Latest news with #Zelenskiy
The Advertiser
5 hours ago
- Politics
- The Advertiser
Two dead in Russian attacks on Ukraine, talks uncertain
Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine have killed at least two people, including a nine-year-old girl, officials say, as uncertainty remains about whether Kyiv diplomats will attend a new round of peace talks proposed by Moscow for early next week in Istanbul. Russian troops launched some 109 drones and five missiles across Ukraine overnight and into Saturday, the Ukrainian Air Force said. Three of the missiles and 42 drones were destroyed and another 30 drones failed to reach their targets without causing damage, it said. The girl was killed in a strike on the front-line village of Dolynka in the Zaporizhzhia region, and a 16-year-old was injured, Zaporizhzhia's Governor Ivan Fedorov said. "One house was destroyed. The shock wave from the blast also damaged several other houses, cars, and outbuildings," Fedorov wrote on Telegram. A man was killed by Russian shelling in Ukraine's Kherson region, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram. Moscow did not comment on either attack. Russia's Ministry of Defence said on Saturday that it had gained control of the Ukrainian village of Novopil in the Donetsk region and took the village of Vodolahy in the northern Sumy region. Ukrainian authorities in Sumy ordered mandatory evacuations in 11 more settlements as Russian forces make steady gains in the area. The new additions bring the total number of settlements under evacuation orders in Sumy, which borders Russia's Kursk region, to 213. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said some 50,000 Russian troops have amassed in the area with the intention of launching an offensive to carve out a buffer zone inside Ukrainian territory. Speaking Saturday, Ukraine's top army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Russian forces were focusing their main offensive efforts on Pokrovsk, Torets and Lyman in the Donetsk region, as well as the Sumy border area. Syrskyi also said Ukrainian forces are still holding territory in Russia's Kursk region, a statement that Moscow has repeatedly denied. Russia said on April 26 that it had pushed all Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region after Ukrainian troops seized land there during a surprise incursion in August 2024. "The enemy is holding its best units here," Syrskyi said, referring to Kursk, "which it planned to use in the east". Elsewhere, 14 people were injured, including four children, after Ukrainian drones struck apartment buildings on Saturday in the Russian town of Rylsk and the village of Artakovo in the western Kursk region, local acting governor Alexander Khinshtein said. Andrii Yermak, a top adviser to Zelenskiy, said on Friday that Kyiv was ready to resume direct peace talks with Russia in Istanbul on Monday but that the Kremlin should first provide a promised memorandum setting out its position on ending the more than three-year war. Zelenskiy said Friday that Russia was "undermining diplomacy" by withholding the document. "For some reason, the Russians are concealing this document. This is an absolutely bizarre position. There is no clarity about the format," Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram. Moscow previously said it would share its memorandum during the talks. Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine have killed at least two people, including a nine-year-old girl, officials say, as uncertainty remains about whether Kyiv diplomats will attend a new round of peace talks proposed by Moscow for early next week in Istanbul. Russian troops launched some 109 drones and five missiles across Ukraine overnight and into Saturday, the Ukrainian Air Force said. Three of the missiles and 42 drones were destroyed and another 30 drones failed to reach their targets without causing damage, it said. The girl was killed in a strike on the front-line village of Dolynka in the Zaporizhzhia region, and a 16-year-old was injured, Zaporizhzhia's Governor Ivan Fedorov said. "One house was destroyed. The shock wave from the blast also damaged several other houses, cars, and outbuildings," Fedorov wrote on Telegram. A man was killed by Russian shelling in Ukraine's Kherson region, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram. Moscow did not comment on either attack. Russia's Ministry of Defence said on Saturday that it had gained control of the Ukrainian village of Novopil in the Donetsk region and took the village of Vodolahy in the northern Sumy region. Ukrainian authorities in Sumy ordered mandatory evacuations in 11 more settlements as Russian forces make steady gains in the area. The new additions bring the total number of settlements under evacuation orders in Sumy, which borders Russia's Kursk region, to 213. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said some 50,000 Russian troops have amassed in the area with the intention of launching an offensive to carve out a buffer zone inside Ukrainian territory. Speaking Saturday, Ukraine's top army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Russian forces were focusing their main offensive efforts on Pokrovsk, Torets and Lyman in the Donetsk region, as well as the Sumy border area. Syrskyi also said Ukrainian forces are still holding territory in Russia's Kursk region, a statement that Moscow has repeatedly denied. Russia said on April 26 that it had pushed all Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region after Ukrainian troops seized land there during a surprise incursion in August 2024. "The enemy is holding its best units here," Syrskyi said, referring to Kursk, "which it planned to use in the east". Elsewhere, 14 people were injured, including four children, after Ukrainian drones struck apartment buildings on Saturday in the Russian town of Rylsk and the village of Artakovo in the western Kursk region, local acting governor Alexander Khinshtein said. Andrii Yermak, a top adviser to Zelenskiy, said on Friday that Kyiv was ready to resume direct peace talks with Russia in Istanbul on Monday but that the Kremlin should first provide a promised memorandum setting out its position on ending the more than three-year war. Zelenskiy said Friday that Russia was "undermining diplomacy" by withholding the document. "For some reason, the Russians are concealing this document. This is an absolutely bizarre position. There is no clarity about the format," Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram. Moscow previously said it would share its memorandum during the talks. Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine have killed at least two people, including a nine-year-old girl, officials say, as uncertainty remains about whether Kyiv diplomats will attend a new round of peace talks proposed by Moscow for early next week in Istanbul. Russian troops launched some 109 drones and five missiles across Ukraine overnight and into Saturday, the Ukrainian Air Force said. Three of the missiles and 42 drones were destroyed and another 30 drones failed to reach their targets without causing damage, it said. The girl was killed in a strike on the front-line village of Dolynka in the Zaporizhzhia region, and a 16-year-old was injured, Zaporizhzhia's Governor Ivan Fedorov said. "One house was destroyed. The shock wave from the blast also damaged several other houses, cars, and outbuildings," Fedorov wrote on Telegram. A man was killed by Russian shelling in Ukraine's Kherson region, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram. Moscow did not comment on either attack. Russia's Ministry of Defence said on Saturday that it had gained control of the Ukrainian village of Novopil in the Donetsk region and took the village of Vodolahy in the northern Sumy region. Ukrainian authorities in Sumy ordered mandatory evacuations in 11 more settlements as Russian forces make steady gains in the area. The new additions bring the total number of settlements under evacuation orders in Sumy, which borders Russia's Kursk region, to 213. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said some 50,000 Russian troops have amassed in the area with the intention of launching an offensive to carve out a buffer zone inside Ukrainian territory. Speaking Saturday, Ukraine's top army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Russian forces were focusing their main offensive efforts on Pokrovsk, Torets and Lyman in the Donetsk region, as well as the Sumy border area. Syrskyi also said Ukrainian forces are still holding territory in Russia's Kursk region, a statement that Moscow has repeatedly denied. Russia said on April 26 that it had pushed all Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region after Ukrainian troops seized land there during a surprise incursion in August 2024. "The enemy is holding its best units here," Syrskyi said, referring to Kursk, "which it planned to use in the east". Elsewhere, 14 people were injured, including four children, after Ukrainian drones struck apartment buildings on Saturday in the Russian town of Rylsk and the village of Artakovo in the western Kursk region, local acting governor Alexander Khinshtein said. Andrii Yermak, a top adviser to Zelenskiy, said on Friday that Kyiv was ready to resume direct peace talks with Russia in Istanbul on Monday but that the Kremlin should first provide a promised memorandum setting out its position on ending the more than three-year war. Zelenskiy said Friday that Russia was "undermining diplomacy" by withholding the document. "For some reason, the Russians are concealing this document. This is an absolutely bizarre position. There is no clarity about the format," Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram. Moscow previously said it would share its memorandum during the talks. Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine have killed at least two people, including a nine-year-old girl, officials say, as uncertainty remains about whether Kyiv diplomats will attend a new round of peace talks proposed by Moscow for early next week in Istanbul. Russian troops launched some 109 drones and five missiles across Ukraine overnight and into Saturday, the Ukrainian Air Force said. Three of the missiles and 42 drones were destroyed and another 30 drones failed to reach their targets without causing damage, it said. The girl was killed in a strike on the front-line village of Dolynka in the Zaporizhzhia region, and a 16-year-old was injured, Zaporizhzhia's Governor Ivan Fedorov said. "One house was destroyed. The shock wave from the blast also damaged several other houses, cars, and outbuildings," Fedorov wrote on Telegram. A man was killed by Russian shelling in Ukraine's Kherson region, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram. Moscow did not comment on either attack. Russia's Ministry of Defence said on Saturday that it had gained control of the Ukrainian village of Novopil in the Donetsk region and took the village of Vodolahy in the northern Sumy region. Ukrainian authorities in Sumy ordered mandatory evacuations in 11 more settlements as Russian forces make steady gains in the area. The new additions bring the total number of settlements under evacuation orders in Sumy, which borders Russia's Kursk region, to 213. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said some 50,000 Russian troops have amassed in the area with the intention of launching an offensive to carve out a buffer zone inside Ukrainian territory. Speaking Saturday, Ukraine's top army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Russian forces were focusing their main offensive efforts on Pokrovsk, Torets and Lyman in the Donetsk region, as well as the Sumy border area. Syrskyi also said Ukrainian forces are still holding territory in Russia's Kursk region, a statement that Moscow has repeatedly denied. Russia said on April 26 that it had pushed all Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region after Ukrainian troops seized land there during a surprise incursion in August 2024. "The enemy is holding its best units here," Syrskyi said, referring to Kursk, "which it planned to use in the east". Elsewhere, 14 people were injured, including four children, after Ukrainian drones struck apartment buildings on Saturday in the Russian town of Rylsk and the village of Artakovo in the western Kursk region, local acting governor Alexander Khinshtein said. Andrii Yermak, a top adviser to Zelenskiy, said on Friday that Kyiv was ready to resume direct peace talks with Russia in Istanbul on Monday but that the Kremlin should first provide a promised memorandum setting out its position on ending the more than three-year war. Zelenskiy said Friday that Russia was "undermining diplomacy" by withholding the document. "For some reason, the Russians are concealing this document. This is an absolutely bizarre position. There is no clarity about the format," Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram. Moscow previously said it would share its memorandum during the talks.
West Australian
5 hours ago
- Politics
- West Australian
Two dead in Russian attacks on Ukraine, talks uncertain
Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine have killed at least two people, including a nine-year-old girl, officials say, as uncertainty remains about whether Kyiv diplomats will attend a new round of peace talks proposed by Moscow for early next week in Istanbul. Russian troops launched some 109 drones and five missiles across Ukraine overnight and into Saturday, the Ukrainian Air Force said. Three of the missiles and 42 drones were destroyed and another 30 drones failed to reach their targets without causing damage, it said. The girl was killed in a strike on the front-line village of Dolynka in the Zaporizhzhia region, and a 16-year-old was injured, Zaporizhzhia's Governor Ivan Fedorov said. "One house was destroyed. The shock wave from the blast also damaged several other houses, cars, and outbuildings," Fedorov wrote on Telegram. A man was killed by Russian shelling in Ukraine's Kherson region, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram. Moscow did not comment on either attack. Russia's Ministry of Defence said on Saturday that it had gained control of the Ukrainian village of Novopil in the Donetsk region and took the village of Vodolahy in the northern Sumy region. Ukrainian authorities in Sumy ordered mandatory evacuations in 11 more settlements as Russian forces make steady gains in the area. The new additions bring the total number of settlements under evacuation orders in Sumy, which borders Russia's Kursk region, to 213. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said some 50,000 Russian troops have amassed in the area with the intention of launching an offensive to carve out a buffer zone inside Ukrainian territory. Speaking Saturday, Ukraine's top army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Russian forces were focusing their main offensive efforts on Pokrovsk, Torets and Lyman in the Donetsk region, as well as the Sumy border area. Syrskyi also said Ukrainian forces are still holding territory in Russia's Kursk region, a statement that Moscow has repeatedly denied. Russia said on April 26 that it had pushed all Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region after Ukrainian troops seized land there during a surprise incursion in August 2024. "The enemy is holding its best units here," Syrskyi said, referring to Kursk, "which it planned to use in the east". Elsewhere, 14 people were injured, including four children, after Ukrainian drones struck apartment buildings on Saturday in the Russian town of Rylsk and the village of Artakovo in the western Kursk region, local acting governor Alexander Khinshtein said. Andrii Yermak, a top adviser to Zelenskiy, said on Friday that Kyiv was ready to resume direct peace talks with Russia in Istanbul on Monday but that the Kremlin should first provide a promised memorandum setting out its position on ending the more than three-year war. Zelenskiy said Friday that Russia was "undermining diplomacy" by withholding the document. "For some reason, the Russians are concealing this document. This is an absolutely bizarre position. There is no clarity about the format," Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram. Moscow previously said it would share its memorandum during the talks.
Perth Now
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Perth Now
Two dead in Russian attacks on Ukraine, talks uncertain
Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine have killed at least two people, including a nine-year-old girl, officials say, as uncertainty remains about whether Kyiv diplomats will attend a new round of peace talks proposed by Moscow for early next week in Istanbul. Russian troops launched some 109 drones and five missiles across Ukraine overnight and into Saturday, the Ukrainian Air Force said. Three of the missiles and 42 drones were destroyed and another 30 drones failed to reach their targets without causing damage, it said. The girl was killed in a strike on the front-line village of Dolynka in the Zaporizhzhia region, and a 16-year-old was injured, Zaporizhzhia's Governor Ivan Fedorov said. "One house was destroyed. The shock wave from the blast also damaged several other houses, cars, and outbuildings," Fedorov wrote on Telegram. A man was killed by Russian shelling in Ukraine's Kherson region, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram. Moscow did not comment on either attack. Russia's Ministry of Defence said on Saturday that it had gained control of the Ukrainian village of Novopil in the Donetsk region and took the village of Vodolahy in the northern Sumy region. Ukrainian authorities in Sumy ordered mandatory evacuations in 11 more settlements as Russian forces make steady gains in the area. The new additions bring the total number of settlements under evacuation orders in Sumy, which borders Russia's Kursk region, to 213. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said some 50,000 Russian troops have amassed in the area with the intention of launching an offensive to carve out a buffer zone inside Ukrainian territory. Speaking Saturday, Ukraine's top army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Russian forces were focusing their main offensive efforts on Pokrovsk, Torets and Lyman in the Donetsk region, as well as the Sumy border area. Syrskyi also said Ukrainian forces are still holding territory in Russia's Kursk region, a statement that Moscow has repeatedly denied. Russia said on April 26 that it had pushed all Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region after Ukrainian troops seized land there during a surprise incursion in August 2024. "The enemy is holding its best units here," Syrskyi said, referring to Kursk, "which it planned to use in the east". Elsewhere, 14 people were injured, including four children, after Ukrainian drones struck apartment buildings on Saturday in the Russian town of Rylsk and the village of Artakovo in the western Kursk region, local acting governor Alexander Khinshtein said. Andrii Yermak, a top adviser to Zelenskiy, said on Friday that Kyiv was ready to resume direct peace talks with Russia in Istanbul on Monday but that the Kremlin should first provide a promised memorandum setting out its position on ending the more than three-year war. Zelenskiy said Friday that Russia was "undermining diplomacy" by withholding the document. "For some reason, the Russians are concealing this document. This is an absolutely bizarre position. There is no clarity about the format," Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram. Moscow previously said it would share its memorandum during the talks.
The Sun
15 hours ago
- Politics
- The Sun
Ukraine keeps Russia guessing over talks, US senator warns Moscow of sanctions
KYIV/MOSCOW: Ukraine resisted U.S. and Russian pressure to commit to attending another round of peace talks on Monday, saying it first needed to see Russian proposals, while a leading U.S. senator warned Moscow it would be 'hit hard' by new U.S. sanctions. U.S. President Donald Trump has urged Moscow and Kyiv to work together on a deal to end their three-year-old war, and Russia has proposed a second round of face-to-face talks with Ukrainian officials next week in Istanbul. Kyiv has said it is committed to the search for peace, but that it was waiting for a memorandum from the Russian side setting out their proposals. 'For a meeting to be meaningful, its agenda must be clear, and the negotiations must be properly prepared,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on X on Friday after hosting Turkey's foreign minister for talks in Kyiv. 'Unfortunately, Russia is doing everything it can to ensure that the next potential meeting brings no results,' he said, citing the lack of a document from Russia. Delegations from the two countries met in Istanbul on May 16 but the session yielded little other than an agreement for a prisoner exchange. Zelenskiy said he and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday discussed in a phone call the conditions under which Ukraine would participate in the Monday meeting proposed by Russia. 'There must be a ceasefire to move further toward peace. The killing of people must stop,' Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram. 'We share the view that this meeting cannot and should not be empty,' Zelenskiy said. He did not commit Ukraine to attending on Monday, although he said he and Erdogan did discuss the possibility of organising a four-way meeting with the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United States. Erdogan said it was important that Russia and Ukraine send strong delegations to Istanbul and added that a leaders' meeting could contribute to the peace process, the Turkish presidency said. Some Republicans in the U.S. Congress and White House advisers have urged Trump to finally embrace new sanctions on Russia to put pressure on Moscow. Influential Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on a visit to Kyiv the Republican-led U.S. Senate is expected to move ahead with a bill on sanctions against Russia next week. Graham, who met Zelenskiy in Kyiv, told a news briefing he had talked with Trump before his trip and the U.S. president expects concrete actions now from Moscow. Graham accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to drag out the peace process and said he doubts the Istanbul meeting will amount to more than a 'Russian charade.' 'The game that Putin has been playing is about to change. He is going to be hit, and hit hard by the United States, when it comes to sanctions,' Graham said. Trump told reporters on Friday that both Putin and Zelenskiy were stubborn and that he had been surprised and disappointed by Russian bombing in Ukraine while he was trying to arrange a ceasefire. Trump made no mention of sanctions. The war, the biggest in Europe since World War Two, began with a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Expectations for the talks are modest because the positions staked out so far by the two sides are far apart and work between them has yet to begin in earnest on narrowing the gap. Nevertheless, both Kyiv and Moscow are keen to demonstrate to Trump they support his peace efforts. Kyiv wants more U.S. military aid, while Moscow hopes Trump will ease existing economic sanctions on Russia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian delegation would be travelling to Istanbul and ready for talks with Ukraine on Monday morning. 'Everyone is focused on the direct Russia-Ukraine negotiations. A list of conditions for a temporary truce is being developed,' Peskov said. Moscow has said its delegation for Istanbul would be led by Vladimir Medinsky, a Kremlin aide who led the previous round on May 16. NO MORE NATO ENLARGEMENT? Reuters reported this week that Putin's conditions for ending the war include a demand that Western leaders pledge in writing to stop enlarging NATO eastwards. Trump's special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said on Friday that Russia's concern over the eastward enlargement of NATO was fair and Washington did not want to see Ukraine in the U.S.-led military alliance. Commenting on Kellogg's statement, Peskov said: 'We are pleased that these explanations by the president are understood, including in Washington.' Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told reporters in Kyiv that the next step after talks in Istanbul would be to try to host a meeting between Trump, Putin, and Zelenskiy. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Kyiv needed to see the Russian proposals in advance for the talks to be 'substantive and meaningful,' without spelling out what Kyiv would do if it did not receive the Russian document or a deadline for receiving it. 'We want to end this war this year, and we are interested in establishing a truce, whether it is for 30 days, or for 50 days, or for 100 days,' he said. Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, told the U.N. Security Council on Friday that Moscow was ready to consider a ceasefire provided Western states stopped arming Ukraine and Kyiv stopped mobilising troops.
The Sun
16 hours ago
- Politics
- The Sun
Ukraine delays talks, US warns Russia of new sanctions
KYIV/MOSCOW: Ukraine resisted U.S. and Russian pressure to commit to attending another round of peace talks on Monday, saying it first needed to see Russian proposals, while a leading U.S. senator warned Moscow it would be 'hit hard' by new U.S. sanctions. U.S. President Donald Trump has urged Moscow and Kyiv to work together on a deal to end their three-year-old war, and Russia has proposed a second round of face-to-face talks with Ukrainian officials next week in Istanbul. Kyiv has said it is committed to the search for peace, but that it was waiting for a memorandum from the Russian side setting out their proposals. 'For a meeting to be meaningful, its agenda must be clear, and the negotiations must be properly prepared,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on X on Friday after hosting Turkey's foreign minister for talks in Kyiv. 'Unfortunately, Russia is doing everything it can to ensure that the next potential meeting brings no results,' he said, citing the lack of a document from Russia. Delegations from the two countries met in Istanbul on May 16 but the session yielded little other than an agreement for a prisoner exchange. Zelenskiy said he and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday discussed in a phone call the conditions under which Ukraine would participate in the Monday meeting proposed by Russia. 'There must be a ceasefire to move further toward peace. The killing of people must stop,' Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram. 'We share the view that this meeting cannot and should not be empty,' Zelenskiy said. He did not commit Ukraine to attending on Monday, although he said he and Erdogan did discuss the possibility of organising a four-way meeting with the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United States. Erdogan said it was important that Russia and Ukraine send strong delegations to Istanbul and added that a leaders' meeting could contribute to the peace process, the Turkish presidency said. Some Republicans in the U.S. Congress and White House advisers have urged Trump to finally embrace new sanctions on Russia to put pressure on Moscow. Influential Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on a visit to Kyiv the Republican-led U.S. Senate is expected to move ahead with a bill on sanctions against Russia next week. Graham, who met Zelenskiy in Kyiv, told a news briefing he had talked with Trump before his trip and the U.S. president expects concrete actions now from Moscow. Graham accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to drag out the peace process and said he doubts the Istanbul meeting will amount to more than a 'Russian charade.' 'The game that Putin has been playing is about to change. He is going to be hit, and hit hard by the United States, when it comes to sanctions,' Graham said. Trump told reporters on Friday that both Putin and Zelenskiy were stubborn and that he had been surprised and disappointed by Russian bombing in Ukraine while he was trying to arrange a ceasefire. Trump made no mention of sanctions. The war, the biggest in Europe since World War Two, began with a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Expectations for the talks are modest because the positions staked out so far by the two sides are far apart and work between them has yet to begin in earnest on narrowing the gap. Nevertheless, both Kyiv and Moscow are keen to demonstrate to Trump they support his peace efforts. Kyiv wants more U.S. military aid, while Moscow hopes Trump will ease existing economic sanctions on Russia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian delegation would be travelling to Istanbul and ready for talks with Ukraine on Monday morning. 'Everyone is focused on the direct Russia-Ukraine negotiations. A list of conditions for a temporary truce is being developed,' Peskov said. Moscow has said its delegation for Istanbul would be led by Vladimir Medinsky, a Kremlin aide who led the previous round on May 16. NO MORE NATO ENLARGEMENT? Reuters reported this week that Putin's conditions for ending the war include a demand that Western leaders pledge in writing to stop enlarging NATO eastwards. Trump's special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said on Friday that Russia's concern over the eastward enlargement of NATO was fair and Washington did not want to see Ukraine in the U.S.-led military alliance. Commenting on Kellogg's statement, Peskov said: 'We are pleased that these explanations by the president are understood, including in Washington.' Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told reporters in Kyiv that the next step after talks in Istanbul would be to try to host a meeting between Trump, Putin, and Zelenskiy. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Kyiv needed to see the Russian proposals in advance for the talks to be 'substantive and meaningful,' without spelling out what Kyiv would do if it did not receive the Russian document or a deadline for receiving it. 'We want to end this war this year, and we are interested in establishing a truce, whether it is for 30 days, or for 50 days, or for 100 days,' he said. Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, told the U.N. Security Council on Friday that Moscow was ready to consider a ceasefire provided Western states stopped arming Ukraine and Kyiv stopped mobilising troops.
