Latest news with #southernUkraine
Al Arabiya
7 days ago
- Business
- Al Arabiya
Russia says no quick breakthrough in ‘complex' Ukraine talks
Russia has said it was wrong to expect a quick breakthrough in Ukraine talks, after Moscow rejected Kyiv's call for an unconditional ceasefire at negotiations in Istanbul. The sides agreed on a large-scale swap of captured soldiers and exchanged their roadmaps to peace, or so-called 'memorandums', at the discussions, which lasted less than two hours. More than three years into Russia's offensive -- which has killed tens of thousands on both sides and forced millions from their homes in eastern Ukraine -- the two sides appear as irreconcilable as ever. 'The settlement issue is extremely complex and involves a large number of nuances,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday. 'It would be wrong to expect immediate solutions and breakthroughs,' he added. Moscow demanded Ukraine pull its troops out of four eastern and southern regions that Moscow claims to have annexed as a precondition to pausing its offensive, according to the document handed to the Ukrainians that was published by Russian state media. Kyiv had pressed for a full and unconditional ceasefire. Russia instead offered a partial truce of two to three days in some areas of the frontline, its top negotiator said after the talks. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha on Tuesday denounced Russia for presenting 'old ultimatums that do not move the situation any closer to true peace' and for having 'so far rejected any meaningful formats for a ceasefire.' Peskov earlier also dismissed the idea of a summit between the presidents of Russia, Ukraine and the United States. 'In the near future, it is unlikely,' Peskov told reporters when asked about the chances of the leaders meeting, adding that such a summit could only happen after Russian and Ukrainian negotiators reach an 'agreement.' The White House had said on Monday that US President Donald Trump was 'open' to the idea, which is also backed by Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Targeting civilians Zelenskyy on Tuesday accused Russia of 'deliberately' targeting civilians in a rocket attack on the city of Sumy, some 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Russian border, that killed four people. Russian troops have accelerated their advance, seeking to establish what Putin called a 'buffer zone' inside Ukraine's northeastern Sumy region. Zelenskyy posted a video from the emergency services showing destroyed cars and the body of one victim lying on the road. The attack 'says everything one needs to know about Russia's so-called 'desire' to end this war,' he added, calling for 'decisive actions' from the United States and Europe to push Russia into a ceasefire. 'Every day, Russia gives new reasons for tougher sanctions and stronger support for our defense,' he said. A seven-year-old girl was among 20 wounded, with doctors 'fighting for her life,' Sumy's Acting Mayor Artem Kobzar said. Three people were also killed in a rocket attack in the northeastern Kharkiv region. Moscow's army said it had captured the village of Andriivka in the Sumy region, located around five kilometers (three miles) from the Russian border. Zelenskyy said last week that Russia was massing some 50,000 soldiers for an offensive on the region. Meanwhile, Ukraine's SBU security service claimed it had hit a pillar of the Crimean bridge linking the annexed peninsula to Russia with an underwater explosive device. The extent of the damage was unclear following a temporary closure to the bridge after the attack. A delegation of top Ukrainian officials also landed in Washington for talks with US officials on defense and economic issues, including the possibility of new sanctions, Zelenskyy's office said. Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy's top aide and a member of the delegation, met with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg. 'I emphasized that Russia is stalling and manipulating the negotiation process in an attempt to avoid American sanctions, and has no genuine intention of ceasing hostilities,' Yermak wrote on social media. 'Only strong sanctions can compel Russia to engage in serious negotiations.' Meanwhile, Russia's top security official Sergei Shoigu was in Pyongyang on Wednesday for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The two countries have drawn closer in recent years, with North Korea sending troops and weapons to support Moscow's war effort. Russian news agencies reported Shoigu and Kim were expected to discuss issues including Ukraine. Trump, who said he could end the conflict swiftly when he returned to the White House in January, has repeatedly expressed anger at both Putin and Zelenskyy as the fighting drags through its fourth year with no end in sight. But he has held off from imposing new economic penalties on Moscow.
Reuters
28-05-2025
- General
- Reuters
Many Ukrainians baulk at conceding land to Russia, entangling nascent peace process
KYIV/DNIPRO, Ukraine, May 28 (Reuters) - Mariupol natives Oleksandr and Liudmyla Lytvyn fled home three years ago during Russia's 86-day siege of the port city in southern Ukraine. Now they are following peace talks between the warring countries anxiously, fearing they may never return. Mariupol, home to more than 400,000 people before the full-scale invasion, was seized by Russian forces in May 2022 when the city's last defenders were ordered to surrender, ending one of the bloodiest chapters of the war. "We lived our entire life in Mariupol. I believe until the very last that it will be Ukrainian. I do not know how," Liudmyla, 65, a retired teacher, told Reuters. Her longing to see occupied land back under Ukrainian control is widely shared, presenting a challenge to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as he comes under pressure to consider territorial concessions under any peace agreement with Russia. Ukraine has given no indication it is willing to do so, but Russian President Vladimir Putin has pushed Kyiv to cede not only occupied territory but also land not controlled by Moscow, while the United States has said loss of land seems inevitable. More than three years into its full-scale invasion, Russia controls nearly one fifth of Ukraine and its troops are making incremental but steady gains in the east. Zelenskiy himself has acknowledged that Ukraine cannot recapture all of its lost territory through military force, but wants to settle the issue through diplomacy. Oleksandr, 65, said the issue of what Ukraine may have to give up in return for peace depends not only on Kyiv. "The issue here is whether there are any limits on weapons," he said, referring to doubts over whether the U.S. will continue military support for Ukraine now that Donald Trump is in the White House and moving closer to Russia. "It depends not only on Zelenskiy but also on other matters, weapons in particular," Oleksandr added, sitting next to his wife in a dormitory in the central city of Dnipro where they have moved temporarily. Without U.S. military backing, Ukraine's position in negotiations would be significantly weakened. This month Kyiv and Moscow held their first direct talks since 2022, yielding little progress on ending the war. After a subsequent phone call between Trump and Putin, the U.S. president appeared to withdraw from efforts to mediate peace, leaving Ukraine exposed against a larger enemy. For displaced residents of Mariupol - the largest Ukrainian city to fall to the Russians since 2022 - that raises concerns not only about territorial concessions but also over whether justice will be served. Vadym Boichenko, Mariupol's mayor-in-exile, said his team gathered evidence showing at least 22,000 civilians were killed in nearly three months of fighting that reduced a city once famous for its vibrant port and giant steel plants to rubble. Human Rights Watch, along with Truth Hounds and SITU Research, estimated 8,000 people died from fighting or war-related causes, although it could not establish how many were civilians and said the true count may be significantly higher. Reuters could not independently verify estimates of the death toll. Russia pounded Mariupol with artillery, rockets and missiles and cut off access to electricity, heating, fresh water, food and medical supplies - creating a humanitarian catastrophe, Boichenko added. "All we ask for is recognition (of the alleged crimes) and punishment," Boichenko said in Kyiv in one of the 'IMariupol' centres set up in 22 cities across Ukraine to help displaced residents with basic needs. Russia's defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment on this article. Russia says it liberated the city from Ukrainian "neo-Nazis", using one of the main justifications for its invasion that Kyiv and its allies dismiss as absurd. Moscow-installed authorities have overseen a major reconstruction programme in Mariupol, and hold it up as a symbol of the benefits of Russia's annexation of four Ukrainian regions as well as the Crimean peninsula. Russia blames Ukraine's armed forces for the city's destruction, alleging they used the local population as human shields. Ukraine rejects that accusation. Moscow has demanded that Ukraine withdraw its troops from four Ukrainian regions where fighting is raging, even though it does not control all of them. The overwhelming majority of Ukrainians - 82% - reject those demands, according to an opinion poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology conducted in May. Slightly more than half of the population - 51% - would support a compromise with a de-facto recognition of currently occupied territories in exchange for robust security guarantees from Europe and the U.S., even though the latter has indicated it would not provide them. But about 40% considered this unacceptable, raising questions over how Ukraine and Russia can break the deadlock in a nascent peace process. "It is not fair to leave them what they took away. It is our land," said Dmytro, 35, who had settled in Mariupol after being forced to leave the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk in 2015. Dmytro, now also based in Dnipro but concerned he might have to flee again, declined to give his last name as his mother and grandmother still live in the occupied Donetsk region. "What we lived through in Mariupol is horror," he said, recollecting how he shielded his son, now 10, from bombardment and cooked food on open fires in the streets. He fled Mariupol in March 2022.
Reuters
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Wounded Ukrainian soldiers ask: What ceasefire?
ZAPORIZHZHIA REGION, Ukraine, May 10 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared a three-day pause in fighting against Ukraine, but for bloodied Ukrainian soldiers limping into a field hospital, their wounds testified that the ceasefire was not being respected. One soldier, who gave his name as Stanislav, sat in the field hospital on Friday night cradling his left arm. It was wrapped in gauze bandage, and blood was soaking through. 'There hasn't been any ceasefire," said Stanislav, who did not give his full name in line with Ukrainian military protocol. "Shelling has continued just as before, drones are flying just like before, the same with explosives being dropped. Nothing has changed at all." "Look, we were driving today, there were mortars all the way. Advance parties moved forward, they tried to attack." Putin announced the three-day ceasefire to coincide with a May 9 military parade on Moscow's Red Square where he hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders in commemoration of the end of World War Two. The ceasefire is due to end at midnight (2100 GMT) on Saturday. Ukraine did not sign up for the ceasefire, calling it a ruse by Putin. Each side has accused the other of carrying on fighting regardless, though there has been a pause in long-range attacks on each other's capitals. Reuters was given access to the field hospital, in the Zaporizhzhia region of southern Ukraine that is partially controlled by Russian forces, on condition the news agency did not disclose the exact location. Medics examined soldiers as they came in and replaced the dressings that had been hurriedly put on their wounds out in the field. The more serious cases were placed on a gurney while medics bandaged them, checked their vital signs, and cleaned dried blood and mud off their skin. One of the medics, who gave his name as Oleh, said it was a regular night's work, even with the Russian-declared ceasefire. 'The same as usual, we got used to it. They will never change," he said of the Russian forces. "Just the opposite, we know that if they declare some sort of ceasefire it will be exactly the opposite. No question about that. They keep shooting."
Free Malaysia Today
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Russia accuses Ukraine of killing civilians in market drone strike
Vladimir Saldo said emergency crews were coming under new Ukrainian drone attacks. (Kremlin/EPA Images pic) MOSCOW : Moscow on Thursday accused Kyiv of attacking a busy market in Russian-controlled southern Ukraine in a drone strike it said had killed at least seven civilians and wounded more than 20, while Kyiv said the attack had killed only military personnel. Reuters could not verify either side's assertions. Vladimir Saldo, the region's Russian-installed governor, said the drones had struck a market in the town of Oleshky at around 9.30am local time on what was a public holiday. He and two social media users released videos purporting to show some of the incident. Reuters confirmed the location as Oleshky, but could not independently verify when they were filmed. One of the videos showed an explosion going off beside one in a group of low-slung buildings. Another video showed at least two bodies lying on the ground beside the structure; it was not possible to tell who they were. Saldo, posting in the evening on the Telegram messaging app, said emergency crews trying to evacuate the bodies of those killed were coming under new Ukrainian drone attacks. Vladyslav Voloshyn, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian military, said Kyiv had targeted Russian troops in part of Kherson region controlled by Moscow and that only military personnel, and not civilians, had been killed. Russia seeks condemnation Russia's foreign ministry called on the international community to condemn what it said was an act of terrorism. 'After the first strikes, which had already resulted in casualties, the enemy launched a second drone raid, during which they mercilessly killed the survivors and attacked the rescuers who had arrived,' the ministry said in a statement. 'This is yet another bloody war crime.' Local Russian-installed official Sergei Cherevko said around 30 Ukrainian drones had struck the market in four different attack waves, according to state media. Cherevko alleged Ukrainian forces had used cluster munitions against ambulances gathering at the scene and said two people had been killed – contradicting the death toll of seven given by Saldo and the Russian foreign ministry. Reuters has requested clarification from Saldo. In the Russian-occupied part of eastern Donetsk region, Moscow-appointed governor Denis Pushilin said one person had been killed and eight injured from improper handling of explosives after Ukrainian forces had shelled different areas. Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of targeting civilians in the course of the war, now well into its fourth year, something both sides deny. Civilian casualties have been far higher on the Ukrainian side. Russian strikes last month which Moscow said were aimed at military targets killed 19 people in the city of Kryvyi Rih, 35 in Sumy and 12 in the capital Kyiv, prompting US President Donald Trump to urge Russian President Vladimir Putin to 'STOP!' Rodion Miroshnik, a special ambassador for Russia's foreign ministry, called the strike on Oleshky a 'monstrous atrocity' that made a mockery of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's talk about peace. Ukraine says it wants a ceasefire of at least 30 days to open the way for talks on securing a just peace. Russia has not agreed to such a truce, but Putin has unilaterally announced a three-day ceasefire next week and the Kremlin says he is open to direct talks with Kyiv.
