Latest news with #ReutersUkraine
Yomiuri Shimbun
20 hours ago
- Politics
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Zelenskiy says Ukraine Halts Russian Troop Advance in Sumy Region
Reuters Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during a joint press conference amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv on June 12. KYIV, June 14 (Reuters) — Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Ukrainian forces had recaptured Andriivka village in northeastern Sumy region as part of a drive to expel Russian forces from the area. Zelenskiy has in the past week focused on what he describes as a drive to push out Russian forces from the Sumy region, with border areas gripped by heavy fighting. He says Russia has amassed 53,000 troops in the area. 'Based on recent developments, our special thanks go to the soldiers of the 225th Separate Assault Regiment — for offensive operations in the Sumy region and the liberation, in particular, of Andriivka,' Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. Zelenskiy also noted 'successful actions' near Pokrovsk, for months a focus of Russian attacks in their slow advance on the eastern front, and 'strong results' near Kupiansk, an area in northeastern Ukraine that has come under heavy Russian pressure. In remarks released for publication earlier on Saturday, Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces had stopped Russian troops advancing in Sumy region and were battling to regain control along the border. 'We are levelling the position. The fighting there is along the border. You should understand that the enemy has been stopped there. And the maximum depth at which the fighting takes place is 7 kilometers from the border,' Zelenskiy said. Reuters could not verify the battlefield reports. Russia's troops have been focusing their assaults in the eastern Donetsk region, with Pokrovsk a particular target. But since the start of the month, they have intensified their attacks in the northeast, announcing plans to create a so-called 'buffer zone' in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions. Russia's Defence Ministry said on Saturday that its forces had seized the village of Zelenyi Kut, southwest of Pokrovsk. The Russian war in Ukraine is in its fourth year, but it has intensified in recent weeks. Ukraine conducted an audacious drone attackthis month that took out multiple aircraft inside Russia and also hit the bridge connecting Russia to the annexed Crimean peninsula using underwater explosives. Moscow ramped up its air assaults after the attack. Zelenskiy said Ukrainian troops had maintained defensive lines along more than 1,000 km of the frontline. He also dismissed Moscow's claims that Russian troops had crossed into the central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk. Zelenskiy said that Russia was sending small assault groups 'to get one foot on the administrative border' and make a picture or a video, but these attacks were repelled. The popular Ukrainian military blog DeepState, which relies on open-source data, said Ukrainian troops had repelled a Russian attack in the area, but also reported Russian advances in other areas, including Pokrovsk. Dnipropetrovsk borders three regions that are partially occupied by Russia – Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Russia now controls about one-fifth of Ukrainian territory. Zelenskiy acknowledged that Ukraine was unable to regain all of its territory by military force and reiterated his pleas for stronger sanctions to force Moscow into talks to end the war. Two rounds of peace talks in Istanbul produced few results that could lead to a ceasefire and a broader peace deal. The two sides agreed only to exchange prisoners of war. Several swaps have already been conducted this month, and Zelenskiy said he expected them to continue until June 20 or 21. In separate remarks made on communications platform Telegram on Saturday, he said that a new group of Ukrainian prisoners of war had come home as part of another swap with Russia. 'We continue to take our people out of Russian captivity. This is the fourth exchange in a week,' Zelenskiy wrote. Ukrainian officials responsible for exchanging prisoners said the vast majority of the soldiers released in the exchange had been held captive since 2022 with many captured during the more than 80-day siege of the Sea of Azov port of Mariupol. The officials said Kyiv had, meanwhile,received the bodies of 1,200 of its soldiers killed in the war with Russia. The bodies were handed over to Ukraine on Friday. Russian state media, citing sources, reported that Moscow had not received any of its war dead back from Kyiv.
Economic Times
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Economic Times
Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy insists on face-to-face talks with Vladimir Putin in Istanbul
Reuters Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks to the media during a press conference, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine May 13, 2025. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday he would attend talks with Russia on the war in Ukraine this week only if Vladimir Putin is also there and goaded him by saying the Russian leader was scared to meet him face-to-face. The Kremlin has yet to say whether Putin will take part in the talks scheduled to be held in Istanbul on Thursday, more than three years into the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two. The planned talks have become the main focus of peace efforts led by U.S. President Donald Trump, who is sending senior envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg, three sources familiar with the plans said. Trump has also offered to attend. Zelenskiy said he wanted to negotiate an unconditional 30-day ceasefire as a step towards ending the war, and that Putin should take part in talks because "absolutely everything in Russia" depends on him. "We want to agree on a beginning to the end of the war", Zelenskiy told a press conference. But he added: "He (Putin) is scared of direct talks with me." Zelenskiy said he expected the United States and European Union to impose "strong sanctions" if the talks did not take place. Both Moscow and Kyiv have sought to show they are working towards peace after Trump prioritised ending the war, which has raged since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but have yet to agree any clear path. Putin on Sunday proposed direct talks with Ukraine, after ignoring a Ukrainian proposal for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire. Trump publicly told Zelenskiy to accept the proposal. The Ukrainian leader then said he would be waiting for Putin in Istanbul on Thursday, though the Kremlin chief had never made clear he intended to travel himself. Asked who would represent Russia at the talks, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: "As soon as the president sees fit, we will announce it." TRUMP MAY ATTEND Kellogg, in an interview on Fox Business Network, said Trump would join the talks in Istanbul if Putin showed up. "We're hoping President Putin shows up as well, and then President Trump will be there. This could be an absolutely incredible meeting," he said. "We can get peace, I really believe, pretty fast if all three leaders sit down and talk." Reuters reported last year that Putin was open to discussing a ceasefire with Trump but that Moscow ruled out making any major territorial concessions and demanded that Kyiv abandon ambitions to join NATO. Ukraine has said it is ready for talks but a ceasefire is needed first, a position supported by its European allies. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Moscow was ready for serious talks on Ukraine but doubted Kyiv's capacity for negotiations. The agencies quoted him as saying realities "on the ground" should be recognised, including the incorporation of what Moscow calls "new territories" into Russia - a reference to territory in Ukraine that is occupied by Russian forces. U.S. officials want Russia a comprehensive 30-day land, air, sea and critical infrastructure ceasefire, a senior U.S. official said.
RNZ News
03-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Ukraine war: Zelensky says he discussed air defence, sanctions with Trump in Vatican meeting
By Anastasiia Malenko and Max Hunder , Reuters Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (right) meets with US President Donald Trump (left) on the sidelines of Pope Francis's funeral at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. Photo: AFP / OFFICIAL TELEGRAM CHANNEL OF THE HEAD OF THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE ANDRIY YERMAK Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he discussed air defence systems and sanctions on Russia with Donald Trump on the sidelines of Pope Francis's funeral at the Vatican, in what he called the best meeting the two had ever had. In comments released by his presidential administration, Zelensky also said he and the US president agreed that a 30-day ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow was the correct first step towards ending the war in Ukraine. He said he raised the topic of sanctions with Trump at the impromptu meeting last week, and that Trump's response on this question was "very strong". Zelensky did not give specifics. He also said the critical minerals deal signed by the two countries on Wednesday was mutually beneficial, and that it would allow Ukraine to defend future US investments, as well as its own territory and people. The accord, heavily touted by Trump, will give the United States preferential access to new Ukrainian minerals deals and unleash US investment in Ukraine's reconstruction. Zelensky said that the money would, at least initially, be reinvested and not leave Ukraine. "Only if the parties then, in the future, agree that in 20 years the fund is fine, things are being built, there is production," he said, appearing to refer to the possibility of withdrawals in the longer term. The deal aims to establish a fund to manage investments and hold profits. Zelensky said there will be a 3-3 split between Ukrainian and US appointees on the plan's supervisory board, which would choose its director. On the security element of the deal, Zelensky highlighted the importance of more effective air defences that have remained one of Kyiv's main requests to its allies throughout Russia's three-year-old full-scale invasion. "And so we are ready for air defence systems to be a contribution (to the fund). I told him about the number (of systems that we need) - he told me that they will work on it, (that) these things are not free." Zelensky said that US$30 billion (NZ$50.5 billion) of military aid allocated in 2024 by the US Congress was due to be supplied in 2025 and 2026, US$15 billion (NZ$25 billion) of it each year. It was not clear if his remark included aid already supplied in 2025. His comments raised the issue of whether the amount allocated for 2026 could, as a result of the minerals agreement, be brought forward to this year, and then counted towards the US contribution to the deal's fund. "Ukraine will then return its half bit by bit, and this is what the agreement is about," Zelensky said. "What is historic about this event is that the Americans can come to the Ukrainian market for the first time." The minerals agreement was reached at a time when the US says it is growing increasingly frustrated by the failure of Moscow and Kyiv to come to the table for peace talks. Kyiv says it wants an immediate unconditional ceasefire for at least 30 days. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he agrees in principle, but that there are many issues that need to be clarified before that can happen. Responding to Moscow's offer of a three-day ceasefire around 9 May, when Russia celebrates its World War Two victory over Nazi Germany, Zelensky said he was ready as long as the truce would be 30 days in length. He said Ukraine, given continued war with Russia, could not guarantee the safety of any foreign dignitaries who came to Moscow for the traditional 9 May victory parade there. "We cannot be responsible for what happens on the territory of the Russian Federation. They are responsible for your security, and therefore we will not give you any guarantees." In response, Dmitry Medvedev, hardline deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said nobody could guarantee the Ukrainian capital Kyiv would survive to see 10 May if Ukraine attacked Moscow on 9 May. - Reuters
Yomiuri Shimbun
26-04-2025
- Politics
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Ukraine's Zelenskyy Met Trump in Rome, Zelenskyy's Office Says
Reuters Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy walks to attend the funeral Mass of Pope Francis at the Vatican on Saturday. KYIV (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met U.S. President Donald Trump in the Italian capital, where both leaders were attending the funeral of Pope Francis, a spokesman for Zelenskyy said. No details were provided of the meeting, but it comes at a critical time in negotiations aimed at bringing an end to fighting between Ukraine and Russia. Trump, who has been pressing both sides to agree a ceasefire, said on Friday that there had been productive talks between his envoy and the Russian leadership, and called for a high-level meeting between Kyiv and Moscow to close a deal.
