Hamas set for Egypt talks as mediators push to end Gaza war
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Al Arabiya
2 minutes ago
- Al Arabiya
Ukraine says eastern front stabilized after recent Russian thrust
Ukrainian troops have stabilized the battlefield in an area of eastern Ukraine where Russian forces had made a sudden push this week to pierce Ukrainian defenses, the regional governor said on Thursday. Ukraine said small groups of Russian infantry had thrust some 10 kilometers (six miles) toward its main defensive line near the town of Dobropillia, raising fears of a wider breakthrough that would further threaten key cities. The advance, just days before Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin were due to meet in Alaska, appeared aimed at pressuring Kyiv to give up land in pursuit of peace three-and-a-half years into Russia's invasion of its neighbor. 'The situation in the Dobropillia sector has stabilized,' Vadym Filashkin, governor of the embattled Donetsk region, wrote the Telegram messaging app. 'Thanks to the heroic efforts of our Defense Forces, the front line is reliably holding.' Kyiv's military, which has played down the scale of the Russian thrust, had dispatched extra forces to the area including units of the battle-hardened Azov Corps. General Staff spokesperson Andriy Kovalyov, in comments to the Interfax Ukraine news agency, echoed Filashkin's statement and credited Azov forces with inflicting heavy enemy casualties. The Russian thrust had also fueled criticism of Ukraine's military high command. Defense analyst Konrad Muzyka wrote on X that Russian forces had made 'minimal gains' in the area on Wednesday but had inched forward further south, near the strategic city of Pokrovsk.
Al Arabiya
2 minutes ago
- Al Arabiya
Russia, Ukraine exchange 84 prisoners each
Russia and Ukraine exchanged 84 prisoners each on Thursday, both sides said, the latest in a series of swaps that has seen hundreds of POWs released so far this year. This latest one came on the eve of a high-level summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US counterpart Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday. The Russian defense ministry said on Telegram that the United Arab Emirates had mediated the exchange and that the released Russian personnel were receiving 'psychological and medical assistance.' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media that among the exchanged prisoners were 'both military personnel and civilians,' some of whom had been 'held by the Russians since 2014, 2016, and 2017.' He said 'defenders of Mariupol' were also part of the swap, referring to a Ukrainian port city that fell to Russian forces in 2022 following a nearly three-month siege. Zelenskyy shared pictures of Ukrainian soldiers, smiling and draped in blue-and-yellow national flags. He said 'there will be more exchanges' of prisoners. Large-scale prisoner exchanges were the only tangible result of three rounds of peace talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul between May and July. In their latest round of talks last month, Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange 1,200 prisoners of war each. A Russian negotiator said that Moscow had also offered to hand Kyiv the bodies of 3,000 killed soldiers.
Al Arabiya
32 minutes ago
- Al Arabiya
France's Macron says Trump open to security guarantees for Ukraine
French President Emmanuel Macron said US President Donald Trump expressed a willingness to European leaders on Wednesday that the United States and other allies should be part of giving Ukraine security guarantees to end Russia's war in Ukraine. Macron said Trump, in a call with European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, had clearly ruled out Kyiv joining the NATO alliance, a key stumbling block in any peace deal with Russia. Macron, who is on holiday in the south of France, made the remarks on Wednesday to reporters at his summer residence. The transcript was released later that day by the presidential palace.
