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CNN
a day ago
- Business
- CNN
Second round of Russia-Ukraine peace talks end swiftly with no major breakthrough
CNN — Russian and Ukrainian delegates met in Istanbul on Monday for their second set of direct peace talks, a day after Kyiv launched a shock drone attack on Russia's nuclear-capable bombers, in an operation that President Volodymyr Zelensky said was a year and a half in the making. The talks began late and lasted barely over an hour. Although both sides agreed to work on a new prisoner exchange, statements from the two sets of delegations suggested that little had been achieved to bridge the gulf between their positions, particularly on the matter of a ceasefire. After the initial round of discussions in the Turkish city last month – the first between the warring countries since soon after Russia's full-scale invasion in early 2022 – both sides agreed to share their conditions for a full ceasefire and a potentially lasting peace. Russian state media agencies reported that Russia laid out two ceasefire 'options' in its peace memorandum. In the first option, Moscow will ask for the complete withdrawal of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) from Ukraine's mainland Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions, RIA Novosti reported. Russia annexed those regions during its invasion in 2022, but has been unable to fully capture them in the years since. In the second option, called a 'package deal,' the UAF would have to demobilize, and all foreign military aid to Kyiv, including intelligence, would be halted, a summary of the memorandum published by RIA Novosti said. Ukraine would also be prohibited from deploying and mobilizing its armed forces, and martial law in Ukraine would need to be lifted, with elections to be held no later than 100 days after it is lifted, the memorandum outlined. It is not clear whether Ukraine can choose just one of the options, or whether it must agree to both. The maximalist demands expand on the terms set by Russia during the 2022 trilateral talks held in Turkey. In the past, Ukraine has refused Russian proposals for territorial concessions in exchange for peace. Zelensky criticized Russia for not sharing its memorandum ahead of time. 'Despite this,' he said before the talks began, 'we will attempt to achieve at least some progress on the path toward peace.' Related article Ukraine's wily drone strikes expose Russia's vulnerability and could shift war's narrative It is not yet clear if Ukraine's daring Sunday air raid will streamline that path or make it more thorny. Kyiv has long sought to impress upon the Kremlin that there are costs to prolonging its campaign, but some analysts have warned that the operation – which struck Russian airfields thousands of miles from Ukraine's borders – will only replenish Moscow's resolve. The mission, codenamed 'Spiderweb,' was one of the most significant blows that Ukraine has landed against Russia in more than three years of full-scale war. Ukraine's security service, the SBU, said it had smuggled the drones into Russia, hiding them in wooden mobile homes latched onto trucks. The roofs were then remotely opened, and the drones deployed to launch their strikes on four Russian airfields across the vast country. Vasul Malyuk, the head of the SBU, said the attack caused an estimated $7 billion in damage and had struck 34% of Russia's strategic cruise missile carriers – a total of 41 aircraft. These targets were 'completely legitimate,' Malyuk said, stressing that Russia had used the planes throughout the conflict to pummel Ukraine's 'peaceful cities.' The operation has provided a much-needed boost to morale in Ukraine, which has come under fierce Russian bombardment since peace talks began in mid-May, and is bracing for an expected summer offensive. Moscow launched a record 472 drones at Ukraine overnight into Sunday, only hours before the Ukrainian attack, according to Ukrainian officials. At a summit in Lithuania on Monday, an upbeat Zelensky said the operation proved that Ukraine has 'stronger tactical solutions' than Russia. 'This is a special moment – on the one hand, Russia has launched its summer offensive, but on the other hand, they are being forced to engage in diplomacy,' Zelensky said. The talks in Istanbul were seen by many as a test of how genuine that engagement is. Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed holding 'direct talks' with Ukraine in Turkey, but didn't show up, despite Zelensky agreeing to meet. In the end, Moscow sent a low-level delegation to negotiate instead. The second round of talks also failed to yield significant results. Rustem Umerov, Ukraine's defense minister who headed its delegation, criticized Moscow for not sharing its memorandum ahead of Monday's meeting. Vladimir Medinsky, the head of Moscow's delegation, said Moscow had given Ukraine a 'very detailed and well-developed' document during the talks, which Kyiv would now study. Whereas Umerov reiterated that Ukraine's demand for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire has 'remained unchanged for three months,' Medinsky said Russia had proposed a much narrower ceasefire, lasting just two or three days in 'certain parts' of the frontline. Zelensky insisted that Russia's offer is 'not a ceasefire.' 'What they are talking about is not a ceasefire, because meanwhile the war continues on the other areas of the front line, on all other areas and civilian infrastructure and civilians are being attacked,' Zelensky said in a press briefing on Monday. Ukraine has insisted that a 30-day ceasefire is a test of whether Russia is serious about ending its war and is likely to view Moscow's offer for a shorter truce as a ploy to rotate its combat units. Seeking to speed up the peace process that Russia is keen to string out, Umerov said Ukraine had proposed a meeting between Zelensky and Putin by the end of this month. 'We firmly believe that all key issues can only be solved at the level of leaders,' Umerov said, suggesting that the leaders of other countries – such as US President Donald Trump – could also take part in the meeting. Following the Istanbul meeting on Monday, Zelensky said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested a meeting between themselves, Putin, and Trump. Zelensky said he is open to such a meeting. In the latest sign of his frustration that the war he pledged to end in a day is showing little sign of stopping, Trump said last week that Putin had gone 'absolutely crazy,' after Moscow launched the largest aerial attack of the war. Trump has repeatedly told Russia and Ukraine there will be consequences if they don't engage in his peace process, although he has so far resisted growing calls from lawmakers in his Republican Party to use sanctions to pressure Putin into winding down his war. Speaking in Lithuania, Zelensky said that if Monday's meeting 'brings nothing, that clearly means strong new sanctions are urgently, urgently needed.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Pompeo warns against US recognizing Russian control over Crimea: ‘Mistake of epic proportions'
ODESA, Ukraine — In the range of Russian rockets from Ukraine's occupied Crimean Peninsula, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stood in Odesa and called for President Trump to reject recognizing Russian sovereignty over territory it seized by force. Pompeo, who served as secretary of state during Trump's first term, said if the U.S. recognized Crimea as Russian territory, it 'would be a mistake of epic proportions,' speaking at the Black Sea Security Forum Saturday. 'I get the frustration … I'm not naive about what's physically possible in this moment, but that doesn't mean one should go and say, 'and we are giving up for all time,'' he said. 'This is one of the things I hope to communicate,' Pompeo added. The former secretary's remarks comes as the Trump administration has weighed giving de jure recognition to Russia over territory it occupies in Ukraine as part of efforts to coax Moscow towards a ceasefire and peace deal with Kyiv. There's growing acceptance in Ukraine that it needs to enter into a ceasefire with Russia without liberating its territory, but Kyiv is pushing for its allies to hold back recognizing occupied lands as sovereign Russian territory. Russia occupies about 20 percent of Ukrainian territory since launching a full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022. But it has maintained an occupation of the Crimean Peninsula since invading and illegally annexing it in 2014, along with the eastern Ukrainian provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk. In 2018, Pompeo — during Trump's first term — issued the Crimea Declaration 'reaffirming U.S. policy its refusal to recognize the Kremlin's claims of sovereignty over territory seized by force in contravention of international law.' While Trump has disavowed Pompeo as a member of his inner circle, the former secretary and CIA director told The Hill he is articulating to Republican allies on Capitol Hill why maintaining the Crimea Declaration is important and 'the right thing to do.' He mentioned Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close Trump ally and Ukraine supporter, as one of those allies and said he saw him in Ukraine. Graham was in Kyiv with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) this week. 'There are many in my party, the Republican party, that have disappointed me deeply and have said things that are inconsistent with what I think are the deep American interests that we have here,' Pompeo said during a fireside chat during the conference. 'But I think they all also know, that, in the end, there's no walking away from this for the United States,' he added. Trump has routinely favored Russian President Vladimir Putin and exercised pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in efforts to bring the two sides together. But the U.S. president has also expressed frustration with Putin, calling the Russian leader 'crazy' after the Kremlin launched its largest aerial bombardment against Ukraine between May 24 and 25. In Odesa, Russian strikes against the city on May 23 — launched from Crimea — killed two people and injured seven others. In a post on his social media site Truth Social earlier this week, Trump threatened Putin that he was 'playing with fire' with his ongoing attacks against Ukraine. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Al Bawaba
7 days ago
- General
- Al Bawaba
Zelensky accuses Russia of trying to cross into Dnipropetrovsk region
ISTANBUL Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that the Russian army seeks to cross into his country's Dnipropetrovsk region as its military offensive continues, state news agency Ukrinform reported on Wednesday. 'They will do everything to cross the administrative border of the Dnipropetrovsk region. They want it. So far they have not succeeded,' Zelenskyy told journalists in a briefing on Tuesday. Zelenskyy said Russian forces also seek to take control of the city of Pokrovsk, a key front in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, arguing that the region's capture, as well as the country's easternmost Luhansk region, remain Moscow's strategic goals since 2014. He said he believed Russia intends to create a 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) 'security buffer zone' in the northeastern Sumy region, where Governor Oleh Hryhorov said four villages were taken under Russian control. 'Now they are accumulating troops in the Sumy direction. More than 50,000,' Zelenskyy said, adding that they have taken measures to prevent an offensive in the north. He also dismissed ideas about a potential Russian offensive in the southern Kherson region. Zelenskyy said he considers Türkiye, the Vatican, and Switzerland as the three most realistic venues for future direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, arguing that such negotiations in Belarus were 'simply impossible.' Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the creation of a "security buffer zone" along the border with Ukraine. Türkiye facilitated the first direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv in three years in Istanbul on May 16, where the two sides agreed to a large-scale exchange of prisoners involving a total of 1,000 people from each side. Putin and US President Donald Trump later agreed for talks on ceasefire and preparation of a memorandum for a potential peace deal.
The Guardian
27-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Trump's flattery and bullying of Putin have been equally ineffective – and it's obvious why
Three-plus years into the war in Ukraine, much remains uncertain, including when the bloodshed will cease and on what terms. But we can be sure about one thing: although no one took seriously Donald Trump's boast that he would end the war within 24 hours – perhaps not even Trump himself – it's now evident that his efforts to stitch together a political settlement have failed. Last weekend's Russian drone and missile strikes against Ukraine, reportedly among the largest since the full-scale invasion began, show us that the conflict isn't likely to come to a sudden end. That's because Vladimir Putin remains committed to his goal of conquering Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces. So far, he controls virtually all of the first and most of the other three. A deal that gives him what he has now plus a guarantee that Ukraine will remain outside Nato won't satisfy him. He has said repeatedly that he wants all four of these provinces and a neutral Ukraine, with caps on the number of soldiers and major armaments it can deploy. Trump's mistake has been to assume that his self-proclaimed deal-making genius, supposed rapport with Putin and massive leverage over Volodymyr Zelenskyy (the US has provided Ukraine with more weaponry than the other allies combined, though less total aid when humanitarian and other support is included) would together yield a diplomatic success, perhaps one that would even land him a Nobel peace prize. But with Russia targeting Ukraine, including Kyiv, with 367 drones and missiles over the past few days, this isn't merely a display of disdain by Putin for any political settlement that falls short of his goals, and a demonstration that he is committed to continuing the fight until he achieves his objectives. It also makes Trump seem weak. Now Trump is outraged – Putin, he wrote on his social media platform, has 'gone absolutely CRAZY' and is 'needlessly killing a lot of people' – and, when asked whether he was thinking of tightening sanctions, replied: 'Absolutely.' But this isn't the first time Trump has warned Putin to cease targeting his missiles and drones on Ukraine (remember his 'Vladimir, STOP!' post late last month?) or threatened additional sanctions. This is an obvious trend in the relationship. Putin is still committed to his publicly stated goals, and rebuffs Trump's flattery and bullying in equal measure. Unsurprisingly, he showed no interest in Trump's proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, which Zelenskyy promptly accepted. Nor was Putin unnerved by Trump's threat, in late April, to impose secondary sanctions on Russia unless it stopped 'shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns'. This warning came after Trump's meeting with Zelenskyy at Pope Francis's funeral and may have given the Ukrainian president hope, but it didn't rattle his Russian counterpart. Nor did Trump's intimation in March that Russia risked further sanctions unless it demonstrated its commitment to peace. As a gesture to convey that he wasn't ignoring Trump's diplomatic démarches, Putin did propose that Russia and Ukraine meet face-to-face. Zelenskyy, ever eager to convince Trump that he is doing his bit, sent a high-level delegation to the Istanbul talks and even went to Ankara himself. Putin sent second-tier panjandrums with no authority to offer anything substantial. And Trump offered to reorganise his trip to the Gulf monarchies and fly to Turkey if Putin did as well, claiming that only a meeting between him and Putin would produce a diplomatic breakthrough. The flattery didn't entice Putin, who remained in Moscow. The two leaders did have a phone conversation, but nothing meaningful came of it. After that, Trump seemed resigned to failure, though he'd never call it that, and reverted to the narrative that 'this was not our war' and that Europe should assume responsibility for supporting Ukraine's security and brokering an end to the conflict. However, even if Trump moves beyond social media posts and words and actually does impose additional economic penalties on Russia this time round, the fighting won't stop – for at least two reasons. First, Putin owns this war and has therefore staked his political standing on achieving his goals, no matter the costs, which have been enormous. There has been much debate about the number of Russian military casualties, but the estimates run as high as 900,000, including well over 100,000 dead. And though the war has hardly brought Russia's economy to the brink of collapse, it has been a significant burden. Military spending increased by 46% between 2022 and 2024 and accounted for about 35% of total government spending in the latter year, with the proportion projected to reach 37% this year. Inflation reached 10.23% last month, forcing the central bank to keep its interest rate at 21%. Putin's job isn't at risk, but he would be politically diminished if, after demanding sacrifices on this scale from Russians, he settled for half a loaf. So don't expect that he will be forced to compromise because of blood and treasure being devoured by the war. Second, as Trump told European leaders after his phone call with Putin, the Russian leader seems convinced that his army is winning. Perhaps Putin doesn't know the full extent of Russian losses – which, in addition to the casualties, include an estimated 14,000 tanks, armoured fighting vehicles and artillery systems – because his generals fear bringing bad news to the boss. Perhaps he's well-briefed but confident nevertheless that Russia's superiority in every material measure of military might will eventually ensure victory, that the west will tire of the war and that Trump will abandon his pursuit of a deal and even end US military support to Ukraine. No matter. The upshot is that no one should be surprised if, come February, this war enters its fifth year – and with no end in sight. Rajan Menon is a professor emeritus of international relations at the City College of New York and a senior research scholar at Columbia University's Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies
The Independent
25-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Who is Andriy Portnov? Former Ukrainian politician killed on school run in Spain
A former Ukrainian politician and key aide to the ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych has been killed. Andriy Portnov, 51, was gunned down on Wednesday morning outside the gates of the American School in Madrid's affluent neighbourhood of Pozuelo. Police received the call about the shooting at 9.15 am local time. Radio station Cadena SER said the man was taking his children to school when he was shot. Mr Portnov, from the eastern region of Luhansk, is a former Ukrainian politician closely tied to Yanukovych, having served as deputy head of the presidential office from 2010 to 2014. Yanukovych was Ukraine 's last pro-Russian president, who was ousted in 2014, following pro-democracy and pro-European Union protests, after he refused to sign an EU association pact, choosing instead to do an energy deal with Russia. During Yanukovych's presidency, Portnov was widely viewed as a pro-Kremlin political figure and was involved in drafting legislation, known as the 'laws of January 16', which were aimed at persecuting participants of the 2014 revolution in Ukraine. According to Ukrainian media, he later denied a role in their development but admitted to approving them for the then-president's signature. When Yanukovych fled Ukraine for Moscow that same year, effectively ending his premiership, Portnov reportedly followed him to the Russian capital. Portnov then faced numerous investigations and sanctions against him, both from Ukraine and the European Union. Ukraine's interior ministry labelled him a wanted person in 2015 but dropped the accusations a year later. The Council of the European Union slapped personal sanctions against him, along with 18 other associates of Yanukovych, but these were also later dropped due to a lack of evidence. He moved to Vienna, Austria, a year later, before eventually returning to Ukraine, where he ran a TV show criticising the presidency of Petro Poroshenko, the billionaire who assumed office after Yanukovych was ousted. In 2018, Ukraine's Security Service, or SBU, opened an investigation against him on suspicion of state treason, alleging his involvement in Russia's illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. The criminal case was closed in 2019, and Portnov filed his own lawsuit demanding the allegations against him be treated as false. But in 2021, the US state department announced sweeping sanctions against Portnov, describing him as a 'court fixer'. 'Widely known as a court fixer, Portnov was credibly accused of using his influence to buy access and decisions in Ukraine's courts and undermining reform efforts,' the department said in a statement. 'As of 2019, Portnov took steps to control the Ukrainian judiciary, influence associated legislation, sought to place loyal officials in senior judiciary positions, and purchase court decisions.' They added that they believed Portnov had colluded with a high-ranking Ukrainian government official to shape the country's legal institutions to their advantage and influence Ukraine's Constitutional Court. He was also reportedly involved in an attempt to influence the Ukrainian Prosecutor-General.
