Ukraine war briefing: Russia insists on sticking to its war demands amid Trump sanctions threat

The Guardian

21-07-2025

Russia has said it is open to peace with Ukraine but insists achieving its goals remains a priority, days after Donald Trump gave Moscow a 50-day deadline to agree to a ceasefire or face tougher sanctions. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reiterated Russia's demands on Sunday, including Ukraine withdrawing from Russia-annexed regions and abandoning its Nato aspirations – terms that Kyiv and its allies have rejected. 'The main thing for us is to achieve our goals,' Peskov told state TV. 'Our goals are clear.'
Ukrainian officials proposed a new round of peace talks this week, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday, while Russian state media said on Sunday that no date had yet been set for the negotiations but Istanbul would probably remain the host city. A week ago Trump, the US president, threatened Russia with 'severe tariffs' unless a peace deal was reached within 50 days and announced a rejuvenated pipeline for US weapons to reach Ukraine amid his frustration at unsuccessful talks to end the war.
Russia's biggest oil producer Rosneft has condemned European Union sanctions on India's Nayara Energy refinery as unjustified and illegal, saying the restrictions directly threatened India's energy security. The EU's 18th package of sanctions against Russia over Ukraine was approved on Friday and is aimed at further hitting Russia's oil and energy industry. Rosneft said on Sunday it held less than 50% in Nayara – one of the targeted companies – and called the EU's justification for the sanctions 'far-fetched and false in context'. The EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has said the sanctions package is one of the strongest yet against Russia and 'we will keep raising the costs, so stopping the aggression becomes the only path forward for Moscow'.
Two women were injured in southern Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region when a drone struck their house on Sunday, according to the regional military administration. Two more civilians were injured in the north-eastern Kharkiv province after a drone slammed into a residential building, local Ukrainian officials said.
Drones struck a leafy square in the centre of Sumy later on Sunday, wounding a woman and her seven-year-old son, officials said. The strike also damaged a power line, leaving about 100 households without electricity, according to Serhii Krivosheienko of the municipal military administration.
Ukraine's air force said it shot down 18 of 57 Shahed-type and decoy drones launched by Russia overnight into Sunday, with seven more disappearing from radar. Russia's defence ministry said its forces shot down 93 Ukrainian drones targeting Russian territory overnight, including at least 15 that appeared to head for Moscow.
Ten more Ukrainian drones were downed on the approach to the Russian capital on Sunday, according to mayor Sergei Sobyanin. He said one drone struck a residential building in Zelenograd, on Moscow's outskirts, damaging an apartment but causing no casualties.