Ukrainian Politicians react to Trump Zelenksy meeeting
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RTÉ News
an hour ago
- RTÉ News
Russia says must be part of Ukraine security guarantees talks
Russia said it had to be part of any discussion on security guarantees for Ukraine and downplayed the likelihood of an imminent summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, tempering hopes for a quick peace deal. NATO military chiefs were meanwhile scheduled to hold a virtual summit on security guarantees for Ukraine, the latest in a flurry of global diplomacy aimed at brokering an end to the nearly three-and-a-half year conflict. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that "seriously discussing security guarantees without the Russian Federation is a utopia, a road to nowhere". Russia signed the Budapest Memorandum in 1994, which was aimed at ensuring security for Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan in exchange for them giving up numerous nuclear weapons left from the Soviet era. But Russia violated that first by taking Crimea in 2014, and then by starting a full-scale offensive in 2022, which has killed tens of thousands of people and forced millions to flee their homes. Yesterday, top US officer Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held talks with European military chiefs on the "best options for a potential Ukraine peace deal," a US defence official said, In eastern Ukraine, far from the diplomatic deliberations, Russian forces claimed fresh advances on the ground and Ukrainian officials reported more deaths from Russian attacks. Diplomatic flurry US President Donald Trump brought Mr Zelensky and European leaders to the White House Monday, three days after his landmark encounter with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. Russia's long-serving foreign minister downplayed the meeting between Mr Trump and European leaders at the White House, describing it as a "clumsy" attempt to change the US president's position on Ukraine. Mr Trump, long a fierce critic of the billions of dollars in US support to Ukraine, earlier said European nations were "willing to put people on the ground" to secure any settlement. He ruled out sending US troops but suggested the country might provide air support. Russia has long said it will never tolerate the presence of any Western troops in Ukraine. While Mr Trump said Mr Putin had agreed to meet Mr Zelensky and accept some Western security guarantees for Ukraine, Russia has not confirmed this. Mr Lavrov also cast doubt on an imminent meeting between the sworn enemies, saying that any summit between Mr Putin and Mr Zelensky "must be prepared in the most meticulous way" so it does not lead to a "deterioration" of the situation surrounding the conflict. Fresh Russian strikes Russia's defence ministry said Wednesday that its troops had captured the villages of Sukhetske and Pankivka in the embattled Donetsk region. They are near a section of the front where the Russian army broke through Ukrainian defences last week, between the logistics hub of Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka. "Our units are engaged in heavy defensive battles against superior Russian forces," said Ukraine's commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky. Six civilians were killed by Russian attacks across eastern and southern Ukraine Wednesday, local authorities said. One person died in Russia's western Bryansk region as a result of a Ukrainian drone strike, the local governor said. Russia's aerial attacks on the northeastern town of Okhtyrka in the Sumy region wounded at least 14 people, including three children, according to regional governor Oleg Grygorov.
The Irish Sun
3 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Why is Putin so scared of meeting Zelensky? How showdown with hero Vlad dismissed as a ‘Nazi comic' exposes his FAILURE
VLADIMIR Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky have only met in person once before. The next time they set eyes on each other, it could expose the Russian tyrant as a fraud and a failure before the eyes of his people. 5 Zelensky and Putin attend a meeting on Ukraine with French President and German Chancelor at the Elysee Palace in 2019 Credit: AFP 5 Within three years of the meeting, their two countries would be locked in a full-scale war Credit: Reuters 5 In the days since Trump's separate meetings with the two leaders, Moscow has been quick to pour cold water on the prospect of a Putin-Zelensky summit Credit: Reuters When they first met, Zelensky was the freshly elected President of Ukraine, who soared to office with a landslide win - despite having no political experience. His past career was as an actor and comedian - rising to international fame with his role as an accidental president in the Ukrainian show Servant of the People. The contrast with the stony-faced macho image cultivated by Vladimir Putin could not have been more stark as they say down in 2019 for a summit in France. The pair did not shake hands at the tense, fruitless meeting. Within three years, their two countries would be locked in Europe's bloodiest war since 1945. Putin forced to 'accept failure' Donald Trump's renewed drive to bring the war to a close could bring a once unthinkable second meeting between Zelensky and Putin to reality. However, in the days since Trump's separate meetings with the two leaders, Moscow has been quick to pour cold water on the prospect. Zelensky, whose first language is Russian and performed in Moscow during Putin's rise to power, has said he is "ready" for a meeting with Vlad. But the very act of meeting with Zelensky could undermine Putin and the entire rationale for his war in the eyes of Russia. Scheming Putin WON'T draw a line under Ukraine - here's why he won't give up the Donbas Orysia Lutsevich, director of Chatham House's Russia and Eurasia program, told CNN that Putin "will have to accept the failure of sitting down with a President he considers a joke from a country that doesn't exist". Undermines Russia's war aims When the Russian despot ordered tanks to assault Kyiv in February 2022, his warped justification was based on claims that Ukraine was a fake country run by Nazis. Zelensky's Jewish identity makes the claim patently absurd, but for Putin to sit down with him would be a tacit admission of how ludicrous the claim was. For Vlad to meet Volod for talks, they would be sat there as two Presidents of legitimate, sovereign nations - something that the Kremlin's narrative could not possibly abide. And so long as Ukraine remains armed and sovereign, concession to Zelensky would prove Putin's war goals a failure. Russia has shown little indication of making major concessions so far, with the handover of vast swathes of Ukrainian territory to Moscow still Putin's core condition for peace. But to avoid Trump's wrath if talks fall through, Putin will want to shift the blame to Zelensky. Loggerheads over location His suggestion that the trilateral summit be held in Moscow - a predictably unacceptable proposal for Ukraine - could have been a calculated move to weasel out. And had the meeting been held in Russia's capital against the odds, Putin would have hailed it as a diplomatic coup for the Kremlin - and a chance to humiliate Ukraine's war leader. But Vlad's surrogates have taken to the airwaves to dampen expectations around a summit. Russia' Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said a meeting would have to be prepared "gradually... starting with the expert level and thereafter going through all the required steps". Lavrov added today that not involving Russia in discussions around Ukraine's security guarantees is a "road to nowhere". Disputes around the proposed location for the summit have also presented headaches for diplomats. While a Moscow meeting between the pair remains unlikely, other venues have also proved controversial. Suggestions for it to be held in Budapest were lambasted by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He said: "Not everyone may remember this, but in 1994 Ukraine already got assurances of territorial integrity from the US, Russia and the UK. "In Budapest. Maybe I'm superstitious, but this time I would try to find another place." Switzerland, Qatar and Austria have been floated as other prospective venues. But Putin will be wary of a European location - where most states would be obliged to arrest him under an ICC warrant. 5 Disputes around the proposed location for a summit have presented headaches for diplomats Credit: EPA
Irish Independent
9 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Nato defence chiefs hold virtual meeting on Ukraine security guarantees
Italian admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, chair of Nato's Military Committee, said that 32 defence chiefs from across the alliance would hold a video conference as a US-led diplomatic push seeks to end the fighting. US general Alexus Grynkewich, Nato's supreme allied commander in Europe, will take part in the talks, Mr Dragone said on social platform X. US president Donald Trump met last Friday with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska, and on Monday hosted Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and prominent European leaders at the White House. Neither meeting delivered concrete progress. Mr Trump is trying to steer Mr Putin and Mr Zelensky towards a settlement more than three years after Russia invaded its neighbour, but there are major obstacles. They include Ukraine's demands for Western-backed military assurances to ensure Russia will not mount another invasion in coming years. "We need strong security guarantees to ensure a truly secure and lasting peace," Mr Zelensky said in a Telegram post on Wednesday after Russian missile and drone strikes hit six regions of Ukraine overnight. Kyiv's European allies are looking to set up a force that could backstop any peace agreement, and a coalition of 30 countries, including European nations, Japan and Australia, have signed up to support the initiative. Military chiefs are figuring out how that security force might work. The role that the US might play in is unclear. Mr Trump has ruled out sending US troops to help defend Ukraine against Russia. Russia has repeatedly said that it would not accept Nato troops in Ukraine. Attacks on civilian areas in Sumy and Odesa overnight into Wednesday injured 15 people, including a family with three small children, Ukrainian authorities said. Mr Zelensky said the strikes "only confirm the need for pressure on Moscow, the need to introduce new sanctions and tariffs until diplomacy works to its full potential".
