Latest news with #Zelenskiyy
New Straits Times
28-05-2025
- Politics
- New Straits Times
Ukraine's Zelenskiyy lands in Berlin for talks with Merz on ending the war
BERLIN: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy landed in Berlin today for talks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, his office said, part of a diplomatic drive to end the war in Ukraine, Europe's deadliest since World War Two. Merz will receive Zelenskiyy with military honours at the federal chancellery at noon (1000 GMT) for a visit focused on German support for Ukraine as well as efforts to achieve a ceasefire, a government spokesperson said in a statement. Ukrainian and Russian officials met this month for their first face-to-face negotiations since Russia's full-scale invasion of its former Soviet neighbour in 2022, under pressure from US President Donald Trump to end the war. The talks failed however to produce a ceasefire agreement and Russia unleashed three nights of massive aerial attacks on Ukraine over the weekend. Russia has gathered 50,000 troops near Ukraine's northern Sumy region, Zelenskiyy told reporters. With Trump signalling wavering support for Ukraine in recent months, Germany could play an increasingly important role as Ukraine's biggest military and financial backer after the United States. Merz, a conservative who took office this month, has vowed to take more of a leadership role in ensuring support for Ukraine than his Social Democrat predecessor Olaf Scholz. He visited Ukraine with other European leaders within days of becoming chancellor and on Monday endorsed Ukraine's right to launch long-range missile strikes into Russian territory - in contrast with Scholz's cautious rhetoric on the issue. Zelenskiyy said on Tuesday he was grateful to Merz for coming to Kyiv but there were "things that we could not discuss because we did not have a long one-on-one. And we agreed that the time will come when I will come to Berlin and we will talk about it." Washington and Kyiv are waiting for Russia's draft of a memorandum on a peace accord and Merz has dampened hopes for a quick resolution to the war. "Putin and Russia clearly have at the moment no interest in a ceasefire, or a peace deal," he said on Tuesday. "This means, as a consequence, that Ukraine must continue to defend itself — and that we must actually intensify our efforts to enable Ukraine to do so." Germany is not expected, however, to announce new weapons deliveries to Ukraine given that the new government has said it would no longer publicly detail what arms it is sending Ukraine, preferring a stance of "strategic ambiguity."
Business Recorder
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Business Recorder
Zelenskiyy praises killing of top Russian military figures
President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy praised Ukraine's foreign intelligence service on Monday for the killing of top Russian military figures since the start of the war, but made no mention of a car bomb that killed a senior Russian officer last week. The Kremlin has blamed Ukraine for last Friday's car bomb outside Moscow that killed Yaroslav Moskalik, 59, deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. Authorities in Kyiv have made no direct comment on the attack on Moskalik, the latest in a series of Russian military officers and pro-war figures killed since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Zelenskiyy's remarks, on the Telegram messaging app, made no reference to any specific instance of Russian military officers being killed. 'The head of Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence reported on the liquidation of persons from the top command of the Russian armed forces. Justice inevitably is done,' Zelenskiyy said, referring to the agency's head, Oleg Ivashchenko. 'The head reported on further measures to counter Russian agent networks in Ukraine and saboteurs. Good results. Thank you for your work,' the president said. Ukraine's SBU intelligence service said it killed Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, a top Russian general accused by Ukraine of being responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops, last December in Moscow. Trump and Ukraine's Zelenskiy have 'very productive' meeting in Rome, says US official A Moscow court at the weekend ordered a Ukrainian national facing terrorism charges in connection with the attack on Moskalik to be remanded in custody. A Moskalik obituary published on Tuesday in the Russian defence ministry's official newspaper, Krasnaya Zvezda and signed by Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, his deputies and top army commanders, described Moskalik as a 'loyal son' of Russia. It said that since the start of the war, which the obituary in line with the Kremlin's stance called 'a special military operation', Moskalik supervised the works of the General Staff's combat control group. It did not provide details on what that position involved. According to the obituary, from 2015 to 2021 Moskalik was involved in Russian defence ministry's international delegations working on issues relating to southeastern Ukraine. He was 'responsible for preparing materials for the Russian president on the situation in southeastern Ukraine', the obituary said.
Business Recorder
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Business Recorder
Trump urges Russia to stop attacks; Rubio says US might walk away from peace efforts
MORRISTOWN: President Donald Trump urged Russia on Sunday to stop its attacks in Ukraine while his top diplomat said the United States might walk away from peace efforts if it does not see progress. Speaking to reporters in New Jersey, Trump said he was disappointed that Russia has continued to attack Ukraine, and said his one-on-one meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy at the Vatican on Saturday had gone well. 'I see him as calmer. I think he understands the picture, and I think he wants to make a deal,' Trump said of Zelenskiyy. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile, said the Trump administration might abandon its attempts to broker a deal if Russia and Ukraine do not make headway. 'It needs to happen soon,' Rubio told the NBC program 'Meet the Press.'' 'We cannot continue to dedicate time and resources to this effort if it's not going to come to fruition.' Trump and Zelenskiyy, in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis, met in a Vatican basilica on Saturday to try to revive faltering efforts to end the war in Ukraine. The meeting was the first between the two leaders since an angry encounter in the White House Oval Office in February and comes at a critical time in negotiations aimed at bringing an end to the conflict. Trump rebuked Russian President Vladimir Putin after that meeting, saying on social media that there is 'no reason' for Russia to shoot missiles into civilian areas. In a pre-taped interview that aired on the CBS program 'Face the Nation' on Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia would continue to target sites used by Ukraine's military. Trump says Ukraine willing to negotiate, Russia 'ready for peace' When asked about a Russian strike on Kyiv last week that killed civilians, Lavrov said that 'the target attacked was not something absolutely civilian' and that Russia targets only 'sites which are used by the military.' Zelenskiyy wrote on the messaging app Telegram that his top military commander reported that Russia had already conducted nearly 70 attacks on Sunday. 'The situation at the front and the real activity of the Russian army prove that there is currently insufficient pressure on Russia from the world to end this war,' Zelenskiyy said. Differing proposals Ukrainian and European officials pushed back last week against some U.S. proposals on how to end the war, making counterproposals on issues from territory to sanctions. American proposals called for U.S. recognition of Russia's control over Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula that Moscow seized and annexed in 2014, as well as de facto recognition of Russia's hold on other parts of Ukraine. In contrast, the European and Ukrainian proposal defers detailed discussion about territory until after a ceasefire is concluded. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Sunday that Ukraine should not agree to the American proposal, saying it went too far in ceding swathes of territory in return for a ceasefire. Mike Waltz, Trump's national security adviser, said the U.S. president has 'expressed his frustration' at both Putin and Zelenskiyy but remains determined to help negotiate an agreement. Waltz also said the United States and Ukraine would eventually reach an agreement over rare earth minerals. Chuck Schumer, the top U.S. Senate Democrat, said on Sunday that he is concerned Trump will 'cave in to Putin.' 'To just abandon Ukraine, after all the sacrifice that they made, after so much loss of life, and with the rallying of the whole West against Putin, it would just be a moral tragedy,' Schumer said on CNN's 'State of the Union' program.
Business Recorder
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Business Recorder
Ukraine's Zelenskiyy lands in South Africa for talks on ties, peace efforts
PRETORIA: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy arrived in South Africa on Thursday for talks with President Cyril Ramaphosa on bilateral cooperation and efforts to end Russia's war in Ukraine. Zelenskiyy has been trying to shore up international support for Kyiv's war effort amid growing pressure from US President Donald Trump, who said last week that Washington could walk away if there was no clear progress on a peace deal soon. Commenting on the visit, Zelenskiyy posted on X that he would meet Ramaphosa as well as other political and civil representatives. 'It is crucial to bring a just peace closer,' he added. South Africa, which maintains good relations with Russia, has remained neutral in the conflict which began in 2022. 'The visit provides South Africa and Ukraine with an opportunity to discuss bilateral relations… It will also explore areas of cooperation with the objective to support efforts to bring lasting peace,' Ramaphosa's office said in a statement. Ramaphosa held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, stating on X that the two leaders had affirmed 'strong bilateral relations' and a commitment to work together toward a peaceful resolution of the war. Drone, missile attack on Kyiv injures 21, officials say Zelenskiyy on Wednesday said there needed to be an immediate, full and unconditional ceasefire with Moscow repeating that Ukraine did not rule out any format of talks that could lead to a ceasefire. Zelenskiyy's visit is the first by a Ukrainian head of state to South Africa. Ramaphosa and Zelenskiyy have met multiple times including in Kyiv in 2023 as part of a mediation attempt by African leaders which did not achieve notable results.
Korea Herald
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
Trump tells 'dictator' Zelenskiyy to move fast for peace or lose Ukraine
WASHINGTON/KYIV -- US President Donald Trump denounced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy as "a dictator without elections" on Wednesday and said he had better move fast to secure peace or he would have no country left. Trump spoke hours after Zelenskiy hit back at his suggestion that Ukraine was responsible for Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion, saying the US president was trapped in a Russian disinformation bubble. "A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left," Trump wrote on social media, using a different spelling for the Ukrainian president's name. In response, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said no one could force his country to give in. "We will defend our right to exist," Sybiha said on X. Zelenskiyy's five-year term was supposed to end in 2024 but presidential and parliamentary elections cannot be held under martial law, which Ukraine imposed in February 2022 in response to Russia's invasion. Russia has seized some 20 percent of Ukraine and is slowly but steadily gaining more territory in the east. Moscow said its "special military operation" responded to an existential threat posed by Kyiv's pursuit of NATO membership. Ukraine and the West call Russia's action an imperialist land grab. Zelenskiyy, who met Trump's Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv on Wednesday, said he would like Trump's team to have "more truth" about Ukraine, a day after Trump said Ukraine "should never have started" the conflict with Russia. The Ukrainian leader said Trump's assertion that his approval rating was just 4 percent was Russian disinformation and that any attempt to replace him would fail. "We have evidence that these figures are being discussed between America and Russia. That is, President Trump ... unfortunately lives in this disinformation space," Zelenskiyy told Ukrainian TV. The latest poll from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, from early February, says 57 percent of Ukrainians trust Zelenskiy. Less than a month into his presidency, Trump has upended US policy on Ukraine and Russia, ending Washington's bid to isolate Russia over the invasion with a Trump-Putin phone call and talks between senior US and Russian officials. Following Trump's latest remarks, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Zelenskiyy "sits in office after duly-held elections." When asked who started the war, Dujarric responded that Russia had invaded Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said it was "false and dangerous" for Trump to call Zelenskiyy a dictator, German newspaper Spiegel reported. European officials have been left shocked and flat-footed by the Trump administration's moves on Ukraine in recent days. At a second meeting of European leaders in Paris, hastily arranged by French President Emmanuel Macron earlier in the day, there were more calls for immediate action to support Ukraine and bolster Europe's defense capabilities, but few concrete decisions. Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will visit Washington next week, amid other meetings aimed at bringing an end to Russia's war in Ukraine, according to White House national security adviser Mike Waltz. Starmer spoke to Zelenskiyy, expressed support for him as Ukraine's democratically elected leader and said it was "perfectly reasonable" to suspend elections during wartime, Starmer's office said on Wednesday. Trump-Putin meeting Trump said he may meet Putin this month. In Moscow, Putin said that Ukraine would not be barred from peace negotiations but success would depend on raising the level of trust between Moscow and Washington. Putin, speaking a day after Russia and the US met in Riyadh to hold their first talks on how to end the three-year-old conflict, also said it would take time to set up a summit with Trump, which both men have said they want. "We need to ensure that our teams prepare issues that are extremely important for both the United States and Russia, including - but not only - on the Ukrainian track, in order to reach solutions acceptable to both sides," Putin said in televised remarks. Ukraine and European governments were not invited to Tuesday's talks in the Saudi capital, which magnified their concern that Russia and the US might cut a deal that ignores their vital security interests. Trump says Europe must step up to guarantee any ceasefire deal. Zelenskiy has suggested giving US companies the right to extract valuable minerals in Ukraine in return for US security guarantees, but said Trump was not offering that. Zelenskiy said at a news conference the US had given Ukraine $67 billion in weapons and $31.5 billion in budget support, and that American demands for $500 billion in minerals are "not a serious conversation", and that he could not sell his country. Kellogg, the US Ukraine envoy, said as he arrived in Kyiv that he expected substantial talks. "We understand the need for security guarantees," Kellogg told reporters, adding that part of his mission would be "to sit and listen." It was important the Kellogg visit be constructive, Zelenskiyy said in his nightly radio address, and that he was counting on "the unity of Europe and the pragmatism of America." Zelenskiyy earlier said he and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte discussed the importance of security guarantees for Kyiv as part of any settlement. Trump's US policy reversal clashed with allies in the 27-member European Union, whose envoys on Wednesday agreed on a sixteenth package of sanctions against Russia, including on aluminum and vessels believed to be carrying sanctioned Russian oil. The EU's diplomatic service has proposed boosting the bloc's military aid for Ukraine, aiming to show continued support for Kyiv, though no quick decision is expected. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Wednesday that while there was no complete agreement in the EU on how to proceed, "we need to keep a cool head and continue to support Ukraine".
