Latest news with #RussiaUkraineConflict
Al Arabiya
2 days ago
- Business
- Al Arabiya
Russia–Ukraine talks ‘barely' alive: UN
Hope is 'just barely' alive in the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, a senior UN official said Thursday, denouncing the recent 'brutal surge in large-scale Russian attacks' against Ukraine. UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council that the 'cautious hope' she expressed a month ago has diminished in the face of recent aggressions. 'According to Ukrainian officials, with 355 drones, Monday's attack was the largest drone attack on Ukraine since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion,' DiCarlo said, adding: 'This topped the previous record from the night before.' Despite no declaration of a ceasefire, DiCarlo praised diplomatic efforts in Istanbul on May 16 when Ukrainian and Russian delegations met, saying 'it is encouraging that the sides have reportedly agreed to continue the process.' Russia's deadly invasion began in February 2022. 'The massive wave of attacks over the weekend is a stark warning of how quickly this war can reach new destructive levels. Further escalation would not only aggravate the devastating toll on civilians but also endanger the already challenging peace efforts,' DiCarlo said. 'The hope that the parties will be able to sit down and negotiate is still alive, but just barely,' DiCarlo said. The US representative added that prolonging the war was not in anyone's best interest. '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,' said John Kelley, acting US alternate representative. 'Additional sanctions on Russia are still on the table.' The Kremlin said Thursday that it was awaiting Kyiv's response to its proposal for new talks in Istanbul next Monday. Ukraine, which accuses Russia of buying time, seeks Moscow's conditions before any meeting. 'Serious, demonstrable and good faith efforts are needed—now—to get back on the road that could lead to a just peace. A full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire is such an effort, if only an initial one,' DiCarlo said. According to the UN, a 'just peace' respects sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Ukraine. 'A peace process will not be easy, and it will take time. But it must not wait. The people of Ukraine, especially, cannot wait.'
Free Malaysia Today
2 days ago
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
Hope for Russia-Ukraine talks ‘barely' alive, says UN
Family and relatives bury their loved ones killed in a Russian strike in Korostyshiv, Zhytomyr region, Ukraine. (AP pic) NEW YORK : Hope is 'just barely' alive in the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, a senior UN official said Thursday, denouncing the recent 'brutal surge in large-scale Russian attacks' against Ukraine. UN under-secretary-general for political affairs Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council that the 'cautious hope' she expressed a month ago has diminished in the face of recent aggressions. 'According to Ukrainian officials, with 355 drones, Monday's attack was the largest drone attack on Ukraine since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion,' DiCarlo said, adding: 'This topped the previous record from the night before.' Despite no declaration of a ceasefire, DiCarlo praised diplomatic efforts in Istanbul on May 16 when Ukrainian and Russian delegations met, saying 'it is encouraging that the sides have reportedly agreed to continue the process.' 'The massive wave of attacks over the weekend is a stark warning of how quickly this war can reach new destructive levels. Further escalation would not only aggravate the devastating toll on civilians but also endanger the already challenging peace efforts,' DiCarlo said. 'The hope that the parties will be able to sit down and negotiate is still alive, but just barely.' Relaunched in mid-February by Washington, talks aimed at reaching a diplomatic settlement to the conflict that erupted with Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022 have so far yielded no results. John Kelley, acting US alternate representative, seemed to echo DiCarlo's frustration, insisting that prolonging the war was not in anyone's best interest. 'If Russia makes the wrong decision to continue this catastrophic war, the US will have to consider stepping back from our negotiation efforts to end this conflict,' he warned. 'Additional sanctions on Russia are still on the table.' DiCarlo insisted that 'serious, demonstrable and good faith efforts are needed –- now –- to get back on the road that could lead to a just peace.' 'A full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire is such an effort, if only an initial one,' she said. According to the UN, a 'just peace' respects sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Ukraine. The Kremlin said Thursday that it was awaiting Kyiv's response to its proposal for new talks in Istanbul next Monday. Ukraine, which accuses Russia of buying time, seeks Moscow's conditions before any meeting, and is calling for sanctions against Moscow to be 'expanded and strengthened.' 'Russia is not signaling any genuine intention to stop its war,' Ukrainian deputy ambassador Khrystyna Hayovyshy told the council. 'Therefore we see no alternative but intensified international pressure, political, military and economic,' she said. Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia rejected her accusations, instead accusing Kyiv of 'attempting to prolong the war.' 'No new anti-Russian sanctions, nor deliveries of weapons to Ukraine or any other hostile steps vis-a-vis Russia will be able to prevent the inevitable military defeat of the Zelensky regime,' he insisted. DiCarlo acknowledged that 'a peace process will not be easy, and it will take time.' 'But it must not wait,' she insisted. 'The people of Ukraine, especially, cannot wait.'
Arab News
2 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
Russia-Ukraine talks ‘barely' alive, says United Nations official
UNITED NATIONS: Hope is 'just barely' alive in the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, a senior UN official said Thursday, denouncing the recent 'brutal surge in largescale Russian attacks' against Ukraine. UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council that the 'cautious hope' she expressed a month ago has diminished in the face of recent aggressions. 'According to Ukrainian officials, with 355 drones, Monday's attack was the largest drone attack on Ukraine since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion,' DiCarlo said, adding: 'This topped the previous record from the night before.' Despite no declaration of a ceasefire, DiCarlo praised diplomatic efforts in Istanbul on May 16 when Ukrainian and Russian delegations met, saying 'it is encouraging that the sides have reportedly agreed to continue the process.' Russia's deadly invasion began in February 2022. 'The massive wave of attacks over the weekend is a stark warning of how quickly this war can reach new destructive levels. Further escalation would not only aggravate the devastating toll on civilians but also endanger the already challenging peace efforts,' DiCarlo said. 'The hope that the parties will be able to sit down and negotiate is still alive, but just barely,' DiCarlo said. The US representative added that prolonging the war was not in anyone's best interest. '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,' said John Kelley, acting US alternate representative. 'Additional sanctions on Russia are still on the table.' The Kremlin said Thursday that it was awaiting Kiev's response to its proposal for new talks in Istanbul next Monday. Ukraine, which accuses Russia of buying time, seeks Moscow's conditions before any meeting. 'Serious, demonstrable and good faith efforts are needed — now — to get back on the road that could lead to a just peace. A full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire is such an effort, if only an initial one,' DiCarlo said. According to the UN, a 'just peace' respects sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Ukraine. 'A peace process will not be easy, and it will take time. But it must not wait. The people of Ukraine, especially, cannot wait.'
Al Bawaba
3 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.
Asharq Al-Awsat
3 days ago
- Business
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Zelenskiy Says Russia Has Gathered 50,000 Troops for Offensive on Northern Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that Russia has gathered 50,000 troops near Ukraine's northern Sumy region, but added that Kyiv had taken steps to prevent Moscow from conducting a large-scale offensive there. The build-up comes as Russia appears to be gearing up for a summer offensive in Ukraine while Kyiv waits for Moscow to present a memorandum laying out its conditions to proceed with ceasefire talks. Sumy lies across the border from Russia's Kursk region where Ukraine previously seized and held a pocket of land for months, before being almost fully pushed out last month, although it says it still holds some areas there. "Their largest, strongest forces are currently on the Kursk front," Zelenskiy told reporters on Tuesday. "To push our troops out of the Kursk region and to prepare offensive actions against the Sumy region." Putin has said he wants a "buffer zone" along Russia's border with Ukraine. Zelenskiy said he believed Russia wanted a buffer zone of about 10 kilometers (6 miles). Russia has captured at least four border villages in the region recently, and has been creeping slowly forwards over the past several weeks on parts of the frontline in eastern Ukraine near the city of Kostyantynivka. However, Zelenskiy said that the Russians had been pushed back in that area by 4 km (2.5 miles) over two days. Ukraine and Russia swapped 1,000 captives each after a meeting of the two countries' delegations in Istanbul nearly two weeks ago which failed to produce a ceasefire sought by Ukraine, the US and Europe. Zelenskiy said that he viewed Türkiye, the Vatican and Switzerland as the most realistic venues for further negotiations with Russia. He said interest in hosting talks had also been expressed by Malta, as well as unspecified African nations. Reuters previously reported that Moscow does not see the Vatican as a serious venue for talks. Zelenskiy said that he will attend the next G7 summit after being invited by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose country currently holds the bloc's rotating presidency. He added that he will likely take part in the next EU summit. Speaking about Ukraine's domestic arms production, Zelenskiy said he wanted $30 billion for Ukraine to fully fund the available capacity of the rapidly expanding sector.
