Wars 2022 02/24 Monitoring Russian and Ukraine War.

[Saif]

Trump says he will probably meet Zelensky at NATO summit

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he will probably meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a NATO summit this week, opening a door for Kyiv to press its case for buying US Patriot missile systems and tougher sanctions to fight Russia. Trump made the comments to reporters on boar

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Trump says he will probably meet Zelensky at NATO summit

REUTERS
Published :
Jun 24, 2025 21:22
Updated :
Jun 24, 2025 21:22

US President Donald Trump walks to board Marine One to depart to attend the NATO Summit in The Hague, Netherlands, from the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, DC, US, Jun 24, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he will probably meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a NATO summit this week, opening a door for Kyiv to press its case for buying US Patriot missile systems and tougher sanctions to fight Russia.

Trump made the comments to reporters on board Air Force One on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, a White House official said Trump was scheduled to meet Zelensky at some point during the NATO summit, taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday in The Hague.

Trump pulled out from a hoped-for meeting with Zelensky last week, when the US president left the G7 meeting in Canada early, saying he needed to focus on the crisis in the Middle East.

In comments released by his office on Saturday, Zelensky outlined his three priorities if a meeting with Trump were to take place at the NATO summit.

Firstly, he said he wanted to discuss weapons, saying that during the G7 summit, his aides had given US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent a wish-list of arms, including Patriot missile defence systems, which he described as worth “a very large amount”.

Zelensky said Ukraine was “ready to find the money for this whole package” rather than requesting it as military aid.

Secondly, he wanted to talk about sanctions on Russia, and thirdly about other diplomatic ways of applying greater pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.​

 

[Saif]

Russian strikes kill 11 in Ukraine

Russian missiles on Tuesday crashed into schools, hospitals and kindergartens in central Ukraine, killing at least 11 and wounding dozens more in a region coming under mounting pressure...

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Russian strikes kill 11 in Ukraine
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 25 June, 2025, 00:05

Russian missiles on Tuesday crashed into schools, hospitals and kindergartens in central Ukraine, killing at least 11 and wounding dozens more in a region coming under mounting pressure.

The attacks came as president Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the Netherlands to meet with allies on the side-lines of the NATO defence alliance summit.

He is expected to meet with US president Donald Trump on Wednesday to discuss more sanctions on Russia and arms procurement, a senior Ukrainian source said.

Emergency services in the Dnipropetrovsk region, now threatened by Russian battlefield advances, published photos of rescuers helping civilians covered in blood after the attack.

‘This is not a fight where it’s hard to choose a side. Standing with Ukraine means defending life,’ Zelensky said after the attack.

Ukraine’s foreign minister said the strikes amounted to a ‘rejection of peace’ from Russia, which has rejected US and Ukrainian ceasefire proposals.

‘It is a matter of credibility for allies to step up pressure on Moscow,’ Andriy Sybiga said.

Ukrainian police said 11 residents of Dnipro were killed and two more were left dead in the nearby town of Samar. More than 100 people were wounded, according to a statement.

Police added that an administrative building, shops, educational facilities and a children’s hospital were damaged.

Russian forces, which invaded Ukraine just over three years ago, recently claimed to have reached the border of the central industrial Dnipropetrovsk region, to gain a foothold there for the first time of the war.

The attacks on Dnipro city, the region’s capital, came just hours after deadly overnight drone attacks.

Three people including a toddler were killed earlier in the northeastern Sumy region that borders Russia during the barrage, local officials said.

Oleg Grygorov, head of the Sumy region’s military administration, said a five-year-old boy was pulled from the rubble of a destroyed house.

‘The strike took the lives of people from different families. They all lived on the same street. They went to sleep in their homes but the Russian drones interrupted their sleep — forever,’ he said.

One man died next to his spouse in a Ukrainian drone strike on Russia’s western border region of Belgorod, the region’s governor said, adding that the woman survived the attack.

Another drone had targeted a residential building in Moscow overnight, wounding two people, including a pregnant woman, the local authorities said.

Russia occupies around a fifth of Ukraine and claims to have annexed four Ukrainian regions as its own since launching its invasion in 2022 — in addition to Crimea, which it captured in 2014.

Kyiv has accused Moscow of deliberately sabotaging peace talks to prolong its full-scale offensive and to seize more territory.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine's top general says Ukraine stopped Russian advances in northern Sumy region

Ukraine's forces stopped Russian advances in the border area of the northern region of Sumy this week, the country's top general said in a statement on Thursday. "The advance of Russian troops in the border areas of Sumy region has been halted, and the line of combat has stabilised," Oleksandr Syr

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Ukraine's top general says Ukraine stopped Russian advances in northern Sumy region

REUTERS
Published :
Jun 26, 2025 16:35
Updated :
Jun 26, 2025 16:35

Colonel general Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, attends an interview with Reuters, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine January 12, 2024. Photo : REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/Files

Ukraine's forces stopped Russian advances in the border area of the northern region of Sumy this week, the country's top general said in a statement on Thursday.

"The advance of Russian troops in the border areas of Sumy region has been halted, and the line of combat has stabilised," Oleksandr Syrskyi said in the statement about his visit to the front.

Russia in April said it had ejected Ukrainian forces from the western Russian region of Kursk, and President Vladimir Putin has ordered his forces to follow up by carving out a "buffer zone" in the adjoining Sumy region.

After Russian advances there in early June, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his troops were repelling the attacks and had recaptured the village of Andriivka.

Syrskyi said additional fortifications and defensive measures, including creating anti-drone corridors, should be done more promptly in the area.

"The primary tasks are to strengthen fortifications and build up the system of engineering and fortification barriers," he said.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine, Russia exchange another group of POWs

Ukraine and Russia exchanged a new group of captured soldiers on Thursday, the latest in a series of prisoner swaps agreed at peace talks in Istanbul earlier this month...

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Ukraine, Russia exchange another group of POWs
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 27 June, 2025, 00:21

Ukraine and Russia exchanged a new group of captured soldiers on Thursday, the latest in a series of prisoner swaps agreed at peace talks in Istanbul earlier this month.

Neither side said how many prisoners were released in the latest exchange.

The two countries pledged to swap at least 1,000 soldiers each during their direct meeting in Istanbul on June 2, but no follow-up talks have been scheduled.

The return of prisoners of war and the repatriation of war dead have been among the few areas of cooperation between the warring sides since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.

‘Today, warriors of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, and the State Border Guard Service are returning home,’ Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media.

He shared images of Ukrainian soldiers draped in blue-and-yellow national flags, smiling and tearfully embracing.

‘The vast majority of the defenders released today had been held captive for more than three years,’ Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said.

‘Many of them were captured during the defence of Mariupol,’ it added.

The gruelling siege of Mariupol at the start of Russia’s 2022 offensive is seen one of the most brutal battles of the conflict.

Russia said its soldiers had been transferred to Belarus and were receiving ‘psychological and medical care’.

‘Another group of Russian servicemen has been returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime,’ the defence ministry said in a statement.

It posted a video showing freed Russian soldiers draped in their national flag, chanting ‘Russia, Russia, Russia!’

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s army chief on Thursday ordered defensive lines to be built more quickly in the northeastern Sumy region, as Russian forces gained ground towards the industrial Dnipropetrovsk region.

Sumy lies over the border from Russia’s Kursk region where Ukrainian forces launched an audacious land grab last year that Moscow took months to push back, with the help of North Korean forces.

Kyiv says Russia, which invaded Ukraine more than three years ago, has now amassed 50,000 troops with the goal of advancing deeper into the Sumy region.

‘Work is on-going, but it needs to be accelerated, given the demands of modern warfare,’ Ukraine commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said, following a working trip to Sumy where he met with military officials.

Syrsky said ‘anti-drone corridors’ — often comprising physical barriers like netting — were needed to protect Ukrainian troops and logistics routes. The speed at which this work was being carried out ‘must be significantly increased’, he added.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine calls for EU sanctions on Bangladeshi entities for import of ‘stolen grain’

Ukraine plans to ask the European Union to sanction Bangladeshi entities it says are importing wheat taken from Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia, after its warnings to Dhaka failed to stop the trade, a top Ukrainian diplomat in South Asia said. Russian forces have occupied large parts of U

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Ukraine calls for EU sanctions on Bangladeshi entities for import of ‘stolen grain’

REUTERS
Published :
Jun 27, 2025 17:30
Updated :
Jun 27, 2025 17:35

A crane loads wheat grain into the cargo vessel Mezhdurechensk before its departure for the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in the port of Mariupol, Russian-controlled Ukraine, Oct 25, 2023. Photo : REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko/Files

Ukraine plans to ask the European Union to sanction Bangladeshi entities it says are importing wheat taken from Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia, after its warnings to Dhaka failed to stop the trade, a top Ukrainian diplomat in South Asia said.

Russian forces have occupied large parts of Ukraine’s southern agricultural regions since 2014 and Kyiv has accused Russia of stealing its grain even before the 2022 invasion. Russian officials say there is no theft of grain involved as the territories previously considered part of Ukraine are now part of Russia and will remain so forever.

According to documents provided to Reuters by people familiar with the matter, the Ukraine Embassy in New Delhi sent several letters to Bangladesh’s foreign affairs ministry this year, asking them to reject more than 150,000 tonnes of grain allegedly stolen and shipped from Russian port of Kavkaz.

Asked about the confidential diplomatic communication, Ukraine’s ambassador to India, Oleksandr Polishchuk, said Dhaka had not responded to the communication and Kyiv will now escalate the matter as its intelligence showed entities in Russia mix grain procured from occupied Ukrainian territories with Russian wheat before shipping.

“It’s a crime,” Polishchuk said in an interview at Ukraine’s embassy in New Delhi.

“We will share our investigation with our European Union colleagues, and we will kindly ask them to take the appropriate measures.”

Ukraine’s diplomatic tussle with Bangladeshi authorities has not been previously reported.

The Bangladesh and Russian foreign ministries did not respond to requests for comment.

A Bangladeshi food ministry official said Dhaka bars imports from Russia if the origin of the grain is from occupied Ukrainian territory, adding that the country imports no stolen wheat.

Amid the war with Russia, the agricultural sector remains one of the main sources of export earnings for Ukraine, supplying grain, vegetable oil and oilseeds to foreign markets.

In April, Ukraine detained a foreign vessel in its territorial waters, alleging it was involved in the illegal trade of stolen grain, and last year seized a foreign cargo ship and detained its captain on similar suspicions.

The EU has so far sanctioned 342 ships that are part of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, which the bloc says enable Moscow to circumvent Western restrictions to move oil, arms and grain. Russia says Western sanctions are illegal.

‘NOT DIAMONDS OR GOLD’

A Ukraine official told Reuters Ukrainian law prohibits any voluntary trade between Ukrainian producers, including grain farmers in the occupied territories, and Russian entities.

The Ukraine Embassy has sent four letters to Bangladesh’s government, reviewed by Reuters, in which it shared vessel names and their registration numbers involved in the alleged trade of moving the grain from the Crimean ports of Sevastopol and Kerch, occupied by Russia since 2014, and Berdiansk, which is under Moscow’s control since 2022, to Kavkaz in Russia.

The letters stated the departure and tentative arrival dates of the ships that left from Kavkaz for Bangladesh between November 2024 and June 2025.

The June 11 letter said Bangladesh can face “serious consequences” of sanctions for taking deliveries of “stolen grain”, and that such purchases fuel “humanitarian suffering.”

The sanctions “may extend beyond importing companies and could also target government officials and the leadership of ministries and agencies who knowingly facilitate or tolerate such violations,” the letter added.

In a statement to Reuters, Anitta Hipper, EU Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said the vessels in question were not currently subject to any restrictive measures.

The sanctions regime was designed to act against activities that undermine the food security of Ukraine including transportation of “stolen Ukrainian grain” and “any proven involvement of vessels in shipping stolen Ukrainian grain could provide the basis for future restrictive measures,” she added.

The Russia-controlled territories, excluding Crimea, accounted for about 3% of the total Russian grain harvest in 2024, according to Reuters’ estimates based on official Russian data. Russian grain transporter Rusagrotrans says Bangladesh was the fourth largest buyer of Russian wheat in May.

Ambassador Polishchuk told Reuters their intelligence shows Russia mixes its grain with that from occupied Ukrainian territories to avoid detection.

A Russian trader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that when the grain is loaded for export at a Russian port, it is very difficult to track its origin.

“These are not diamonds or gold. The composition of impurities does not allow for identification,” the person said.​

 

[Sharma Ji]

 

[Saif]

Russian strike kills 2 in Ukraine’s Odesa

A Russian drone strike on Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa killed two people and wounded 14, including children, local authorities said on Saturday...

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Russian strike kills 2 in Ukraine’s Odesa
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv 29 June, 2025, 00:36

A Russian drone strike on Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa killed two people and wounded 14, including children, local authorities said on Saturday.

Moscow has stepped up drone and missile attacks on Ukraine and peace talks initiated by the United States to end the three-year conflict have stalled.

‘Rescuers pulled the bodies of two people from the rubble who died as a result of a hostile drone strike on a residential building,’ Odesa governor Oleg Kiper said on Telegram.

The night-time strike wounded 14 people, Kiper said, adding that ‘three of them children.’

Separately, authorities in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region said one person was killed and three others were wounded in Russian strikes over the past day. ‘Russian troops targeted critical and social infrastructure and residential areas in the region,’ the Kherson’s governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Telegram early on Saturday.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Russia’s offensive, which has forced millions from their homes and devastated much of eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine has launched retaliatory strikes on Russia throughout the war.

The Russian defence ministry said on Saturday its air defence had shot down 31 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Moscow also said it had captured another village in the Donetsk region, which the Kremlin has claimed as part of Russia since late 2022.

Russia has demanded Ukraine cede more land and give up Western military support as a precondition to peace—terms Kyiv says are unacceptable.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine on track to withdraw from Ottawa anti-personnel mines treaty, Zelenskiy decree shows

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has signed a decree on the country’s withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention, which bans the production and use of anti-personnel mines, the presidential website said on Sunday. Ukraine ratified the convention in 2005. “Support the proposal

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Ukraine on track to withdraw from Ottawa anti-personnel mines treaty, Zelenskiy decree shows

REUTERS
Published :
Jun 29, 2025 18:56
Updated :
Jun 29, 2025 18:56

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy looks on at a press conference during a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda on Ukraine’s Constitution Day, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, June, 28, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Thomas Peter/Files

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has signed a decree on the country’s withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention, which bans the production and use of anti-personnel mines, the presidential website said on Sunday.
FE

Ukraine ratified the convention in 2005.

“Support the proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine to withdraw Ukraine from the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction of September 18, 1997,” the decree, published on Zelenskiy’s website, stated.

A senior Ukrainian lawmaker, Roman Kostenko, said that parliamentary approval is still needed to withdraw from the treaty.

“This is a step that the reality of war has long demanded. Russia is not a party to this Convention and is massively using mines against our military and civilians,” Kostenko, secretary of the Ukrainian parliament’s committee on national security, defence and intelligence, said on his Facebook page.

“We cannot remain tied down in an environment where the enemy has no restrictions,” he added, saying that the legislative decision must definitively restore Ukraine’s right to effectively defend its territory.

Russia has intensified its offensive operations in Ukraine in recent months, using significant superiority in manpower.

Kostenko did not say when the issue would be debated in parliament.​