Latest news with #Moscow
LBCI
an hour ago
- General
- LBCI
Ukraine, Russia 'want ceasefire,' Turkey FM says en route to Kyiv
Ukraine, Russia 'want ceasefire,' Turkey FM says en route to Kyiv Russia and Ukraine both want a ceasefire to halt three years of war, Turkey's top diplomat said on Friday as he headed to Kyiv after holding talks in Moscow. "I observe that the issue is beginning to take a more optimistic turn as negotiations start. Both parties want a ceasefire. No one says they don't want it," Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on the train taking him to Kyiv, reported news agency Anadolu. AFP
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Turkey says Ukraine, Russia want ceasefire ahead of possible talks
Turkey's foreign minister said Friday that both Russia and Ukraine wanted a ceasefire, as he visited Kyiv ahead of a potential second round of direct negotiations between the sides next week in Istanbul. NATO member Turkey, which has strove to maintain relations with both Kyiv and Moscow, has become a key mediator amid US President Donald Trump's push for a deal to end the over three-year war. Kyiv was yet to confirm whether it would send a delegation to the talks, which Russia proposed to hold on Monday. Ukraine first wants Russia to share its vision of a roadmap to peace -- a so-called "memorandum" that Moscow said it will only hand over to the Ukrainian delegation in person at the next talks. "I observe that the issue is beginning to take a more optimistic turn as negotiations start. Both parties want a ceasefire. No one says they don't want it," Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on the train taking him to Kyiv, according to news agency Anadolu. Fidan earlier this week held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Arriving in Kyiv on Friday, he met Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga and visited a memorial for killed soldiers. He was expected to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later in the day. Ukraine has for more than two months been calling for Russia to agree to a full, unconditional and immediate 30-day ceasefire -- an idea first proposed by Trump. Putin has repeatedly rejected those calls, despite pressure from Washington and Europe, while the Russian army has intensified its advances in eastern Ukraine. He has said that a ceasefire is possible as a result of negotiations, but that talks should focus on the "root causes" of the war. Moscow typically uses that language to refer to a mix of sweeping demands that have at times included limiting Ukraine's military, banning it from joining NATO, massive territorial concessions and the toppling of Zelensky. - US threat to step back - Kyiv and the West have rejected those calls and cast Russia's assault as nothing but an imperial-style land grab. Russia's invasion in February 2022 triggered the biggest European conflict since World War II. Tens of thousands have been killed, swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine destroyed and millions forced to flee their homes. Trump has been growing increasingly frustrated at both Zelensky and Putin for not having struck a deal yet. At a UN Security Council meeting Thursday a US diplomat reaffirmed that Washington could pull back from peace efforts. "If Russia makes the wrong decision to continue this catastrophic war, the United States will have to consider stepping back from our negotiation efforts to end this conflict," John Kelley told the meeting, which included Russian and Ukrainian envoys. Despite the sides having held their first peace talks in more than three years, there has been little sign of movement towards a possible compromise agreement. At negotiations in Istanbul on May 16, Ukraine said Russia threatened to accelerate its ground offensive into new regions and made a host of hardline demands, including that Kyiv cede territory still under its control. Kyiv wants to first agree to halt the fighting to allow for discussions on a long-term settlement. Along with its European allies, Ukraine has also been ramping up pressure on Trump to hit Moscow with fresh sanctions -- a step he has so far not taken. French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that if Russia gives "confirmation that it is not ready to make peace" Washington must then confirm its "commitment" to impose sanctions on Moscow, stressing it was a "credibility test for the Americans". "I spoke 48 hours ago to President Trump who showed his impatience. The question now is what do we do? We (Europeans) are ready," Macron said during a visit to Singapore. On the battlefield, both sides launched dozens of drones at each other in the latest overnight barrage and Russia has this week claimed to have captured a string of Ukrainian settlements. bur-jc/jm
Russia Today
an hour ago
- General
- Russia Today
Ukraine trying to trick Trump
Ukraine is trying to trick US President Donald Trump, who wants to achieve peace in the ongoing conflict, into returning Washington to an anti-Russian stance, Vassily Nebenzia, Moscow's envoy to the UN, has said. During his speech at a UN Security Council briefing on Ukraine on Thursday, Ambassador Nebenzia reminded of the intensification of Ukrainian drone incursions into Russia over the past week. A total of 1,465 drones had been shot down by air defenses, but nonetheless led to civilian casualties and deaths, including among children, he said. Kiev and its NATO backers 'are trying to make us believe that Russia is deliberately shelling residential areas of Ukrainian cities' during its retaliatory strikes, the envoy stressed. Moscow's attacks 'target exclusively objects related to Ukraine's military-industrial complex, and we are successfully destroying them or rendering them inoperable,' Nebenzia said, reiterating the stance consistency voiced by the Russian Defense Ministry throughout the conflict. 'The plans concocted by [Vladimir] Zelensky and his posse are way too plain and clear. Their task is to trick and mislead American President Donald Trump, who is taking decisive steps toward peace; they are ready to go to any lengths only to return the US – which has already wasted hundreds of billions of dollars helping Ukraine – to an anti-Russian and Russophobic course,' he insisted. However, the envoy stressed that 'promoting Ukrainian and Western lies about Russia is becoming increasingly difficult, since the actual steps of the Kiev regime, its deliberate choice in favor of war and the further suffering of its citizens speak volumes.' Moscow is eager to continue 'serious direct negotiations' with Kiev in order to find a solution to the Ukraine conflict that would address its root causes, he said. He reminded that Russia has invited the Ukrainian delegation to Istanbul on Monday to discuss the memorandums on approaches to negotiating peace prepared by the sides. 'The ball is in Ukraine's court: either talks followed by peace or imminent defeat on the battlefield with different conditions for ending the conflict,' the envoy insisted.
Free Malaysia Today
an hour ago
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
France's Macron says Ukraine a ‘test of credibility' for US
Moscow rejected immediate ceasefire appeals, continuing heavy bombardment of Ukraine even as global diplomatic efforts to resolve the war intensify. (AP pic) SINGAPORE : French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that Washington faces a 'credibility test' over its response to Russia dragging its feet on a Ukraine ceasefire. Moscow has rebuffed calls for an immediate ceasefire and kept up an intense bombardment of Ukraine even as diplomatic efforts to end the war have gained momentum. US President Donald Trump called Vladimir Putin 'crazy' late on Sunday in a rare rebuke of the Russian leader but he has yet to follow up on repeated threats to impose fresh sanctions on Moscow. Macron said that if Russia gives 'confirmation that it is not ready to make peace' Washington must then confirm its 'commitment' to impose sanctions on Moscow, stressing it was a 'credibility test for the Americans'. 'I spoke 48 hours ago to President Trump who showed his impatience. The question now is what do we do? We (Europeans) are ready,' he said during a visit to Singapore. Macron will give the opening speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Asia's main annual security and defence conference, which was addressed last year by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The French leader said this week he believed Trump now realised Putin lied when he claimed to be ready for peace in Ukraine, and hoped the US president's anger would translate into action. Macron said it was time to threaten Russia with 'much more massive sanctions' to persuade it to end the conflict begun by its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The French president visited Kyiv on May 10 with other European leaders to give Russia an ultimatum – agreed with Washington – to accept a ceasefire. The Russian offensive has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the destruction of large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine.
News.com.au
an hour ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Turkey says Ukraine, Russia want ceasefire ahead of possible talks
Turkey's foreign minister said Friday that both Russia and Ukraine wanted a ceasefire, as he visited Kyiv ahead of a potential second round of direct negotiations between the sides next week in Istanbul. NATO member Turkey, which has strove to maintain relations with both Kyiv and Moscow, has become a key mediator amid US President Donald Trump's push for a deal to end the over three-year war. Kyiv was yet to confirm whether it would send a delegation to the talks, which Russia proposed to hold on Monday. Ukraine first wants Russia to share its vision of a roadmap to peace -- a so-called "memorandum" that Moscow said it will only hand over to the Ukrainian delegation in person at the next talks. "I observe that the issue is beginning to take a more optimistic turn as negotiations start. Both parties want a ceasefire. No one says they don't want it," Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on the train taking him to Kyiv, according to news agency Anadolu. Fidan earlier this week held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Arriving in Kyiv on Friday, he met Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga and visited a memorial for killed soldiers. He was expected to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later in the day. Ukraine has for more than two months been calling for Russia to agree to a full, unconditional and immediate 30-day ceasefire -- an idea first proposed by Trump. Putin has repeatedly rejected those calls, despite pressure from Washington and Europe, while the Russian army has intensified its advances in eastern Ukraine. He has said that a ceasefire is possible as a result of negotiations, but that talks should focus on the "root causes" of the war. Moscow typically uses that language to refer to a mix of sweeping demands that have at times included limiting Ukraine's military, banning it from joining NATO, massive territorial concessions and the toppling of Zelensky. - US threat to step back - Kyiv and the West have rejected those calls and cast Russia's assault as nothing but an imperial-style land grab. Russia's invasion in February 2022 triggered the biggest European conflict since World War II. Tens of thousands have been killed, swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine destroyed and millions forced to flee their homes. Trump has been growing increasingly frustrated at both Zelensky and Putin for not having struck a deal yet. At a UN Security Council meeting Thursday a US diplomat reaffirmed that Washington could pull back from peace efforts. "If Russia makes the wrong decision to continue this catastrophic war, the United States will have to consider stepping back from our negotiation efforts to end this conflict," John Kelley told the meeting, which included Russian and Ukrainian envoys. Despite the sides having held their first peace talks in more than three years, there has been little sign of movement towards a possible compromise agreement. At negotiations in Istanbul on May 16, Ukraine said Russia threatened to accelerate its ground offensive into new regions and made a host of hardline demands, including that Kyiv cede territory still under its control. Kyiv wants to first agree to halt the fighting to allow for discussions on a long-term settlement. Along with its European allies, Ukraine has also been ramping up pressure on Trump to hit Moscow with fresh sanctions -- a step he has so far not taken. French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that if Russia gives "confirmation that it is not ready to make peace" Washington must then confirm its "commitment" to impose sanctions on Moscow, stressing it was a "credibility test for the Americans". "I spoke 48 hours ago to President Trump who showed his impatience. The question now is what do we do? We (Europeans) are ready," Macron said during a visit to Singapore. On the battlefield, both sides launched dozens of drones at each other in the latest overnight barrage and Russia has this week claimed to have captured a string of Ukrainian settlements.
