Wars 2022 02/24 Monitoring Russian and Ukraine War.

[Saif]

Ukraine's Zelenskiy tells ABC he will organize elections if Russia agrees to 60-day ceasefire

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday, in response to critical comments from US President Donald Trump, that he will organise elections in Ukraine if ‌Russian President Vladimir Putin agrees to a 60-day ceasefire. “Please tell Putin, give us two months, 60 days of tota

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Ukraine's Zelenskiy tells ABC he will organize elections if Russia agrees to 60-day ceasefire

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appears at an interview with Reuters, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, October 2, 2026. REUTERS/Alina Smutko/Files

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday, in response to critical comments from US President Donald Trump, that he will organise elections in Ukraine if ‌Russian President Vladimir Putin agrees to a 60-day ceasefire.

“Please tell Putin, give us two months, 60 days of total ceasefire, 60 days, and we will organise elections,” Zelenskiy told ABC’s “This Week.”

Trump on Saturday criticised Zelenskiy for attacking Russian oil refineries a day after the US temporarily lifted sanctions ⁠on Russian fuel that were designed to deprive Moscow of revenues to fund its war in Ukraine.

“I think it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president,” Trump had told reporters at the White House.

In response, Zelenskiy said “it’s up to Ukrainians” to choose their leader and noted that Putin would also like to change who is leading Ukraine.

He said it is easy for Ukraine to be blamed for higher fuel prices “when everybody in the world understands that because of ‌the war ⁠in the Middle East, the prices are rising.”

Earlier on Sunday, Zelenskiy said Ukraine was ready to halt attacks on Russian oil refineries if Moscow ceases its own strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

Under terms of the deal as described by Trump on Friday, Russia will ⁠immediately supply more than 300,000 metric tons of diesel to US and global markets, equal to about 2.25 million barrels of fuel. The US exports about 1.5 million ⁠barrels of diesel per day.

Trump is under pressure to bring down rising fuel prices ahead of November midterm elections that will determine whether his Republican Party ⁠will retain control of the US Congress for his final two years in office.

Many lawmakers, including Republicans, have criticised the diesel deal as rewarding Putin.​

 

[Saif]

Kremlin accuses Ukraine of undermining US peace efforts with oil refinery strikes

The Kremlin on Thursday said that Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries ran counter to US peace efforts, after a Ukrainian drone struck a refinery in Russia’s Ryazan region overnight. US President Donald Trump declared an energy ceasefire on Sunday, something Ukraine said it had first

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Kremlin accuses Ukraine of undermining US peace efforts with oil refinery strikes

The Kremlin on Thursday said that Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries ran counter to US peace efforts, after a Ukrainian drone struck a refinery in Russia’s Ryazan region overnight.

US President Donald Trump declared an energy ceasefire on Sunday, something Ukraine said it had first learnt about from media reports and which Russia did not publicly commit itself to.

Kyiv said it had paused strikes on Russian oil refineries for three days, but had resumed them after Russia continued to attack Ukraine’s energy sector.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday that Moscow did not perceive that Kyiv had ever complied with the ceasefire and said that the fact that it had struck another Russian refinery was “nothing new”.

“The Ukrainian regime in Kyiv continues to strike these facilities, thereby, of course, coming into serious contradiction with the peace efforts of the United States and of the American negotiators who are indeed making very vigorous efforts to somehow initiate the peace process. But so far, these vigorous attempts have been thwarted by the unwillingness of the Kyiv regime – and of (President Volodymyr) Zelensky personally – to make peace,” said Peskov.

Russia itself had previously argued that the scope of the ceasefire had not been determined, and on Wednesday said it had struck seven Ukrainian energy infrastructure facilities.​

 

[Saif]

https://www.dhakatribune.com/world/europe/422412/kremlin-says-ukrainian-attacks-won%E2%80%99t-change-war

Kremlin says Ukrainian attacks won’t change war aims as Kyiv hits Saint Petersburg

​

• Oil refinery and depot catch fire​
• One killed, five hospitalized in Saint Petersburg​
• Russia says 144 Ukrainian drones were downed​

People watch an oil terminal burn in Saint Petersburg on October 18, 2026, after a Ukrainian drone attack. Photo: AFP

The Kremlin on Sunday said Ukrainian large-scale attacks on Russian cities will not change its war aims as Kyiv hit Saint Petersburg with the biggest drone attack on Vladimir Putin’s hometown since 2022, setting an oil refinery ablaze.

Rising smoke was visible from Saint Petersburg’s historic city centre on the banks of the Neva River, with Russia saying Ukraine struck an oil refinery and depot in night-time strikes that killed one person.

The attack came as Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of violating an “energy ceasefire” announced by US leader Donald Trump 76 times as he warned Russia planned a “blackout” in Ukraine before winter.

Kyiv struck Saint Petersburg as its ties with Washington strained massively in recent days, with Trump waiving sanctions on Russia and striking a deal with Moscow on diesel.

Ukraine and its European allies have worried the White House is siding with Moscow, which launched Europe’s worst war since WWII in 2022.

Saint Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov said one person was killed and five hospitalised in the city.

Authorities were fighting fires at the Saint Petersburg oil terminal, the Ruchyi oil depot and industrial warehouses, he said.

Flights were restricted at the city’s Pulkovo airport, Beglov said, adding that 12 housing blocks were also damaged.

Russia’s VKontakte social network said its data centre was hit in the city and Ozon -- Russia’s second largest retailer -- also reported a hit on its logistics centre.

The head of the wider Leningrad region, Alexander Drozdenko, said air defence shot down 144 Ukrainian drones, with state media saying this was the largest attack on the city since the start of the 2022 war.

Ukraine has attacked Moscow and Saint Petersburg throughout the Kremlin’s dragging offensive but large-scale hits on Russia’s main cities are rare.

“The Kyiv regime is putting up a fight, but that cannot change the course of events,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian media.

Russia’s offensive against Ukraine has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions. Moscow has rained drones and missiles on Ukrainian cities daily and Kyiv says its strikes are fair retribution.

US-led peace talks have not led to a breakthrough. In a fifth year of war, few see a way out. Putin appeared in military uniform this week and repeated Moscow intends to seize the rest of east Ukraine.

Dreadful routine of war

“There’s a general feeling: they’re attacking, we’re attacking -- it’s become the dreadful routine of war,” 58-year-old Galina told AFP in Saint Petersburg.

Sergei, another resident of the city who is also 58, said he felt his apartment block shake and quickly realised it was a drone attack.

“I don’t know if I was scared, what must be will be,” he told AFP.

“My main thought was that petrol would run out at the petrol stations and I’d better fill up.”

Ukrainian strikes caused nationwide fuel shortages in Russia earlier this year.

Leningrad governor Drozdenko said 20,000 people were without power in the town of Yanino, where a substation was hit.

He said a woman and three children were hospitalised “with symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning” in the region after drone debris fell on a house, causing a fire.

“I woke up at night, heard bangs, looked out of the window and there was a fire,” 40-year-old Saint Petersburg resident Igor told AFP.

“They’re getting on my nerves already,” he added, referring to Ukraine.

Bet on war is paying off

In Ukraine, Zelensky said Russian strikes hit substations in four Ukrainian regions, leaving “tens of thousands of families without power.”

Ukrainian authorities said Russian attacks killed at least three people Sunday, including a 27-year-old woman in Zaporizhzhia and two people in the western Volyn region bordering Poland.

The Saint Petersburg attack came a day after Zelensky called on allies to keep up pressure on Moscow as he denounced Trump’s move to block new sanctions on Russia.

“America should see that Russia is not taking any reciprocal steps in response to sanctions relief or agreements,” Zelensky said Sunday, adding:

“On the contrary, they take every signal of an opportunity to make money as proof that their bet on war is paying off and they can keep fighting.”

Trump this week blocked a package of new sanctions on Russia which was meant to target Putin, as well as Russia’s energy and defence sectors.

He also signed an agreement with Moscow this month to buy diesel, seen as a way to try to lower fuel prices for American consumers ahead of elections.

“It is Russia that must face pressure for peace to have a chance,” Zelensky said Sunday.​

 

[Saif]

Trump says he wants Zelensky to “make a deal” with Russia

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged Volodymyr Zelensky to make a deal with Russia -- redoubling pressure on the Ukrainian leader even as Moscow grinds on with the war it launched four years ago. Trump also said he had asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to release Stephen Hubbard --...

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Trump says he wants Zelensky to “make a deal” with Russia

AFP

Washington, United States

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump BSS

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged Volodymyr Zelensky to make a deal with Russia -- redoubling pressure on the Ukrainian leader even as Moscow grinds on with the war it launched four years ago.

Trump also said he had asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to release Stephen Hubbard -- an American taken captive by Moscow's forces years earlier in Ukraine -- in a fresh sign of his pivot back to Moscow.

"We want Zelensky to make a deal. He can make a deal. He could have made a deal two years ago when we had our little chat in the Oval Office," Trump told reporters in the same room.

Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Zelensky had a bruising televised confrontation in the Oval Office in February 2025, shortly after the Ukraine-skeptic US president returned to office.

"He's going to have to want to make a deal, because I don't think his people are going to stand for it any longer," Trump said Tuesday.

Relations between Kyiv and Washington have soured since Trump partially lifted sanctions to strike a diesel-supply deal with Putin and slammed Zelensky as a warmonger for Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries.

The Ukrainian leader met Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff in Oslo on Tuesday for talks aimed at easing the tensions.

Zelensky hailed the resumption of US intelligence sharing on looming Russian strikes, but insisted Kyiv must be included in any future talks on its fate after meetings with US envoys.

Ukraine has been increasingly alarmed by Trump's return to effectively blaming Kyiv for a failure to end the war that began with Moscow's February 2022 invasion, and by his warm words towards Putin.

Trump indicated that a deal with Russia to free Hubbard could be near.

"I've been talking to President Putin about Hubbard. I've been talking to him at length. I've asked him to release him. Let's see what happens," Trump said in response to a question from an AFP journalist.

"Just stick with me," Trump added. "Just you remember that question a couple of days from now, because I do things that nobody else can do."​

 

[Saif]

Putin agrees to resume 3-way peace talks with Ukraine and US

Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to resume US-mediated peace talks with Ukraine as soon as next month, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, after Putin met US envoy Steve Witkoffin Washington's latest push to stop Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War Two. The negotiations in a grand im

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Putin agrees to resume 3-way peace talks with Ukraine and US

Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with US special envoy Steve Witkoff during a meeting at the Constantine Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Oct 21, 2026.
Source: Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool via REUTERS

Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to resume US-mediated peace talks with Ukraine as soon as next month, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, after Putin met US envoy Steve Witkoffin Washington's latest push to stop Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War Two.

The negotiations in a grand imperial palace in St Petersburg, the ninth time that Witkoff has met Putin in person, began with a goodwill gesture from Russia - the release of Stephen Hubbard, a retired US school teacher held in Russia whom US President Trump had asked the Kremlin chief to release.

Wednesday's encounter unfolded amid concerns in Kyiv and among its allies that the United States is backing away from Ukraine, at times holding back real-time intelligence on Russian attacks and hobbling Ukraine's military communications.

The latest talks also came more than two years since Trump promised in his successful election campaign to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours.

The Kremlin said the new 3-way peace talks, which would be at a technical level, could take place in Abu Dhabi and would be focused on how to guarantee the security of Ukraine and Russia once the war ended. They could begin sometime on or after November 10, it said. The last US-mediated peace talks took place in February before the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran.

The Kremlin was less upbeat, however, about the outcome of talks Witkoff had held a day earlier in Oslo with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the leaders of Finland and Norway, and European and NATO representatives. Witkoff told Putin the talks had been characterised by "some degree of momentum" and a US official said Ukraine had brought new ideas and proposals.

"These nuances, so to speak, do not entirely satisfy us," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters after the St Petersburg meeting - which lasted nearly three hours.

Possible Meeting Between Trump, Putin And XI

Ukraine and Russia remain far apart when it comes to the terms of any possible peace deal, though Trump has recently intensified pressure on Ukraine to strike some kind of a deal. He said on Tuesday it was time for Ukraine to end the war or face "a very bad thing."

Putin also used Wednesday's talks to offer to help Trump deal with Iran, saying Russia had a decades-long relationship with Tehran which it has repeatedly offered to leverage to address US concerns about Iran's nuclear programme. Putin told Witkoff it was possible and necessary to get a deal with Tehran, the Kremlin said.

Russia could also supply vast quantities of fertiliser to the United States to help US farmers, the Russian president told Witkoff.

A potential meeting in China next month with Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping was also discussed. The Kremlin said Beijing was already preparing what it said would be the first meeting of its kind in history.

'New Ideas'

Putin has shown few signs of compromising on his central war aims, which include full Russian control of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, no NATO membership for Kyiv, and an overall peace deal rather than a temporary ceasefire.

Kirill Dmitriev, Putin's special investment envoy, was also present at the talks with Witkoff and the Kremlin said that major joint economic projects had been discussed, including some that were close to being realised.

Witkoff said he had brought some documents with him containing various ideas for a potential peace deal for Putin to review, and that Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, also wanted to convey some ideas to Putin. Kushner later joined the meeting remotely by phone.

Zelensky said he hoped to discuss key issues on how to end the war during a trilateral meeting with Putin and Trump.

The Kremlin has repeatedly said that any Putin-Zelensky meeting would need to be painstakingly prepared in advance by aides to make it worthwhile.

Fraying US-Ukraine Ties

US-Ukraine ties have deteriorated sharply since Trump announced a diesel export deal with Russia earlier this month to help lower prices in the United States. High fuel costs since he launched strikes on Iran have hurt his Republicans ahead of November legislative elections.

Since the diesel deal, Ukraine has complained of disruption to some intelligence sharing and to its use of the Starshield military satellite system, though Zelensky said that Tuesday's Oslo meeting had reached an agreement to resolve those issues.

Citing US officials and people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that billionaire Elon Musk had last week ordered the slowdown of a military-grade version of SpaceX's Starlink satellite service that Ukraine relies on to track Russian ballistic missile strikes.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

Musk has said any such decision is taken by the US military or the president. Trump has said he was not responsible and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated on Wednesday that Washington had not pulled back Kyiv's ability to access Starlink.​