Lulldapull
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Uki drone attack on Russian bomber airfields explained:
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Vsdoc
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We are heading towards a maritime muthbhed with the US navy.
Saif
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Ukraine says it hit Russian oil facilities, military airfield
Ukraine's military said on Saturday that it had struck oil facilities inside Russia, including a major refinery as well as a military airfield for drones and an electronics factory. In a statement on Telegram, Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces said they had hit the oil refinery in Ryazan, about 18
Ukraine says it hit Russian oil facilities, military airfield
REUTERS
Published :
Aug 02, 2025 16:17
Updated :
Aug 02, 2025 16:17
Ukraine's military said on Saturday that it had struck oil facilities inside Russia, including a major refinery as well as a military airfield for drones and an electronics factory.
In a statement on Telegram, Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces said they had hit the oil refinery in Ryazan, about 180 km (110 miles) southeast of Moscow, causing a fire on its premises.
Also hit, the USF said, was the Annanefteprodukt oil storage facility in the Voronezh region that borders on northeastern Ukraine.
The statement did not specify how the facilities were hit, but the USF specialises in drone warfare, including long-range strikes.
There was no immediate comment from Russia on the reported attacks on its infrastructure sites.
Separately, Ukraine's SBU intelligence agency said its drones had hit Russia's Primorsko-Akhtarsk military airfield, which has been used to launch waves of long-range drones at targets in Ukraine.
The SBU said it also hit a factory in Penza that it said supplies Russia's military-industrial complex with electronics.
At the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine had no response to Moscow's vast long-range strike capacity but it has since built up a fleet of long-range kamikaze drones able to carry explosive warheads for many hundreds of kilometres (miles).
Russia's defence ministry said in its daily report that its defence units had downed a total of 338 Ukrainian drones overnight. Its reports do not say how many Ukrainian drones were launched at any given time.
For its part, Ukraine's air force said it had downed 45 of 53 Russian drones launched towards its territory overnight.
On Ukraine's eastern battlefront, Russia's defence ministry said, Russian forces had captured the village of Oleksandro-Kalynove in the Donetsk region on Saturday.
Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield report.
Russian forces now control almost 20 per cent of Ukraine in its east and south after three-and-a-half years of grinding war.
REUTERS
Published :
Aug 02, 2025 16:17
Updated :
Aug 02, 2025 16:17
Ukraine's military said on Saturday that it had struck oil facilities inside Russia, including a major refinery as well as a military airfield for drones and an electronics factory.
In a statement on Telegram, Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces said they had hit the oil refinery in Ryazan, about 180 km (110 miles) southeast of Moscow, causing a fire on its premises.
Also hit, the USF said, was the Annanefteprodukt oil storage facility in the Voronezh region that borders on northeastern Ukraine.
The statement did not specify how the facilities were hit, but the USF specialises in drone warfare, including long-range strikes.
There was no immediate comment from Russia on the reported attacks on its infrastructure sites.
Separately, Ukraine's SBU intelligence agency said its drones had hit Russia's Primorsko-Akhtarsk military airfield, which has been used to launch waves of long-range drones at targets in Ukraine.
The SBU said it also hit a factory in Penza that it said supplies Russia's military-industrial complex with electronics.
At the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine had no response to Moscow's vast long-range strike capacity but it has since built up a fleet of long-range kamikaze drones able to carry explosive warheads for many hundreds of kilometres (miles).
Russia's defence ministry said in its daily report that its defence units had downed a total of 338 Ukrainian drones overnight. Its reports do not say how many Ukrainian drones were launched at any given time.
For its part, Ukraine's air force said it had downed 45 of 53 Russian drones launched towards its territory overnight.
On Ukraine's eastern battlefront, Russia's defence ministry said, Russian forces had captured the village of Oleksandro-Kalynove in the Donetsk region on Saturday.
Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield report.
Russian forces now control almost 20 per cent of Ukraine in its east and south after three-and-a-half years of grinding war.
Saif
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Ukraine bets big on interceptor drones as low-cost air shield
When President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said at the end of last month that Ukraine needs $6 billion to fund the production of interceptor drones, setting a target of 1,000 a day, he had his reasons. Having already reshaped the battlefield by doing work once reserved for long-range missiles, field artil
Ukraine bets big on interceptor drones as low-cost air shield
REUTERS
Published :
Aug 04, 2025 22:57
Updated :
Aug 04, 2025 22:57
A view shows an interceptor FPV-drone of the 1129th Bilotserkivskyi Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment during its flight, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in an undisclosed location in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine July 8, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
When President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said at the end of last month that Ukraine needs $6 billion to fund the production of interceptor drones, setting a target of 1,000 a day, he had his reasons.
Having already reshaped the battlefield by doing work once reserved for long-range missiles, field artillery and human intelligence, drones are now fighting Russian drones - a boon for Ukraine's dwindling stock of air defence missile systems.
In the last two months, just one Ukrainian charity supplying aerial interceptor drones says its devices have downed around 1,500 of the drones that Russia has been sending to reconnoitre the battlefield or to bomb Ukraine's towns and cities.
INTERCEPTORS HELP TO SAVE VALUABLE MISSILE STOCK
Most importantly, such interceptors have the potential to be a cheap, plentiful alternative to using Western or Soviet-made air defence missiles, depleted by allies' inability, or reluctance, to replenish them.
Colonel Serhiy Nonka's 1,129th air defence regiment, which started using them a year ago to ram and blow up enemy drones, estimated that they could down a Russian spotter drone at about a fifth of the cost of doing so with a missile.
As a result, the depth to which these enemy reconnaissance drones can fly behind Ukrainian lines has decreased sharply, Nonka said.
Some estimates put the interceptors' speed at over 300 kph (190 mph), although the precise figures are closely guarded.
Other units are using interceptors to hit the long-range Shahed "kamikaze" drones that Russia launches at Kyiv and other cities, sometimes downing dozens a night, according to Zelenskiy.
In the three and a half years since Russia invaded Ukraine at scale, drones have gone from an auxiliary tool to one of the primary means of waging war for both sides.
To chase them down, interceptor drones need to be faster and more powerful than those that have already revolutionised long-range precision strikes and aerial reconnaissance.
INTERCEPTOR DRONES TO BECOME UBIQUITOUS
Like the First-Person View drones that now dominate the battlefield, interceptor drones are flown by a pilot on the ground through the video feed from an onboard camera.
“When we started to work (with these drones), the enemy would fly at 800 or a thousand metres," the officer who spearheaded their adoption by the 1,129th regiment, Oleksiy Barsuk. "Now it's three, four or five thousand – but their (camera) zoom is not infinite.”
Most of the regiment’s interceptor drones are provided by military charities that crowdfund weapons and equipment through donations from civilians.
Taras Tymochko, from the largest of these, Come Back Alive, said it now supplies interceptors to 90 units.
Since the project began a year ago, the organisation says over 3,000 drones have been downed by equipment it provided, nearly half of them in the last two months.
However, such interceptors are still no match for incoming missiles or the fast jet-powered attack drones that Moscow has recently started deploying.
The organisation reports the value of the downed Russian craft at $195 million, over a dozen times the cost of the drones and equipment handed over under the project.
Sam Bendett, adjunct senior fellow at the Centre for a New American Security, said Russian forces were complaining about the effectiveness of large Ukrainian interceptors, but were also developing their own.
“We're starting to see more and more videos of various types of interceptions by both sides ... I think this is going to accelerate and it's going to become more and more ubiquitous in the coming weeks."
REUTERS
Published :
Aug 04, 2025 22:57
Updated :
Aug 04, 2025 22:57
A view shows an interceptor FPV-drone of the 1129th Bilotserkivskyi Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment during its flight, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in an undisclosed location in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine July 8, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
When President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said at the end of last month that Ukraine needs $6 billion to fund the production of interceptor drones, setting a target of 1,000 a day, he had his reasons.
Having already reshaped the battlefield by doing work once reserved for long-range missiles, field artillery and human intelligence, drones are now fighting Russian drones - a boon for Ukraine's dwindling stock of air defence missile systems.
In the last two months, just one Ukrainian charity supplying aerial interceptor drones says its devices have downed around 1,500 of the drones that Russia has been sending to reconnoitre the battlefield or to bomb Ukraine's towns and cities.
INTERCEPTORS HELP TO SAVE VALUABLE MISSILE STOCK
Most importantly, such interceptors have the potential to be a cheap, plentiful alternative to using Western or Soviet-made air defence missiles, depleted by allies' inability, or reluctance, to replenish them.
Colonel Serhiy Nonka's 1,129th air defence regiment, which started using them a year ago to ram and blow up enemy drones, estimated that they could down a Russian spotter drone at about a fifth of the cost of doing so with a missile.
As a result, the depth to which these enemy reconnaissance drones can fly behind Ukrainian lines has decreased sharply, Nonka said.
Some estimates put the interceptors' speed at over 300 kph (190 mph), although the precise figures are closely guarded.
Other units are using interceptors to hit the long-range Shahed "kamikaze" drones that Russia launches at Kyiv and other cities, sometimes downing dozens a night, according to Zelenskiy.
In the three and a half years since Russia invaded Ukraine at scale, drones have gone from an auxiliary tool to one of the primary means of waging war for both sides.
To chase them down, interceptor drones need to be faster and more powerful than those that have already revolutionised long-range precision strikes and aerial reconnaissance.
INTERCEPTOR DRONES TO BECOME UBIQUITOUS
Like the First-Person View drones that now dominate the battlefield, interceptor drones are flown by a pilot on the ground through the video feed from an onboard camera.
“When we started to work (with these drones), the enemy would fly at 800 or a thousand metres," the officer who spearheaded their adoption by the 1,129th regiment, Oleksiy Barsuk. "Now it's three, four or five thousand – but their (camera) zoom is not infinite.”
Most of the regiment’s interceptor drones are provided by military charities that crowdfund weapons and equipment through donations from civilians.
Taras Tymochko, from the largest of these, Come Back Alive, said it now supplies interceptors to 90 units.
Since the project began a year ago, the organisation says over 3,000 drones have been downed by equipment it provided, nearly half of them in the last two months.
However, such interceptors are still no match for incoming missiles or the fast jet-powered attack drones that Moscow has recently started deploying.
The organisation reports the value of the downed Russian craft at $195 million, over a dozen times the cost of the drones and equipment handed over under the project.
Sam Bendett, adjunct senior fellow at the Centre for a New American Security, said Russian forces were complaining about the effectiveness of large Ukrainian interceptors, but were also developing their own.
“We're starting to see more and more videos of various types of interceptions by both sides ... I think this is going to accelerate and it's going to become more and more ubiquitous in the coming weeks."
Saif
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Russia hit key Ukraine gas interconnector to undermine preparation for winter, Kyiv says
Russia has struck a gas pumping station in Ukraine's southern Odesa region used in a scheme to import LNG from the US and Azerbaijan, undermining preparations for winter, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the gas infrastructure had been attacked in the villa
Russia hit key Ukraine gas interconnector to undermine preparation for winter, Kyiv says
REUTERS
Published :
Aug 06, 2025 17:37
Updated :
Aug 06, 2025 17:37
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy gestures during a press conference on the first day of the two-day Ukraine Recovery Conference, on plans for the reconstruction of Ukraine, in Rome, Italy, July 10, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane//Files
Russia has struck a gas pumping station in Ukraine's southern Odesa region used in a scheme to import LNG from the US and Azerbaijan, undermining preparations for winter, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the gas infrastructure had been attacked in the village of Novosilske on the border with Romania, where the Orlovka interconnector, through which Ukraine receives gas via the Transbalkan route, is located.
"This was a deliberate blow to our preparations for the heating season, absolutely cynical, like every Russian blow to the energy sector," Zelenskiy said on Telegram.
Reuters could not independently confirm details of the attack.
Russia's TASS news agency quoted the Russian defence ministry as confirming the attack on Ukraine's gas transport system.
Ukraine has faced a serious gas shortage since a series of devastating Russian missile strikes this year, which significantly reduced domestic production.
Ukraine's energy ministry said in a statement that the attacked station was used as part of a route connecting Greek LNG terminals with Ukrainian gas storage facilities via the Transbalkan gas pipeline.
It noted that it had already been used to deliver LNG from the United States and test volumes of Azerbaijani gas.
"This is a Russian strike purely against civilian infrastructure, deliberately targeting the energy sector and, at the same time, relations with Azerbaijan, the United States and partners in Europe, as well as the normal lives of Ukrainians and all Europeans," the ministry said.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will meet US President Donald Trump in Washington this week.
Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, but says infrastructure such as energy systems are legitimate targets because they help Ukraine's war effort.
Earlier on Wednesday, the governor of the southern Odesa region reported an attack on the main gas pipeline.
Ukrainian energy officials did not say whether gas would continue to be pumped via the interconnector.
Kyiv says 0.4 million cubic metres of gas was scheduled to be pumped through Orlovka on Wednesday.
Last month, Ukraine pumped a small test volume of Azerbaijani gas through the Transbalkan route for the first time and announced plans to significantly increase gas imports from Azerbaijan's SOCAR energy firm.
Kyiv has called the route "extremely important", as it provides access to liquefied gas from Greek and Turkish LNG terminals, Azerbaijani and Romanian pipeline gas and, potentially, to Bulgarian offshore gas.
REUTERS
Published :
Aug 06, 2025 17:37
Updated :
Aug 06, 2025 17:37
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy gestures during a press conference on the first day of the two-day Ukraine Recovery Conference, on plans for the reconstruction of Ukraine, in Rome, Italy, July 10, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane//Files
Russia has struck a gas pumping station in Ukraine's southern Odesa region used in a scheme to import LNG from the US and Azerbaijan, undermining preparations for winter, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the gas infrastructure had been attacked in the village of Novosilske on the border with Romania, where the Orlovka interconnector, through which Ukraine receives gas via the Transbalkan route, is located.
"This was a deliberate blow to our preparations for the heating season, absolutely cynical, like every Russian blow to the energy sector," Zelenskiy said on Telegram.
Reuters could not independently confirm details of the attack.
Russia's TASS news agency quoted the Russian defence ministry as confirming the attack on Ukraine's gas transport system.
Ukraine has faced a serious gas shortage since a series of devastating Russian missile strikes this year, which significantly reduced domestic production.
Ukraine's energy ministry said in a statement that the attacked station was used as part of a route connecting Greek LNG terminals with Ukrainian gas storage facilities via the Transbalkan gas pipeline.
It noted that it had already been used to deliver LNG from the United States and test volumes of Azerbaijani gas.
"This is a Russian strike purely against civilian infrastructure, deliberately targeting the energy sector and, at the same time, relations with Azerbaijan, the United States and partners in Europe, as well as the normal lives of Ukrainians and all Europeans," the ministry said.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will meet US President Donald Trump in Washington this week.
Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, but says infrastructure such as energy systems are legitimate targets because they help Ukraine's war effort.
Earlier on Wednesday, the governor of the southern Odesa region reported an attack on the main gas pipeline.
Ukrainian energy officials did not say whether gas would continue to be pumped via the interconnector.
Kyiv says 0.4 million cubic metres of gas was scheduled to be pumped through Orlovka on Wednesday.
Last month, Ukraine pumped a small test volume of Azerbaijani gas through the Transbalkan route for the first time and announced plans to significantly increase gas imports from Azerbaijan's SOCAR energy firm.
Kyiv has called the route "extremely important", as it provides access to liquefied gas from Greek and Turkish LNG terminals, Azerbaijani and Romanian pipeline gas and, potentially, to Bulgarian offshore gas.
Lulldapull
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As per that Kugelman's vid on Trump cozying up to Pakistan, I believe my hunch is that Munira's been told that:
'you will be sending your soldiers into Ukraine as mercenaries, or else'
There is no other use for Pakistan left for the beltway in DC. Anyone can see what's coming soon down the road.
'you will be sending your soldiers into Ukraine as mercenaries, or else'
There is no other use for Pakistan left for the beltway in DC. Anyone can see what's coming soon down the road.
Sharma Ji
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Ukrainian drone are Chinese ones they jerry rigged themselves and converted them for military use or were they an off the shelf purchase ?
Saif
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Ukraine's Zelenskiy rejects land concessions ahead of Trump-Putin talks
Ukraine will not cede its land, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday, rejecting US suggestions that a deal with Russia could involve swapping territories as Washington and Moscow prepared for talks between their leaders on ending the war. US President Donald Trump announced on Friday tha
Ukraine's Zelenskiy rejects land concessions ahead of Trump-Putin talks
REUTERS
Published :
Aug 09, 2025 22:24
Updated :
Aug 09, 2025 22:24
Servicemen of the 25th Separate Airborne Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine fire a BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launch system towards Russian troops, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Pokrovsk, in Donetsk region, Ukraine June 8, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Anatolii Stepanov
Ukraine will not cede its land, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday, rejecting US suggestions that a deal with Russia could involve swapping territories as Washington and Moscow prepared for talks between their leaders on ending the war.
US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he would meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15, saying the parties, including Zelenskiy, were close to a deal that could resolve the three-and-a-half-year conflict.
Details of the potential deal have yet to be announced, but Trump said it would involve "some swapping of territories to the betterment of both". It could require Ukraine to surrender significant parts of its territory - an outcome Kyiv and its European allies say would only encourage Russian aggression.
"Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier," Zelenskiy said in a video address, adding that Ukraine's borders were fixed in the country's constitution.
"No one will deviate from this – and no one will be able to," he said.
US Vice President JD Vance will meet Ukrainian and European allies in Britain on Saturday to discuss Trump's push for peace, Downing Street said, adding that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had spoken about it with Zelenskiy.
"They agreed this would be a vital forum to discuss progress towards securing a just and lasting peace," the Downing Street spokesperson added.
'CLEAR STEPS NEEDED'
Zelenskiy has made a flurry of calls with Ukraine's allies since Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff's visit to Moscow on Wednesday which Trump described as having achieved "great progress".
"Clear steps are needed, as well as maximum coordination between us and our partners," Zelenskiy said in a post on X after his call with Starmer.
"We value the determination of the United Kingdom, the United States, and all our partners to end the war."
Ukraine and the European Union have pushed back on proposals that they view as ceding too much to Putin, whose troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022, citing what Moscow called threats to Russia's security from a Ukrainian pivot towards the West.
Kyiv and its Western allies say the invasion is an imperial-style land grab.
Moscow has previously claimed four Ukrainian regions – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – as well as the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed in 2014.
Russian forces do not fully control all the territory in the four regions and Russia is demanding that Ukraine pull out its troops from the parts of all four of them that they still control.
Ukraine says its troops still have a small foothold in Russia's Kursk region a year after its troops crossed the border to try to gain leverage in any negotiations. Russia said it had expelled Ukraininan troops from Kursk in April.
Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, described the current peace push as "the first more or less realistic attempt to stop the war".
"At the same time, I remain extremely sceptical about the implementation of the agreements, even if a truce is reached for a while. And there is virtually no doubt that the new commitments could be devastating for Ukraine," she said.
Fierce fighting is raging along the more than 1,000-km (620-mile) front line along eastern and southern Ukraine, where Russian forces hold around a fifth of the country's territory.
Russian troops are slowly advancing in Ukraine's east, but their summer offensive has so far failed to achieve a major breakthrough, Ukrainian military analysts say.
Ukrainians remain defiant.
"Not a single serviceman will agree to cede territory, to pull out troops from Ukrainian territories," Olesia Petritska, 51, told Reuters as she gestured to hundreds of small Ukrainian flags in the Kyiv central square commemorating fallen soldiers.
REUTERS
Published :
Aug 09, 2025 22:24
Updated :
Aug 09, 2025 22:24
Servicemen of the 25th Separate Airborne Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine fire a BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launch system towards Russian troops, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Pokrovsk, in Donetsk region, Ukraine June 8, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Anatolii Stepanov
Ukraine will not cede its land, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday, rejecting US suggestions that a deal with Russia could involve swapping territories as Washington and Moscow prepared for talks between their leaders on ending the war.
US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he would meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15, saying the parties, including Zelenskiy, were close to a deal that could resolve the three-and-a-half-year conflict.
Details of the potential deal have yet to be announced, but Trump said it would involve "some swapping of territories to the betterment of both". It could require Ukraine to surrender significant parts of its territory - an outcome Kyiv and its European allies say would only encourage Russian aggression.
"Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier," Zelenskiy said in a video address, adding that Ukraine's borders were fixed in the country's constitution.
"No one will deviate from this – and no one will be able to," he said.
US Vice President JD Vance will meet Ukrainian and European allies in Britain on Saturday to discuss Trump's push for peace, Downing Street said, adding that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had spoken about it with Zelenskiy.
"They agreed this would be a vital forum to discuss progress towards securing a just and lasting peace," the Downing Street spokesperson added.
'CLEAR STEPS NEEDED'
Zelenskiy has made a flurry of calls with Ukraine's allies since Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff's visit to Moscow on Wednesday which Trump described as having achieved "great progress".
"Clear steps are needed, as well as maximum coordination between us and our partners," Zelenskiy said in a post on X after his call with Starmer.
"We value the determination of the United Kingdom, the United States, and all our partners to end the war."
Ukraine and the European Union have pushed back on proposals that they view as ceding too much to Putin, whose troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022, citing what Moscow called threats to Russia's security from a Ukrainian pivot towards the West.
Kyiv and its Western allies say the invasion is an imperial-style land grab.
Moscow has previously claimed four Ukrainian regions – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – as well as the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed in 2014.
Russian forces do not fully control all the territory in the four regions and Russia is demanding that Ukraine pull out its troops from the parts of all four of them that they still control.
Ukraine says its troops still have a small foothold in Russia's Kursk region a year after its troops crossed the border to try to gain leverage in any negotiations. Russia said it had expelled Ukraininan troops from Kursk in April.
Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, described the current peace push as "the first more or less realistic attempt to stop the war".
"At the same time, I remain extremely sceptical about the implementation of the agreements, even if a truce is reached for a while. And there is virtually no doubt that the new commitments could be devastating for Ukraine," she said.
Fierce fighting is raging along the more than 1,000-km (620-mile) front line along eastern and southern Ukraine, where Russian forces hold around a fifth of the country's territory.
Russian troops are slowly advancing in Ukraine's east, but their summer offensive has so far failed to achieve a major breakthrough, Ukrainian military analysts say.
Ukrainians remain defiant.
"Not a single serviceman will agree to cede territory, to pull out troops from Ukrainian territories," Olesia Petritska, 51, told Reuters as she gestured to hundreds of small Ukrainian flags in the Kyiv central square commemorating fallen soldiers.
Saif
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Ukraine's future cannot be decided without Ukrainians, France's Macron says
French President Emmanuel Macron said in a social media post on X that the future of Ukraine cannot be decided without the Ukrainians. US President Donald Trump will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, Trump said on Friday. The d
Ukraine's future cannot be decided without Ukrainians, France's Macron says
REUTERS
Published :
Aug 09, 2025 22:14
Updated :
Aug 09, 2025 22:14
France's President Emmanuel Macron and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy shake hands, as they meet on the sidelines of the two-day NATO's Heads of State and Government summit, in The Hague, Netherlands June 24, 2025. Photo : Ludovic Marin/Pool via REUTERS/Files
French President Emmanuel Macron said in a social media post on X that the future of Ukraine cannot be decided without the Ukrainians.
US President Donald Trump will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, Trump said on Friday.
The deal is expected to involve land concessions, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy rejected earlier Saturday.
REUTERS
Published :
Aug 09, 2025 22:14
Updated :
Aug 09, 2025 22:14
France's President Emmanuel Macron and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy shake hands, as they meet on the sidelines of the two-day NATO's Heads of State and Government summit, in The Hague, Netherlands June 24, 2025. Photo : Ludovic Marin/Pool via REUTERS/Files
French President Emmanuel Macron said in a social media post on X that the future of Ukraine cannot be decided without the Ukrainians.
US President Donald Trump will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, Trump said on Friday.
The deal is expected to involve land concessions, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy rejected earlier Saturday.
Saif
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Trump says would meet Putin without Zelensky sit-down
US President Donald Trump said Thursday he would meet with Russian president Vladimir Putin for upcoming talks on the Ukraine war
en.prothomalo.com
Trump says would meet Putin without Zelensky sit-down
AFP Washington
Published: 08 Aug 2025, 20: 21
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump File Photo
US President Donald Trump said Thursday he would meet with Vladimir Putin for upcoming talks on the Ukraine war even if the Russian leader had not sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The statement, which contradicted earlier reports that a Putin-Zelensky meeting was a prerequisite for the summit, came after Trump gave Moscow until Friday to reach a ceasefire or face fresh sanctions.
But asked by reporters in the Oval Office if that deadline still held, Trump did not answer clearly.
"It's going to be up to (Putin)," Trump said. "We're going to see what he has to say."
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has been pressuring Moscow to end Russia's military assault on Ukraine.
The Kremlin said Thursday that Putin was set to attend a summit with Trump in the "coming days," but the Russian leader essentially ruled out including Zelensky.
Zelensky meanwhile insisted that he had to be involved in any talks.
When Trump was asked if Putin was required to meet Zelensky before a summit, the US president said simply: "No, he doesn't."
Putin has named the United Arab Emirates as a potential location for the summit, but this was not confirmed by Washington.
Next week?
The summit would be the first between sitting US and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021.
Three rounds of direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul have failed to yield any progress towards a ceasefire. The two sides remain far apart on the conditions they have set to end the more than three-year-long conflict.
Trump and Putin last sat together in 2019 at a G20 summit meeting in Japan during Trump's first term. They have spoken by telephone several times since January.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said that "next week has been set as a target date," adding that both sides have agreed the venue "in principle," without naming it.
However, Washington later denied that a venue or date had been set.
"No location has been determined," a White House official said, while agreeing that the meeting "could occur as early as next week."
Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its military offensive on Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian bombardments have forced millions of people to flee their homes and have destroyed swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine.
Putin has resisted multiple calls from the United States, Europe and Kyiv for a ceasefire.
At talks in Istanbul, Russian negotiators outlined hardline territorial demands for halting its advance -- calling for Kyiv to withdraw from some territory it still controls and to renounce Western military support.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged Trump to "finally get tough on the Kremlin" and use his leverage to end the war.
"Face-to-face dialogue is important, but Putin cannot be allowed yet another opportunity to delay or water down President Trump's promise of harsh sanctions taking effect tomorrow," she said in a statement late Thursday.
'Only fair' Ukraine involved
Reports of the possible summit came after US special envoy Steve Witkoff met Putin in Moscow on Wednesday.
Witkoff proposed a trilateral meeting with Zelensky, but Putin appeared to rule out direct talks with the Ukrainian leader.
"Certain conditions must be created for this," Putin told reporters. "Unfortunately, we are still far from creating such conditions."
The former KGB agent, who has ruled Russia for over 25 years, said in June that he was ready to meet Zelensky, but only during a "final phase" of negotiations on ending the conflict.
In his regular evening address on Thursday, Zelensky said "it is only fair that Ukraine should be a participant in the negotiations."
The Ukrainian leader spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as he called for the continent to be included in any potential peace talks.
"Ukraine is an integral part of Europe -- we are already in negotiations on EU accession. Therefore, Europe must be a participant in the relevant processes," Zelensky said on social media.
AFP Washington
Published: 08 Aug 2025, 20: 21
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump File Photo
US President Donald Trump said Thursday he would meet with Vladimir Putin for upcoming talks on the Ukraine war even if the Russian leader had not sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The statement, which contradicted earlier reports that a Putin-Zelensky meeting was a prerequisite for the summit, came after Trump gave Moscow until Friday to reach a ceasefire or face fresh sanctions.
But asked by reporters in the Oval Office if that deadline still held, Trump did not answer clearly.
"It's going to be up to (Putin)," Trump said. "We're going to see what he has to say."
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has been pressuring Moscow to end Russia's military assault on Ukraine.
The Kremlin said Thursday that Putin was set to attend a summit with Trump in the "coming days," but the Russian leader essentially ruled out including Zelensky.
Zelensky meanwhile insisted that he had to be involved in any talks.
When Trump was asked if Putin was required to meet Zelensky before a summit, the US president said simply: "No, he doesn't."
Putin has named the United Arab Emirates as a potential location for the summit, but this was not confirmed by Washington.
Next week?
The summit would be the first between sitting US and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021.
Three rounds of direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul have failed to yield any progress towards a ceasefire. The two sides remain far apart on the conditions they have set to end the more than three-year-long conflict.
Trump and Putin last sat together in 2019 at a G20 summit meeting in Japan during Trump's first term. They have spoken by telephone several times since January.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said that "next week has been set as a target date," adding that both sides have agreed the venue "in principle," without naming it.
However, Washington later denied that a venue or date had been set.
"No location has been determined," a White House official said, while agreeing that the meeting "could occur as early as next week."
Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its military offensive on Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian bombardments have forced millions of people to flee their homes and have destroyed swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine.
Putin has resisted multiple calls from the United States, Europe and Kyiv for a ceasefire.
At talks in Istanbul, Russian negotiators outlined hardline territorial demands for halting its advance -- calling for Kyiv to withdraw from some territory it still controls and to renounce Western military support.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged Trump to "finally get tough on the Kremlin" and use his leverage to end the war.
"Face-to-face dialogue is important, but Putin cannot be allowed yet another opportunity to delay or water down President Trump's promise of harsh sanctions taking effect tomorrow," she said in a statement late Thursday.
'Only fair' Ukraine involved
Reports of the possible summit came after US special envoy Steve Witkoff met Putin in Moscow on Wednesday.
Witkoff proposed a trilateral meeting with Zelensky, but Putin appeared to rule out direct talks with the Ukrainian leader.
"Certain conditions must be created for this," Putin told reporters. "Unfortunately, we are still far from creating such conditions."
The former KGB agent, who has ruled Russia for over 25 years, said in June that he was ready to meet Zelensky, but only during a "final phase" of negotiations on ending the conflict.
In his regular evening address on Thursday, Zelensky said "it is only fair that Ukraine should be a participant in the negotiations."
The Ukrainian leader spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as he called for the continent to be included in any potential peace talks.
"Ukraine is an integral part of Europe -- we are already in negotiations on EU accession. Therefore, Europe must be a participant in the relevant processes," Zelensky said on social media.
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