Zelenskyy says Ukraine delegation to visit Turkey for talks with Russia tomorrow
Ukraine will send a delegation to Istanbul for a new round of direct peace talks with Russia on Monday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, even as Russia pounded Ukraine with a missile strike that killed 12 soldiers and the biggest drone assault of the three-year war.In a statement on Telegram, Zelenskyy said Sunday that Defence Minister Rustem Umerov will lead the Ukrainian delegation. 'We are doing everything to protect our independence, our state and our people,' Zelenskyy said.advertisementUkrainian officials had previously called on the Kremlin to provide a promised memorandum setting out its position on ending the war before the meeting takes place. Moscow had said it would share its memorandum during the talks.RUSSIAN STRIKE HITS AN ARMY UNIT
Russia launched the biggest number of drones on Ukraine since the full-scale invasion three years ago, Ukraine's air force said Sunday. The air force said 472 drones were launched over Ukraine.Russian forces also launched seven missiles alongside the barrage of drones, said Yuriy Ignat, head of communications for the Ukrainian air force. Earlier Sunday, Ukraine's army said at least 12 Ukrainian service members were killed and more than 60 were injured in a Russian missile strike on an army training unit.The strike occurred at 12:50 p.m. (0950 GMT), the statement said, emphasizing that no formations or mass gatherings of personnel were being held at the time. An investigative commission was created to uncover the circumstances around the attack that led to such a loss in personnel, the statement said.advertisementThe training unit is located to the rear of the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) active front line, where Russian reconnaissance and strike drones are able to strike.Ukraine's forces suffer from manpower shortages and take extra precautions to avoid mass gatherings as the skies across the front line are saturated with Russian drones looking for targets.'If it is established that the actions or inaction of officials led to the death or injury of servicemen, those responsible will be held strictly accountable,' the Ukrainian Ground Forces' statement said.Meanwhile, Ukrainian drone strikes were reported deep in Russian territory Sunday, including in the Siberian region of Irkutsk, more than 4,500 kilometers (2,800 miles) east of Moscow.It is the first time that a Ukrainian drone has been seen in the region, local Gov. Igor Kobzeva said, stressing that it did not present a threat to civilians.Other drone strikes were also reported in Russia's Ryazan region and the Arctic Murmansk region. No casualties were reported.NORTHERN PRESSURERussia's Ministry of Defense said Sunday that it had taken control of the village of Oleksiivka in Ukraine's northern Sumy region. Ukrainian authorities in Sumy ordered mandatory evacuations in 11 more settlements Saturday as Russian forces make steady gains in the area.Speaking Saturday, Ukraine's top army chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that Russian forces were focusing their main offensive efforts on Pokrovsk, Toretsk and Lyman in the Donetsk region, as well as the Sumy border area.Must Watch
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Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Ukraine and Russia agree to swap dead and wounded troops but report no progress toward ending war
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Representatives of Russia and Ukraine met Monday for their second round of direct peace talks in just over two weeks, but aside from agreeing to swap thousands of their dead and seriously wounded troops, they made no progress toward ending the 3-year-old war, officials talks unfolded a day after a string of stunning long-range attacks by both sides, with Ukraine launching a devastating drone assault on Russian air bases and Russia hurling its largest drone attack of the war against the negotiating table, Russia presented a memorandum setting out the Kremlin 's terms for ending hostilities, the Ukrainian delegation Minister Rustem Umerov, who led the Ukrainian delegation, told reporters that Kyiv officials would need a week to review the document and decide on a response. Ukraine proposed further talks on a date between June 20 and June 30, he the talks, Russian state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti published the text of the Russian memorandum, which suggested that Ukraine withdraw its forces from the four regions that Russia annexed in September 2022 but never fully captured as a condition for a an alternate way of reaching a truce, the memorandum presses Ukraine to halt its mobilisation efforts and freeze Western arms deliveries, conditions were suggested earlier by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The document also suggests that Ukraine stop any redeployment of forces and ban any military presence of third countries on its soil as conditions for halting Russian document further proposes that Ukraine end martial law and hold elections, after which the two countries could sign a comprehensive peace treaty that would see Ukraine declare its neutral status, abandon its bid to join NATO , set limits on the size of its armed forces and recognise Russian as the country's official language on par with and the West have previously rejected all those demands from other steps, the delegations agreed to swap 6,000 bodies of soldiers killed in action and to set up a commission to exchange seriously wounded officials said their surprise drone attack Sunday damaged or destroyed more than 40 warplanes at air bases deep inside Russia, including the remote Arctic, Siberian and Far East regions more than 7,000 kilometres (4,300 miles) from complex and unprecedented raid, which struck simultaneously in three time zones, took over a year and a half to prepare and was "a major slap in the face for Russia's military power," said Vasyl Maliuk, the head of the Ukrainian security service, who led its called it a "brilliant operation" that would go down in history. The effort destroyed or heavily damaged nearly a third of Moscow's strategic bomber fleet, according to Ukrainian on Sunday fired the biggest number of drones - 472 - at Ukraine since its full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine's air force said, in an apparent effort to overwhelm air defences. That was part of a recently escalating campaign of strikes in civilian areas of low for peace prospectsUS-led efforts to push the two sides into accepting a ceasefire have so far failed. Ukraine accepted the proposed truce, but the Kremlin effectively rejected it. Recent comments by senior officials in both countries indicate they remain far apart on the key conditions for stopping the previous talks on May 16 in the same Turkish city were the first direct peace negotiations since the early weeks of Moscow's 2022 invasion. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the fact that the two sides met again Monday was an achievement in itself amid the fierce fighting."The fact that the meeting took place despite yesterday's incident is an important success in itself," he said in a televised said during a trip to Lithuania on Monday that a new release of prisoners of war was being prepared after the Istanbul meeting. The May 16 talks also led to a swap of prisoners, with 1,000 on both sides being the talks, Zelenskyy said, the Ukrainian delegation handed over a list of nearly 400 abducted children. Russia responded by proposing to "work on up to 10 children.""That's their idea of addressing humanitarian issues," Zelenskyy said Monday during an online briefing with International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant in 2023 for Putin and the country's commissioner for children's rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of abducting children from head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Putin, said Kyiv had made a "show" out of the topic and that children would be returned if their parents or guardians could be also told journalists that the Russian side said it was ready for a two- to three-day ceasefire to collect bodies from the battlefield, not a full ceasefire."I think they're idiots, because the whole point of a ceasefire is to prevent people from being killed in the first place. So you can see their mindset - it's just a brief pause in the war for them," he relentless fighting has frustrated US President Donald Trump 's goal of bringing about a quick end to the war. A week ago, he expressed impatience with Putin as Moscow pounded Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with drones and missiles for a third straight night. Trump said on social media that Putin "has gone absolutely CRAZY!"Ukraine upbeat after strikes on air basesUkraine was triumphant after targeting the distant Russian air bases. The official Russian response was muted, with the attack getting little coverage on state-controlled television. The Russia-1 television channel on Sunday evening spent a little over a minute on it with a brief Defense Ministry statement read out before images shifted to Russian drone strikes on Ukrainian said the setbacks for the Kremlin would help force it to the negotiating table, even as it pursues a summer offensive on the battlefield."Russia must feel what its losses mean. That is what will push it toward diplomacy," he said Monday in Vilnius, Lithuania, meeting with leaders from the Nordic nations and countries on NATO's eastern has occasionally struck air bases hosting Russia's nuclear-capable strategic bombers since early in the war, prompting Moscow to redeploy most of them to the regions farther from the front Sunday's drones were launched from trucks close to the bases in five Russian regions, military defences had virtually no time to prepare for Russian military bloggers chided the military for its failure to build protective shields for the bombers despite previous attacks, but the large size of the planes makes that attacks were "a big blow to Russian strategic air power" and exposed significant vulnerabilities in Moscow's military capabilities, said Phillips O'Brien, a professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews in Lucas, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for European Policy Analysis, called it "the most audacious attack of the war" and "a military and strategic game-changer.""Battered, beleaguered, tired and outnumbered, Ukrainians have, at minimal cost, in complete secrecy, and over vast distances, destroyed or damaged dozens, perhaps more, of Russia's strategic bombers," he fighting and shelling grinds onFierce fighting has continued along the roughly 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) front line, and both sides have hit each other's territory with deep forces shelled Ukraine's southern Kherson region, killing three people and wounding 19 others, including two children, regional officials said a missile strike and shelling around the southern city of Zaporizhzhia killed five people and wounded nine others, officials said.
First Post
an hour ago
- First Post
How Ukraine's Drone Assault on Russia Was a Message Donald Trump Firstpost America
How Ukraine's Drone Assault on Russia Was a Message Donald Trump | Firstpost America | N18G How Ukraine's Drone Assault on Russia Was a Message Donald Trump | Firstpost America | N18G Ukraine launched its most far-reaching drone attack yet, striking deep into Russian territory and claiming to destroy 40 military aircraft worth $7 billion. President Zelensky called it a 'brilliant' operation, planned over 18 months. Russia admitted some aircraft were damaged and said it intercepted 162 drones. Meanwhile, 12 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in a Russian strike, prompting the resignation of Ukraine's land forces commander. Despite escalating violence, Russian and Ukrainian officials are meeting in Istanbul for a second round of peace talks. Moscow plans to present a 'peace memorandum,' demanding Kyiv drop NATO ambitions. But with both sides continuing attacks, the negotiations appear symbolic, with little sign of real compromise to end Europe's most devastating war since WWII. See More
