Ukraine war briefing: Multiple injuries as Russia attacks Kyiv with drones and missiles
Russia and Ukraine on Friday began a major, complicated exchange of military prisoners of war and civilians, write Peter Beaumont and Pjotr Sauer. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine's president, said the first phase brought home 390 Ukrainians, with further releases expected over the weekend. Russia's defence ministry said it received the same number from Ukraine.
Ukraine should focus on fighting a 'hi-tech war of survival' that minimises losses of its personnel and not expect to recapture Russian-occupied territory, according to Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the former head of Ukraine's armed forces. Zaluzhnyi, who is the Ukrainian ambassador to the UK, said Ukraine should be 'using a minimum of economic means to achieve maximum benefit … Ukraine is not capable of another war in terms of demography and economy, and we shouldn't even entertain the thought.' Peter Beaumont reports that Ukraine's military has announce the expansion of a 'drone wall' or 'drone line' to counter Russian forces.
A €150bn (£126bn/$170bn) loans programme to rearm Europe was finalised this week. Member states can request EU-backed loans under the €150bn security action for Europe (Safe) scheme, which was approved on Wednesday. It is part of an €800bn rearmament plan drawn up after Donald Trump interrupted US military aid to Ukraine. Once the loans agreement is rubber-stamped next week, EU member states have six months to draw up plans for defence projects. 'Member states will take those loans …. and will use them for joint procurement together with Ukraine and for Ukrainian needs,' Andrius Kubilius, the EU's defence commissioner, told the Guardian's Jennifer Rankin.
Russia's foreign minister said it would send Ukraine its terms for a peace settlement once their prisoner swap was complete. Sergei Lavrov didn't say what those terms would be and the Kremlin has shown no sign of walking back its maximalist demands.
Ukraine's military general staff said it hit a Russian battery-manufacturing facility in the Lipetsk region which it said supplied Russia's missile and bomb manufacturers. It struck the Energiya plant in the city of Yelets, it said on Telegram on Friday. 'The shutdown of Energiya may leave some of the Russian occupiers' military equipment and weapons without critical batteries.'
A Russian military court in the western city of Ryazan has jailed a Russian-Italian man for 29 years after finding him guilty of terrorism-related charges and blowing up a freight train in 2023 at Ukraine's behest, Russian state media reported. The RIA news agency cited Ruslan Sidiki's lawyer as saying his client had partially admitted his guilt. Russian-language news outlets have in the past reported that Sidiki admitted his actions but denied intent to harm anyone or acting on anyone else's orders. He viewed his actions as sabotage rather than terrorism and himself as a prisoner of war, those reports said.
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Reuters
9 minutes ago
- Reuters
Trump told Zelenskiy after summit that Putin wants more of Ukraine, source says
WASHINGTON/MOSCOW/KYIV, Aug 16 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday Ukraine should make a deal to end the war with Russia because "Russia is a very big power, and they're not", after hosting a summit where Vladimir Putin was reported to have demanded more Ukrainian land. In a subsequent briefing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a source familiar with the discussion cited Trump as saying the Russian leader had offered to freeze most front lines if Kyiv's forces ceded all of Donetsk, the industrial region that is one of Moscow's main targets. Zelenskiy rejected the demand, the source said. Russia already controls a fifth of Ukraine, including about three-quarters of Donetsk province, which it first entered in 2014. Trump also said he had agreed with Putin that a peace deal should be sought without the prior ceasefire that Ukraine and its European allies, until now with U.S. support, have demanded. Zelenskiy said he would meet Trump in Washington on Monday, while Kyiv's European allies welcomed Trump's efforts but vowed to back Ukraine and tighten sanctions on Russia. The source said European leaders had also been invited to attend those talks. Trump's meeting with Putin in Alaska on Friday, the first U.S.-Russia summit since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, lasted just three hours. "It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up," Trump posted on Truth Social. His various comments on the meeting mostly aligned with the public positions of Moscow, which says it wants a full settlement - not a pause - but that this will be complex because positions are "diametrically opposed". Russia has been gradually advancing for months. The war - the deadliest in Europe for 80 years - has killed or wounded well over a million people from both sides, including thousands of mostly Ukrainian civilians, according to analysts. Before the summit, Trump had said he would not be happy unless a ceasefire was agreed on. But afterwards he said that, after Monday's talks with Zelenskiy, "if all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin". Those talks will evoke memories of a meeting in the White House Oval Office in February, where Trump and Vice President JD Vance gave Zelenskiy a brutal public dressing-down. Zelenskiy said he was willing to meet Putin. But Putin signalled no movement in Russia's long-held demands, which also include a veto on membership of the NATO alliance, and made no mention in public of meeting Zelenskiy. His aide Yuri Ushakov said a three-way summit had not been discussed. In an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, Trump signalled that he and Putin had discussed land transfers and security guarantees for Ukraine, and had "largely agreed". "I think we're pretty close to a deal," he said, adding: "Ukraine has to agree to it. Maybe they'll say 'no'." Asked what he would advise Zelenskiy to do, Trump said: "Gotta make a deal." "Look, Russia is a very big power, and they're not," he added. Zelenskiy has consistently said he cannot concede territory without changes to Ukraine's constitution, and Kyiv sees Donetsk's "fortress cities" such as Sloviansk and Kramatorsk as a bulwark against Russian advances into even more regions. Zelenskiy has also insisted on security guarantees, to deter Russia from invading again in the future. He said he and Trump had discussed "positive signals from the American side" on taking part, and that Ukraine needed a lasting peace, not "just another pause" between Russian invasions. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the most interesting developments concerned security guarantees - inspired by NATO's Article 5. "The starting point of the proposal is the definition of a collective security clause that would allow Ukraine to benefit from the support of all its partners, including the USA, ready to take action in case it is attacked again," she said. Putin, who has hitherto opposed involving foreign ground forces, said he agreed with Trump that Ukraine's security must be "ensured". "I would like to hope that the understanding we have reached will allow us to get closer to that goal and open the way to peace in Ukraine," Putin told a briefing where neither leader took questions. "We expect that Kyiv and the European capitals ... will not attempt to disrupt the emerging progress..." For Putin, the very fact of sitting down with Trump represented a victory. He had been ostracised by Western leaders since the start of the war, and just a week earlier had faced a threat of new sanctions from Trump. Trump also spoke to European leaders after returning to Washington. Several stressed the need to keep pressure on Russia. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said an end to the war was closer than ever, thanks to Trump, but added: "... until (Putin) stops his barbaric assault, we will keep tightening the screws on his war machine with even more sanctions." A statement from European leaders said "Ukraine must have ironclad security guarantees" and that no limits should be placed on its armed forces or right to seek NATO membership - key Russian demands. Some European politicians and commentators were scathing. "Putin got his red carpet treatment with Trump, while Trump got nothing. As feared: no ceasefire, no peace," Wolfgang Ischinger, former German ambassador to Washington, posted on X. "No real progress – a clear 1-0 for Putin – no new sanctions. For the Ukrainians: nothing. For Europe: deeply disappointing." Both Russia and Ukraine carried out overnight air attacks, a daily occurrence, while fighting raged on the front. Trump told Fox he would postpone imposing tariffs on China for buying Russian oil, but that he might have to "think about it" in two or three weeks. He ended his remarks after the summit by telling Putin: "We'll speak to you very soon and probably see you again very soon." "Next time in Moscow," a smiling Putin responded in English. Trump said he might "get a little heat on that one" but that he could "possibly see it happening".
The Guardian
9 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Donald Trump reportedly delivered letter from first lady to Vladimir Putin
Donald Trump hand-delivered a personal letter from first lady Melania Trump to Russian leader Vladimir Putin raising the plight of Ukrainian and Russian children caught in the middle of the ongoing war between the two European countries, it was reported on Saturday. The contents of the letter were unknown – but two Trump administration officials told Reuters that it mentioned the abductions of children resulting from the war that broke out after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Putin was indicted by the international criminal court in 2023, and still faces arrest in 125 countries, for his alleged role in the war crime of abducting those children and transferring them from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation. Slovenian-born Melania Trump did not attend the peace summit between Trump and Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday. But she has previously said that her ambition as US first lady was to be akin to Eleanor Roosevelt, who was known for her work advocating for children's rights and welfare during Franklin D Roosevelt's presidency. Ukraine has called the abductions of tens of thousands of its children taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territory without the consent of family or guardians a war crime that meets the United Nations treaty definition of genocide. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, conveyed his gratitude to the US first lady on his call with Trump on Saturday, Ukraine's foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said on Saturday. 'During the conversation, President Zelenskyy also conveyed his gratitude to first lady Melania Trump for her sincere attention and efforts to bring forcibly deported Ukrainian kids back,' Sybiha said on X. 'This is a true act of humanism.' Ahead of Friday's summit, the White House stated that Russia's abduction of more than 20,000 Ukrainian children 'remains a concern' for Trump seven months into his second presidency. Moscow has previously said it has been protecting vulnerable children from a war zone. The issue returned to the headlines earlier in August, when the non-governmental organization Save Ukraine accused Russia of 'state-sponsored child trafficking' after a group of administrators in Russia-controlled areas of Ukraine published an online catalogue of what they called Ukrainian orphans. Organization head Mykola Kuleba said the database from the Russia-installed administration's education ministry in the Luhansk region contains data on 294 Ukrainian children under the age of 17 who have been separated from their parents. Kuleba noted the website shows the names, photos, descriptions of personalities and hobbies of the children. 'Russia isn't even trying to hide it any more,' Kuleba said. 'It's openly trafficking Ukrainian children. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion 'The way they describe our children is no different from a slave catalogue. This is real child trafficking in the 21st century, which the world must stop.' After news of the first lady's letter was posted, the Bring Kids Back UA initiative expressed gratitude to Melania Trump for her concern. 'Deep gratitude to [the first lady] for caring so profoundly about the fate of Ukraine's children. Each word of support brings them closer to their families, communities and home,' it said. US lawmakers have demanded the return of Ukraine's children from Russia before any peace deal is agreed to and in July introduced a congressional resolution calling for their return. Led by Texas Republican congressman Michael McCaul and New York Democrat Gregory Meeks, the resolution condemns Russia's abduction, forcible transfer and facilitation of the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children. A US Senate version was introduced by Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley and Amy Klobuchar, the Minnesota Democrat. Meeks said 'the Russian military has cruelly abducted and illegally deported tens of thousands of Ukrainian children from their homeland'. 'These atrocities are not isolated incidents,' Meeks said. 'They are the direct result of Putin's war of choice.'
Reuters
39 minutes ago
- Reuters
Oil markets seen bearish after Trump-Putin Alaska meeting
LONDON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Oil markets are set for a muted price reaction when they open on Sunday after U.S. President Donald Trump's and Russian leader Vladimir Putin's meeting in Alaska, at which Trump said a fully-fledged peace deal was the aim for Ukraine rather than a ceasefire. Trump said he had agreed with Putin that negotiators should go straight to a peace settlement - not via a ceasefire, as Ukraine and European allies, until now with U.S. support, have been demanding. Trump said he would hold off imposing tariffs on countries such as China for buying Russian oil following his talks with Putin. He has previously threatened sanctions on Moscow and secondary sanctions on countries such as China and India that buy Russian oil if no moves are made to end the Ukraine war. "This will mean Russian oil will continue to flow undisturbed and this should be bearish for oil prices," said ICIS analyst Ajay Parmar. "It is worth noting that we think the impact of this will be minimal though and prices will likely see only a small dip in the very near term as a result of this news." The oil market will wait for developments from a meeting in Washington on Monday between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. European leaders have also been invited to the meeting, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. "Market participants will track comments from European leaders but for now Russian supply disruption risks will remain contained," said Giovanni Staunovo, analyst at UBS. Brent settled at $65.85 a barrel on Friday, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate at $62.80 - both down nearly $1 before the talks in Alaska. Traders are waiting for a deal, so until that emerges, crude prices are likely to be stuck in a narrow range, said Phil Flynn, a senior analyst with Price Futures Group. "What we do know is that the threat of immediate sanctions on Russia, or secondary sanctions on other countries is put on hold for now, which would be bearish," he said. After the imposition of Western sanctions, including a seaborne oil embargo and price caps on Russian oil, Russia has redirected flows to China and India.
