War Archive 2022 02/24 Monitoring Russian and Ukraine War.

[Saif]

Trump says he will speak with Putin, Zelensky on Monday

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday to discuss stopping the war in Ukraine, days after the first face-to-face talks in three years between Russia and Ukraine took place in Istanbul. Trump had offered to travel to Turkey for the t

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Trump says he will speak with Putin, Zelensky on Monday
REUTERS
Published :
May 17, 2025 22:00
Updated :
May 17, 2025 22:00

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday to discuss stopping the war in Ukraine, days after the first face-to-face talks in three years between Russia and Ukraine took place in Istanbul.

Trump had offered to travel to Turkey for the talks while in the Gulf last week if Putin would also attend, but Putin declined to take him up on the offer.

The president has been pressuring Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to agree to a ceasefire in the three-year-old war.

Trump said in a Truth Social post that his call with Putin will be on Monday at 10am Eastern (1400 GMT).

"THE SUBJECTS OF THE CALL WILL BE, STOPPING THE 'BLOODBATH' THAT IS KILLING, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN 5000 RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS A WEEK, AND TRADE," he said.

Trump said he would speak with Zelenskiy and various members of NATO afterwards.

"Hopefully it will be a productive day, a ceasefire will take place, and this very violent war, a war that should have never happened, will end," he wrote.

Russia has shown little inclination to make concessions in the Ukraine conflict.

Russian negotiators at the Istanbul peace talks on Friday demanded Ukraine pull its troops out of all Ukrainian regions claimed by Moscow before they would agree to a ceasefire, a senior Ukrainian official familiar with the talks told Reuters.​

 

[Saif]

Russia demanded Ukraine cede more territory at Turkey talks, Ukrainian source says

Russian negotiators at peace talks in Istanbul demanded Ukraine pull its troops out of all the Ukrainian regions claimed by Moscow before they would agree to a ceasefire, a senior Ukrainian official familiar with the talks told Reuters. That demand, along with others the Ukrainian official said we

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Russia demanded Ukraine cede more territory at Turkey talks, Ukrainian source says
REUTERS
Published :
May 17, 2025 16:33
Updated :
May 17, 2025 16:33

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan chairs a meeting between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators in Istanbul, Turkey, May 16, 2025. Photo : Arda Kucukkaya/Turkish Foreign Ministry/Handout via REUTERS

Russian negotiators at peace talks in Istanbul demanded Ukraine pull its troops out of all the Ukrainian regions claimed by Moscow before they would agree to a ceasefire, a senior Ukrainian official familiar with the talks told Reuters.

That demand, along with others the Ukrainian official said were made at Friday's talks, went beyond the terms of a draft peace deal that the United States proposed last month after consultations with Moscow.

The talks in Istanbul, the first direct contacts between the two sides in three years, ended with agreement for a prisoner exchange but failed to agree to a ceasefire. A Ukrainian source had said on Friday the Russians had made conditions he described as "non-starters", without giving details.

At a briefing with reporters on Saturday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked about the terms that, according to the Ukrainian official, Moscow put forward, but he declined to comment, saying the discussions need to take place behind closed doors.

The Ukrainian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal details of the talks, said Russian proposed the following terms for a peace deal:

* The withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, only after which there can be a ceasefire. The regions are largely or partially controlled by Russian forces, but Ukrainian troops are still fighting to hold on to the remaining parts of the regions. There was no such demand in the draft deal prepared by the United States.

* International recognition that five parts of Ukraine -- the Crimea peninsula annexed in 2014, as well as the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions -- are Russian. The US draft had proposed only US de jure recognition for Crimea, and US de facto recognition for Russian-controlled parts of the other regions.

* Ukraine becomes a neutral state, has no weapons of mass destruction, and Kyiv's allies will not station any of their troops on Ukrainian soil. This demand was absent from the US proposal.

* All sides in the conflict renounce their claims to receive compensation for war damages. The US proposal had stipulated that Ukraine receives compensation.

According to the Ukrainian official, Russian negotiators transmitted those demands verbally, and did not share any document containing their terms.

Ukraine has already said the Russian negotiating position in Istanbul showed it was not serious about peace. Kyiv's European allies are now pressing US President Donald Trump to impose new sanctions on Russia.

The head of the Russian delegation at the talks expressed satisfaction with the meeting, and said Moscow was willing to keep talking to Kyiv.

The US draft peace proposal from April was prepared after Trump envoy Steve Witkoff flew to Moscow for rounds of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kyiv and European allies drafted an alternative proposal, which stated there should be a ceasefire first so negotiations could start, and deferred any discussion of territory until later.​

 

[Saif]

Russia launches war’s largest drone attack after peace talks, Ukraine says

The largest known Russian drone attack since full-scale war began in 2022 killed a woman in the Kyiv region and injured at least three people, Ukrainian authorities said early on Sunday, as Moscow stepped up strikes following peace talks on Friday. Russia launched 273 drones by 8 a.m. local time (

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Russia launches war’s largest drone attack after peace talks, Ukraine says
REUTERS
Published :
May 18, 2025 20:07
Updated :
May 18, 2025 20:07

Firefighters work at the site of a private enterprise hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, outside of Kyiv, Ukraine May 18, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

The largest known Russian drone attack since full-scale war began in 2022 killed a woman in the Kyiv region and injured at least three people, Ukrainian authorities said early on Sunday, as Moscow stepped up strikes following peace talks on Friday.

Russia launched 273 drones by 8 a.m. local time (0500 GMT), targeting chiefly the central Kyiv region and the Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions in the country’s east, Ukraine’s air force said.

Based on data provided by the air force, this was Russia’s largest drone attack on Ukraine of the war. On the eve of the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 23, Moscow launched a then-record 267 drones.

The first direct talks in three years between Russia and Ukraine on Friday failed to broker the temporary ceasefire Kyiv and its allies have been urging. The 100 minutes of talks in Istanbul yielded an agreement to trade 1,000 prisoners of war on each side.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he would speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday.

The sustained overnight Russian drone attack on Sunday killed a 28-year-old woman in the capital region and injured at least three people, including a 4-year-old child, Ukrainian authorities said.

“Unfortunately, as a result of the enemy attack in the Obukhiv district, a woman died from her injuries,” Mykola Kalashnik, governor of the Kyiv region, posted on Telegram.

Kyiv and the region around it as well as the eastern part of Ukraine were under raid warnings for nine straight hours overnight before they were called off at around 9 a.m. local time (0600 GMT). Air defence units were engaged several times trying to repel attacks, the military said on Telegram.

“It’s been a tough night. The Russians have always used war and attacks to intimidate everyone in negotiations,” Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation, said on Telegram about Sunday’s attack.

Air defence units destroyed 88 of the drones overnight. The attack also included 128 simulator drones that were lost along the way without hitting anything, Ukraine’s air force said in a statement on Telegram.

On Saturday, a Russian drone attack killed nine civilians after hitting a shuttle bus in the Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine, Kyiv said. Zelenskiy called the attack “deliberate” and urged stronger sanctions on Moscow, which said it had attacked a military facility.

All of those injured in the Obukhiv district just south of Kyiv city were hospitalised, Kalashnik said. Several residential buildings were damaged in the area, he added.

In the city of Kyiv, fragments of a destroyed drone damaged the roof of a non-residential building, the city’s military administration said on Telegram. There were no reports of injuries, it added.

Reuters witnesses in and around Kyiv heard blasts that sounded like air defence units in operation. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war, but thousands have been killed in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian.​

 

[Saif]

Trump says will speak to Putin to end Ukraine 'bloodbath'

Kremlin had said that a meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would be possible only after both sides reach an agreement.

en.prothomalo.com

Trump says will speak to Putin to end Ukraine 'bloodbath'
AFPKYIV, Ukraine
Published: 18 May 2025, 08: 40

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin AFP

US President Donald Trump said Saturday he would speak by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the "bloodbath" in Ukraine, a day after the first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in more than three years.

Trump, who has been pressing Russia to agree a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, said he would speak with him by phone on Monday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told the state TASS news agency the call was "being prepared".

Earlier Saturday, the Kremlin had said that a meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would be possible only after both sides reach an agreement.

That came a day after direct talks between the two countries led to an agreement for another exchange of prisoners.

Early Saturday, a Russian drone attack on a minibus carrying evacuated civilians in Ukraine's eastern Sumy region killed nine people and wounded five, local authorities said.

Zelensky, denouncing the attack and Russia's refusal so far to agree a ceasefire, repeated his call for fresh sanctions against Moscow.

"Without stronger sanctions, without stronger pressure on Russia, there will be no real diplomacy there," he insisted.

On Friday in Istanbul, the first direct Ukraine-Russia talks since the spring of 2022 -- shortly after Moscow's full-scale invasion that February -- led to an agreement to exchange 1,000 prisoners each.

Ukraine's top negotiator, Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, said the "next step" would be a meeting between Zelensky and Putin.

Russia said it had taken note of the request.

"We consider it possible, but only as a result of the work and upon achieving certain results in the form of an agreement between the two sides," the Kremlin's spokesman said.

Trump denounces 'bloodbath'
Russia's top negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said Moscow and Kyiv would "present their vision of a possible future ceasefire", without saying when.

The Kremlin said that first the POW swap had to be completed and both sides need to present their visions for a ceasefire before fixing the next round of talks.

"For now, we need to do what the delegations agreed on yesterday" in Turkey, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, which meant "first and foremost to complete a 1,000 for 1,000 swap".

The head of Ukraine's military intelligence, Kirillo Budanov, told broadcaster TSN he hoped the exchange would happen next week.

Posting on Truth Social Saturday, Trump said he would speak to Putin on Monday to discuss finding a way out of the "BLOODBATH".

Afterwards, he added, he would speak to Zelensky and NATO officials, expressing hope that a "ceasefire will take place, and this very violent war... will end".

Both Moscow and Washington have already stressed the need for a meeting on the conflict between Putin and Trump.

Trump has argued that "nothing's going to happen" on the conflict until he meets Putin face-to-face.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the latest prisoner exchange in a telephone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

And in an interview with CBS, he said Lavrov had told him Moscow was preparing a document outlining its requirements for a ceasefire.

If Russia and Moscow can both provide "serious and viable" proposals "then there's been real progress, and we can work off of that," Rubio said.

Fighting goes on

The attack on the bus happened near the city of Bilopillya, local community head Yuri Zarko told Suspilne TV. A family of three were among the dead, the authorities said.

Elsewhere on the frontlines, the Russian army said its troops captured Oleksandropil village in the eastern Donetsk region, site of some of the most intense fighting.

As well as Sumy, Russia also pounded eastern Ukraine with missiles and drones, killing six and wounding more than a dozen, officials said. In Kherson, Russian shelling hit a truck carrying humanitarian aid Saturday morning.

Zelensky accused Putin of being "afraid" after he declined to Travel to Turkey for talks and argued that Russia was not taking the talks seriously.

"Yesterday in Istanbul, everyone saw a weak and unprepared Russian delegation with no significant powers. This must change. We need real steps to end the war," Zelensky said Saturday.

On Friday, Zelensky had called for a "strong reaction" from the world, including new sanctions, if the Istanbul talks failed.

Macron said European nations were coordinating with Washington on additional sanctions should Moscow continue to refuse an "unconditional ceasefire."

On Saturday, Zelensky said he had spoken to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney about fresh and effective sanctions against Russia.

During the Istanbul talks, the Ukrainian side said Russia had made "unacceptable" territorial demands.

Moscow claims annexation of five Ukrainian regions -- four since its 2022 invasion, and Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.​

 

[Saif]

Trump speaks to Putin amid 'impasse' on ending war in Ukraine

US President Donald Trump spoke to Russia's Vladimir Putin on Monday about peace in Ukraine after Washington said there was an impasse over ending Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two and that the United States may have to walk away. President Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into

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Trump speaks to Putin amid 'impasse' on ending war in Ukraine
REUTERS
Published :
May 19, 2025 21:56
Updated :
May 19, 2025 21:56

Firefighters work at the site of a private enterprise hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, outside of Kyiv, Ukraine May 18, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

US President Donald Trump spoke to Russia's Vladimir Putin on Monday about peace in Ukraine after Washington said there was an impasse over ending Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two and that the United States may have to walk away.

President Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the gravest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Trump, who says he wants to be remembered as a peacemaker, has repeatedly called for an end to the "bloodbath" of Ukraine, which his administration casts as a proxy war between the United States and Russia.

Under pressure from Trump, delegates from the warring countries met last week in Istanbul for the first time since 2022, after Putin proposed direct talks and Europeans and Ukraine demanded an immediate ceasefire.

A White House official said the call was underway. Putin was speaking from Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi while Trump was in Washington.

Shortly before the call, US Vice President JD Vance told reporters that Washington recognised there was an impasse in ending the war - and that if Moscow was not willing to engage then eventually the United States would have to say it was not its war.

"We realize there's a bit of an impasse here. And I think the president's going to say to President Putin: 'Look, are you serious? Are you real about this?'" Vance said as he prepared to depart from Italy.

"I think honestly that President Putin, he doesn't quite know how to get out of the war," Vance said, adding that he had just spoken to Trump.

He said it "takes two to tango. I know the President's willing to do that, but if Russia is not willing to do that, then we're eventually just going to say, this is not our war."

"We're going to try to end it, but if we can't end it, we're eventually going to say: 'You know what? That was worth a try, but we're not doing anymore.'"

PEACE OR WAR

Trump, whose administration has made clear that Russia could face additional sanctions if it does not take peace talks seriously, said he would also speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and various members of NATO.

Putin, whose forces control a fifth of Ukraine and are advancing, has stood firm on his conditions for ending the war, despite public and private pressure from Trump and repeated warnings from European powers.

On Sunday, Russia launched its largest drone attack on Ukraine since the start of the war.

Ukraine's intelligence service said it also believed Moscow intended to fire an intercontinental ballistic missile on Sunday, though there was no confirmation from Russia that it had done so.

In June 2024, Putin said Ukraine must officially drop its NATO ambitions and withdraw its troops from the entire territory of the four Ukrainian regions Russia claims.

On Sunday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer discussed Russia's war against Ukraine with leaders of the United States, Italy, France and Germany, a Downing Street spokesperson said.

"Tomorrow (Monday) President Putin must show he wants peace by accepting the 30-day unconditional ceasefire proposed by President Trump and backed by Ukraine and Europe," French President Emmanuel Macron said on X after Sunday's call.

Putin is wary of a ceasefire and says fighting cannot be paused until a number of crucial conditions are worked out or clarified.​