaka had not responded to the communication and Kyiv will now escalate the matter as its intelligence showed entities in Russia mix grain procured from occupied Ukrainian territories with Russian wheat before shipping.

“It’s a crime,” Polishchuk said in an interview at Ukraine’s embassy in New Delhi.

“We will share our investigation with our European Union colleagues, and we will kindly ask them to take the appropriate measures.”

Ukraine’s diplomatic tussle with Bangladeshi authorities has not been previously reported.

The Bangladesh and Russian foreign ministries did not respond to requests for comment.

A Bangladeshi food ministry official said Dhaka bars imports from Russia if the origin of the grain is from occupied Ukrainian territory, adding that the country imports no stolen wheat.

Amid the war with Russia, the agricultural sector remains one of the main sources of export earnings for Ukraine, supplying grain, vegetable oil and oilseeds to foreign markets.

In April, Ukraine detained a foreign vessel in its territorial waters, alleging it was involved in the illegal trade of stolen grain, and last year seized a foreign cargo ship and detained its captain on similar suspicions.

The EU has so far sanctioned 342 ships that are part of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, which the bloc says enable Moscow to circumvent Western restrictions to move oil, arms and grain. Russia says Western sanctions are illegal.

‘NOT DIAMONDS OR GOLD’

A Ukraine official told Reuters Ukrainian law prohibits any voluntary trade between Ukrainian producers, including grain farmers in the occupied territories, and Russian entities.

The Ukraine Embassy has sent four letters to Bangladesh’s government, reviewed by Reuters, in which it shared vessel names and their registration numbers involved in the alleged trade of moving the grain from the Crimean ports of Sevastopol and Kerch, occupied by Russia since 2014, and Berdiansk, which is under Moscow’s control since 2022, to Kavkaz in Russia.

The letters stated the departure and tentative arrival dates of the ships that left from Kavkaz for Bangladesh between November 2024 and June 2025.

The June 11 letter said Bangladesh can face “serious consequences” of sanctions for taking deliveries of “stolen grain”, and that such purchases fuel “humanitarian suffering.”

The sanctions “may extend beyond importing companies and could also target government officials and the leadership of ministries and agencies who knowingly facilitate or tolerate such violations,” the letter added.

In a statement to Reuters, Anitta Hipper, EU Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said the vessels in question were not currently subject to any restrictive measures.

The sanctions regime was designed to act against activities that undermine the food security of Ukraine including transportation of “stolen Ukrainian grain” and “any proven involvement of vessels in shipping stolen Ukrainian grain could provide the basis for future restrictive measures,” she added.

The Russia-controlled territories, excluding Crimea, accounted for about 3% of the total Russian grain harvest in 2024, according to Reuters’ estimates based on official Russian data. Russian grain transporter Rusagrotrans says Bangladesh was the fourth largest buyer of Russian wheat in May.

Ambassador Polishchuk told Reuters their intelligence shows Russia mixes its grain with that from occupied Ukrainian territories to avoid detection.

A Russian trader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that when the grain is loaded for export at a Russian port, it is very difficult to track its origin.

“These are not diamonds or gold. The composition of impurities does not allow for identification,” the person said.​

 

[Sharma Ji]

 

[Saif]

Russian strike kills 2 in Ukraine’s Odesa

A Russian drone strike on Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa killed two people and wounded 14, including children, local authorities said on Saturday...

www.newagebd.net

Russian strike kills 2 in Ukraine’s Odesa
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv 29 June, 2025, 00:36

A Russian drone strike on Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa killed two people and wounded 14, including children, local authorities said on Saturday.

Moscow has stepped up drone and missile attacks on Ukraine and peace talks initiated by the United States to end the three-year conflict have stalled.

‘Rescuers pulled the bodies of two people from the rubble who died as a result of a hostile drone strike on a residential building,’ Odesa governor Oleg Kiper said on Telegram.

The night-time strike wounded 14 people, Kiper said, adding that ‘three of them children.’

Separately, authorities in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region said one person was killed and three others were wounded in Russian strikes over the past day. ‘Russian troops targeted critical and social infrastructure and residential areas in the region,’ the Kherson’s governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Telegram early on Saturday.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Russia’s offensive, which has forced millions from their homes and devastated much of eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine has launched retaliatory strikes on Russia throughout the war.

The Russian defence ministry said on Saturday its air defence had shot down 31 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Moscow also said it had captured another village in the Donetsk region, which the Kremlin has claimed as part of Russia since late 2022.

Russia has demanded Ukraine cede more land and give up Western military support as a precondition to peace—terms Kyiv says are unacceptable.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine on track to withdraw from Ottawa anti-personnel mines treaty, Zelenskiy decree shows

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has signed a decree on the country’s withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention, which bans the production and use of anti-personnel mines, the presidential website said on Sunday. Ukraine ratified the convention in 2005. “Support the proposal

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Ukraine on track to withdraw from Ottawa anti-personnel mines treaty, Zelenskiy decree shows

REUTERS
Published :
Jun 29, 2025 18:56
Updated :
Jun 29, 2025 18:56

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy looks on at a press conference during a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda on Ukraine’s Constitution Day, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, June, 28, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Thomas Peter/Files

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has signed a decree on the country’s withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention, which bans the production and use of anti-personnel mines, the presidential website said on Sunday.
FE

Ukraine ratified the convention in 2005.

“Support the proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine to withdraw Ukraine from the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction of September 18, 1997,” the decree, published on Zelenskiy’s website, stated.

A senior Ukrainian lawmaker, Roman Kostenko, said that parliamentary approval is still needed to withdraw from the treaty.

“This is a step that the reality of war has long demanded. Russia is not a party to this Convention and is massively using mines against our military and civilians,” Kostenko, secretary of the Ukrainian parliament’s committee on national security, defence and intelligence, said on his Facebook page.

“We cannot remain tied down in an environment where the enemy has no restrictions,” he added, saying that the legislative decision must definitively restore Ukraine’s right to effectively defend its territory.

Russia has intensified its offensive operations in Ukraine in recent months, using significant superiority in manpower.

Kostenko did not say when the issue would be debated in parliament.​

 

[Saif]

Wave of Russian strikes hits Ukraine; 12 hurt

Fresh Russian strikes targeting Ukrainian regions in the night of Saturday to yesterday wounded at least 12 people, according to the war-torn country’s authorities, calling on Western allies for increased military support.

www.thedailystar.net

Wave of Russian strikes hits Ukraine; 12 hurt
Ukraine F-16 pilot killed while repelling air attack

Fresh Russian strikes targeting Ukrainian regions in the night of Saturday to yesterday wounded at least 12 people, according to the war-torn country's authorities, calling on Western allies for increased military support.

Talks on ending the fighting between the two sides are at an impasse, with Kyiv accusing Moscow, which occupies nearly one-fifth of Ukraine's territory, of wanting the war to drag on.

In the night the Russian army launched 477 drones and 60 missiles of various types, according to the Ukrainian air force, which said it had intercepted 475 and 39 of those respectively.

The strikes led to "six impacts", the air force said, without giving further details. Besides the civilian casualties, a fighter pilot was killed in the night after his F-16 jet was damaged in mid-air "without him having the time to eject", according to an air force statement.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky signed decree on plan to withdraw Ukraine from anti-landmine treaty.

Pointing to the Russian bombardment, he argued it showed that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin "has long decided to pursue this war, despite the international community's calls for peace".​

 

[Saif]

Three killed as Ukraine hits Russian city

Ukrainian drones attacked the Russian city of Izhevsk on Tuesday, killing three people and wounding dozens in one of the deepest strikes inside Russia of the three-year conflict, authorities said...

www.newagebd.net

Three killed as Ukraine hits Russian city
Agence France-Presse . Moscow 02 July, 2025, 00:53

Ukrainian drones attacked the Russian city of Izhevsk on Tuesday, killing three people and wounding dozens in one of the deepest strikes inside Russia of the three-year conflict, authorities said.

Izhevsk, more than 1,000 kilometres from the front line, has arms production facilities including factories that make attack drones and the world-famous Kalashnikov rifle.

A Ukraine security services source said Kyiv had targeted an Izhevsk-based drone manufacturer and that the attack had disrupted Moscow’s ‘offensive potential’.

Unverified videos posted on social media showed at least one drone buzzing over the city, while another showed a ball of flames erupt from the roof of a building.

The region’s head said the drones hit an industrial ‘enterprise’, without giving detail.

‘Unfortunately, we have three fatalities. We extend our deepest condolences to their families,’ Alexander Brechalov, head of the Udmurt Republic, where Izhevsk is located, wrote on Telegram.

‘I visited the victims in the hospital. At the moment, 35 people have been hospitalized, 10 of whom are in serious condition.’

Russian forces in turn struck the town of Guliaipole in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region, causing ‘casualties and fatalities’, Ukraine’s southern defence forces said, without specifying numbers.

Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have stalled in recent weeks.

The two sides held direct talks almost a month ago but Moscow has since stepped up deadly strikes on Ukraine.

Kyiv’s military chief vowed in June to increase the ‘scale and depth’ of strikes on Russia, warning Ukraine would not sit back while Moscow prolonged its offensive.

Moscow’s army has ravaged parts of east and south Ukraine while seizing large swathes of territory.

An AFP analysis published Tuesday found that Russia dramatically ramped up aerial attacks in June, firing thousands of drones to pressure the war-torn country’s stretched air defence systems and exhausted civilian population.

Moreover, in June, Moscow made its biggest territorial gain since November while accelerating advances for a third consecutive month, according to another AFP analysis based on data from US-based Institute for the Study of War.

In another sign of an intensifying offensive, a top Kremlin-installed official claimed on Monday that Russia was now in full control of Ukraine’s eastern Lugansk region.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly accused Russia of dragging out the peace process — something that Moscow denies.

‘We are certainly grateful for the efforts being made by Washington and members of Trump’s administration to facilitate negotiations on the Ukrainian settlement,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters including AFP on Tuesday.

US president Donald Trump has pressed both sides to reach a ceasefire but has failed to extract major concessions from the Kremlin.​

 

[Saif]

Military aid increasingly focuses on boosting Ukraine's defence industry

Fenced off behind barbed wire, about 350 soldiers from 31 countries including Ukrainians work in a hangar and air-conditioned green tents at a US military base in Germany. Their job at the Clay Barracks in Wiesbaden is to match Kyiv's needs in terms of weapons, equipment and training with offers r

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Military aid increasingly focuses on boosting Ukraine's defence industry

REUTERS
Published :
Jul 02, 2025 23:13
Updated :
Jul 02, 2025 23:13

Fenced off behind barbed wire, about 350 soldiers from 31 countries including Ukrainians work in a hangar and air-conditioned green tents at a US military base in Germany.

Their job at the Clay Barracks in Wiesbaden is to match Kyiv's needs in terms of weapons, equipment and training with offers received from donor countries in NATO and outside the Western alliance as Russia's war in Ukraine drags on.

Six months after NATO set up a command centre at the base to coordinate military aid for Ukraine, military assistance for Kyiv is evolving, especially when it comes to drone production.

After Russia's invasion in 2022, NATO states provided support for Kyiv's military effort largely by depleting their own inventories and Ukraine was heavily dependent on Western defence firms.

Military aid today is increasingly shifting towards bolstering Kyiv's defence industry, Major General Maik Keller, deputy commander of NATO's Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU), told Reuters at the mission's headquarters in Wiesbaden.

"Now, we need to change our focus," Keller said in an interview at Clay Barracks.

He said Ukraine had shown creativity, and praised the speed of its innovation, production and certification processes. The manufacture of drones was an area where NATO states could learn and even eventually buy weapons from Kyiv, he said.

"Defence procurement is not a one-way street. Looking at drones, there is certainly a lot that we might want to buy from Ukraine, though, for now, I believe they need their entire output themselves," Keller said.

NATO's Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Admiral Keith Blount, also says Western allies may learn a lot from Ukraine, in particular on autonomous weapons such as drones.

"We're learning about power of autonomy in a way that we always imagined was the future, but we are seeing it accelerated perhaps even faster than any of us could have imagined", Blount told Reuters while visiting NSATU's headquarters.

He was referring to the use of drones on the sea, beneath the sea and on the ground as well as in the air.

"That has been logarithmic, really, in the pace of adoption and actually the ability for Ukraine not just to learn how to use them, but learn how to make them, which has been fascinating," he said.

PRESSING NEEDS

Military assistance to Ukraine is evolving as European allies and Canada prepare to increase defence spending amid concerns over Russia's military ambitions and following demands by US President Donald Trump.

The companies that are producing arms for use by Ukraine will also be needed by NATO members to increase their own weapons stocks, Keller said.

Keller said Ukraine's most pressing needs were air defence systems, ammunition and anti-tank mines to hold territory without tying down too many troops in the war with Russia.

NSATU was established partly to make Western military aid less dependent on the United States, whose commitment to Ukraine under Trump has been called into question.

A decision by Washington to halt some weapons shipments to Kyiv has underlined those concerns, prompting new concerns in Ukraine on Wednesday about its ability to defend itself.

The United States, however, provides NSATU's commander and about 9 per cent of its personnel in Wiesbaden.

Most supplies are shipped to Ukraine through a NSATU hub in Poland, which NATO says sends in 18,000 tons each month, and a second hub is being established in Romania.

Keller said he expected military aid channelled by NSATU to remain at least steady for now but that this depended on what political decisions were taken.

Asked whether NSATU would be capable of sustaining Ukraine's resistance should the US drop out, he said: "Yes."

He also cautioned, however, that "Europe and Canada would be hard pressed" to replace some critical capabilities such as satellite surveillance although he made clear NSATU itself was not making use of satellite imagery.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine voices concern as US halts some missile shipments

A decision by Washington to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine prompted warnings by Kyiv on Wednesday that the move would weaken its ability to defend against intensifying airstrikes and battlefield advances. Ukraine said it had called in the acting US envoy to Kyiv to underline th

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Ukraine voices concern as US halts some missile shipments

REUTERS
Published :
Jul 02, 2025 23:15
Updated :
Jul 02, 2025 23:15

A decision by Washington to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine prompted warnings by Kyiv on Wednesday that the move would weaken its ability to defend against intensifying airstrikes and battlefield advances.

Ukraine said it had called in the acting US envoy to Kyiv to underline the importance of military aid from Washington continuing, and cautioned that any cut-off would embolden Russia in its war in Ukraine.

The Pentagon's pause - over concerns that US stockpiles are too low - began in recent days and includes 30 Patriot air defence missiles, which Ukraine relies on to destroy fast-moving ballistic missiles, three people familiar with the decision said on Wednesday.

It also includes nearly 8,500 155mm artillery shells, more than 250 precision GMLRS missiles and 142 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles, they said.

"The Ukrainian side emphasised that any delay or procrastination in supporting Ukraine's defense capabilities will only encourage the aggressor to continue the war and terror, rather than seek peace," Ukraine's foreign ministry said.

The defence ministry said it had not been officially notified of any halt in US shipments and was seeking clarity from its American counterparts.

A Ukrainian source familiar with the situation said the decision was a "total shock."

Deputy White House press secretary Anna Kelly said the decision was made "to put America's interests first" following a Department of Defense review of military support around the world.

"The strength of the United States Armed Forces remains unquestioned — just ask Iran," she said, referring to US bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities last month.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the US needed to take care of its stockpiles but told Fox News that "in the short term, Ukraine cannot do without all the support it can get" when it comes to ammunition and air defense systems.

RUSSIAN AIRSTRIKES

Dozens of people have been killed in recent weeks in airstrikes on Ukrainian cities and Russian forces, which control about a fifth of Ukraine, have been making gains in the east.

Since US President Donald Trump took office in January, he has softened Washington's position towards Russia, seeking a diplomatic solution to the war and raising doubts about future US military support for Kyiv.

Trump said last week he was considering selling more Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine after meeting President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Fedir Venislavskyi, a member of the Ukrainian parliament's national security and defence committee, said the decision to halt shipments was "very unpleasant for us".

In an email, the Pentagon said it was providing Trump with options to continue military aid to Ukraine in line with the goal of ending the war.

Elbridge Colby, undersecretary of defence for policy, said it was "rigorously examining and adapting its approach...while also preserving US forces' readiness."

All weapons aid was briefly paused in February, with a second, longer pause in March. Washington resumed sending the last of the aid approved under the previous administration but no new policy has been announced.

The Kremlin welcomed the news of a halt, saying the conflict would end sooner if fewer arms reached Ukraine.

Kyiv residents expressed alarm at the Pentagon's decision.

"If we end up in a situation where there's no air defence left, I will move (out of Kyiv), because my safety is my first concern," said Oksana Kurochkina, a 35-year-old lawyer.

On the battlefield, a halt in precision munitions would limit the capacity of Ukrainian troops to strike Russian positions farther behind the front line, said Jack Watling, a military analyst at the Royal United Services Institute.

"In short, this decision will cost Ukrainian lives and territory," he said.​