[🇺🇦] Monitoring Russian and Ukraine War.

[Saif]

1,00,000 without heat in Ukrainian city after Russian strike: Zelensky

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday 1,00,000 people were without heating in the southern city of Mykolaiv in cold temperatures after a Russian drone strike on ‘critical infrastructure’.

www.newagebd.net

1,00,000 without heat in Ukrainian city after Russian strike: Zelensky
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 17 February, 2025, 01:18

Volodymyr Zelensky | File photo

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday 1,00,000 people were without heating in the southern city of Mykolaiv in cold temperatures after a Russian drone strike on ‘critical infrastructure’.

Ukrainian officials had earlier said that Russian drones had hit a local thermal power plant.

Zelensky said the attack was proof Russia did not want peace, in a statement that came after he warned Western leaders not to trust Moscow and as Europe braces for a summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

‘Today, more than a 1,00,000 people in Mykolaiv were left without heating as a result of a Russian Shahed attack on the city’s critical infrastructure,’ Zelensky said on social media.

‘This has nothing to do with the fighting and the situation at the frontline,’ he said, adding: ‘This is not what those who really want to restore peace and prepare for negotiations do.’

Zelensky said repair teams are working to restore heating in Mykolaiv, which lies close to the Black Sea.

The Ukrainian leader called for a ‘strong’ response from Western allies and said: ‘We need to force Russia to peace.’

Ukraine’s prime minister Denys Shmygal earlier said that Russian drones hit the power plant in Mykolaiv at night.

‘This was done deliberately to leave people without heat in sub-zero temperatures and create a humanitarian catastrophe,’ he said.

Russia has targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure throughout its three-year invasion.​

 

[Saif]

Too early to discuss troop deployment to Ukraine, says Spain

Spain poured cold water on Monday on a British proposal to send peacekeepers to Ukraine and said negotiations to end the three-year war should not end up rewarding Russian aggression. “It is too early at this time to speak about deploying troops to Ukraine as there is no peace at the moment,

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Too early to discuss troop deployment to Ukraine, says Spain
REUTERS
Published :
Feb 17, 2025 21:27
Updated :
Feb 17, 2025 21:27

Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares looks on as he attends the 55th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Yves Herman/Files

Spain poured cold water on Monday on a British proposal to send peacekeepers to Ukraine and said negotiations to end the three-year war should not end up rewarding Russian aggression.

“It is too early at this time to speak about deploying troops to Ukraine as there is no peace at the moment,” Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters ahead of an emergency summit of European leaders on the Ukraine war.

US President Donald Trump stunned European allies and Ukraine last week when he announced he had held a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and would start a peace process.

“A war of aggression cannot be rewarded, we cannot encourage others to launch wars of aggression,” Albares also said in an interview with radio station Onda Cero. “Today I’m convinced Putin will keep attacking and bombing Ukraine. So I do not see peace on the horizon at the moment.”​

 

[Saif]

UKRAINE WAR: Russia, US to name negotiators

Washington said Russia and the United States will name teams to negotiate a path to ending the war in Ukraine as soon as possible, as the superpowers met on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia without Kyiv or the EU.

www.newagebd.net

UKRAINE WAR: Russia, US to name negotiators
Agence France-Presse . Riyadh 19 February, 2025, 00:35

Washington said Russia and the United States will name teams to negotiate a path to ending the war in Ukraine as soon as possible, as the superpowers met on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia without Kyiv or the EU.

However, no specifics on a possible meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin emerged from the gathering in Riyadh, the first high-level official Washington-Moscow talks since Ukraine’s 2022 invasion.

Some European leaders, alarmed by Trump’s overhaul of US policy on Russia, fear Washington will make serious concessions to Moscow and re-write the continent’s security arrangement in a Cold War-style deal between superpowers.

On Tuesday, US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov agreed to ‘appoint respective high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible’, the State Department said.

Rubio said Washington was aiming for a ‘fair’ and ‘sustainable’ solution to the Ukraine war, after a meeting with his Russian counterpart in Riyadh.

Washington added the sides had also agreed to ‘establish a consultation mechanism’ to address ‘irritants’ to Russia and America’s relationship, noting the sides would lay the groundwork for future cooperation.

Russia offered less detail on the outcome of the talks, saying: ‘We discussed and outlined our principled positions, and agreed that separate teams of negotiators will be in touch on this topic in due course.’

‘It is still difficult to talk about a specific date for a meeting between the two leaders,’ said Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy aide.

Russia sketched out some of its perspectives on future talks to ending the fighting in Ukraine, arguing that settling the war required a reorganisation of Europe’s defence agreements.

Moscow has long called for the withdrawal of NATO forces from eastern Europe, viewing the alliance as an existential threat on its flank.

‘A lasting and long-term viable resolution is impossible without a comprehensive consideration of security issues on the continent,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday, responding to a question by AFP.

Before invading Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow had demanded NATO pull out of central and eastern Europe.

European leaders held an emergency meeting in Paris a day earlier, but struggled to put on a united front.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, in Turkey on Tuesday, said on the eve of the talks that he was not invited and would not ‘recognise any things or any agreements about us without us’.

Isolated by the West for three years, Russia is hoping for a ‘restoration’ of ties with the United States and a comeback to the international arena.

At the Diriyah Palace in Riyadh, negotiations began without visible handshakes.

Both Russia and the United States have cast Tuesday’s meeting as the beginning of a potentially lengthy process and downplayed the prospects of a breakthrough.

Russia’s Ushakov told state media the talks would discuss ‘how to start negotiations on Ukraine’.

Trump has said he wants to end the war in Ukraine, but has thus far presented no concrete plan.

The United States has urged both sides that concessions will have to be made if any peace talks materialise.

Russia on the eve of the summit said there cannot be even a ‘thought’ on it giving up territory seized from Ukraine.

The Kremlin said Tuesday that Ukraine had the ‘right’ to join the European Union, but not the NATO military alliance.

It also said Putin was ‘ready’ to negotiate with Zelensky ‘if necessary’, though repeated its questioning of his ‘legitimacy’ — a reference to his five-year term expiring last year, despite Ukrainian law not requiring elections during wartime.

The Ukrainian leader was in Turkey on Tuesday for discussions on the conflict with president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

He is due in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, though he said he does not plan to meet with US or Russian officials.

The EU, reeling from a series of speeches by Trump’s officials indicating Washington does not see Moscow as a threat, said it still wants to ‘partner’ with the United States on any truce talks.

Trump’s administration has given no clear answer on whether the EU would take part and Moscow has said it sees no point in Europe having a seat at the table.

‘Financially and militarily, Europe has brought more to the table than anyone else,’ the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on social media.

‘We want to partner with the US to deliver a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.’

Key Russian ally China also welcomed ‘efforts towards peace’ on Tuesday.

‘At the same time, we hope that all parties and stakeholders can participate,’ foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.

Russia has presented cautious optimism on the talks.​

 

[Saif]

Zelensky postpones Saudi Arabia trip after US-Russia talks

Volodymyr Zelensky has pushed back his visit to Saudi Arabia, where he was due on Wednesday, after the United States and Russia held their first high-level talks since the Russian invasion of Ukraine there

en.prothomalo.com

Zelensky postpones Saudi Arabia trip after US-Russia talks
AFP
Ankara, Turkey
Published: 18 Feb 2025, 21: 25

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during the 21st Shangri-La Dialogue summit at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore on 2 June, 2024AFP file photo

Volodymyr Zelensky has pushed back his visit to Saudi Arabia, where he was due on Wednesday, after the United States and Russia held their first high-level talks since the Russian invasion of Ukraine there.

During a press conference in Turkey on Tuesday, Zelensky slammed the meeting -- to which he said he was not invited -- and said he had decided to postpone his official visit to the Middle Eastern country until 10 March.​

 

[Lulldapull]

@Sharma Ji

you seeing dis?

 

[Lulldapull]

Jahil thudd whulld subcontinent military's got no clue whatsoever.

Thudd whulld militarys wouldn't last 2 minutes on the modern battlefield.

Yous can't even hide from drones no more!

 

[Sharma Ji]

@Sharma Ji

you seeing dis?

I'd like to see how these wire guided ones do in our high altitude mountainous or heavily forested regions where our wars will be fought in the here subcontinent.

 

[Sharma Ji]

The plains of donbass mostly flatland.. horses for courses waali baat, it all comes down to.

Like wines, you must pair your dishes nicely.. red wine ke saath spicy red meat and spices waala khaana.

White wines ke saath creamy bland goron waala khana..

I mean, you could do a yakhni with a white, or a goshtaba, but not rista, or a mutton korma.. uss me you want the red wine.

like that, kinda..

 

[Saif]

Trump tells Zelenskiy to move fast for peace or lose Ukraine

Calls Zelenskiy 'a dictator without elections'

www.thedailystar.net

Trump tells Zelenskiy to move fast for peace or lose Ukraine

Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskiy meet at Trump Tower in New York City, US, September 27, 2024. File Photo: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton
​

• Trump calls Zelenskiy 'a dictator without elections'​
• Trump speaks after Zelenskiy accuses him of being trapped in Russian disinformation bubble​
• 'We will defend our right to exist,' Ukraine's foreign minister says in response to Trump​
• Putin says US-Russia trust is key to any Ukraine peace deal​
• EU floats plan to boost weapons supplies to Ukraine​

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday denounced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as "a dictator without elections" and said he had better move fast to secure a peace or he would have no country left.

Trump spoke hours after Zelenskiy hit back at his suggestion that Ukraine was responsible for Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion, saying the US president was trapped in a Russian disinformation bubble.

"A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskiy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left," Trump wrote on his Truth Social media platform.

In response, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said no one could force his country to give in. "We will defend our right to exist," Sybiha said on X.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Trump calling Zelenskiy a 'dictator' is 'false and dangerous', German newspaper Spiegel reported.

"It is simply wrong and dangerous to deny President Zelenskiy his democratic legitimacy," Scholz said.

Zelenskiy's five-year term was supposed to end in 2024 but presidential and parliamentary elections cannot be held under martial law, which Ukraine imposed in February 2022 in response to Russia's invasion.

Russia has seized some 20% of Ukraine and is slowly but steadily gaining more territory in the east. Moscow said its "special military operation" responded to an existential threat posed by Kyiv's pursuit of NATO membership. Ukraine and the West call Russia's action an imperialist land grab.

Zelenskiy, who met Trump's Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv on Wednesday, said he would like Trump's team to have "more truth" about Ukraine, a day after Trump said Ukraine "should never have started" the conflict with Russia.

The Ukrainian leader said Trump's assertion that his approval rating was just 4% was Russian disinformation and that any attempt to replace him would fail.

"We have evidence that these figures are being discussed between America and Russia. That is, President Trump ... unfortunately lives in this disinformation space," Zelenskiy told Ukrainian TV.

The latest poll from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, from early February, says 57% of Ukrainians trust Zelenskiy.

Less than a month into his presidency, Trump has upended US policy on Ukraine and Russia, ending Washington's bid to isolate Russia over its invasion of Ukraine with a Trump-Putin phone call and talks between senior US and Russian officials.

TRUMP-PUTIN MEETING

Trump said he may meet Putin this month. The Kremlin said such a meeting could take longer to prepare but Russia's sovereign wealth fund said it expected a number of US companies to return to Russia as early as the second quarter.

In Moscow, Putin said on Wednesday that Ukraine would not be barred from peace negotiations but success would depend on raising the level of trust between Moscow and Washington.

Putin, speaking a day after Russia and the US held their first talks on how to end the three-year-old conflict, also said it would take time to set up a summit with Trump, which both men have said they want.

"But we are in such a situation that it is not enough to meet to have tea, coffee, sit and talk about the future," Putin said in televised remarks.

"We need to ensure that our teams prepare issues that are extremely important for both the United States and Russia, including - but not only - on the Ukrainian track, in order to reach solutions acceptable to both sides," he said.

Ukraine and European governments were not invited to Tuesday's talks in the Saudi capital, which magnified their concern that Russia and the United States might cut a deal that ignores their vital security interests.

Putin said no one was excluding Ukraine from talks and that there was therefore no need for a "hysterical" reaction to the US-Russia talks.

Trump says Europe must step up to guarantee any ceasefire deal. Zelenskiy has suggested giving US companies the right to extract valuable minerals in Ukraine in return for US security guarantees, but said Trump was not offering that.

Zelenskiy told a press conference the US had given Ukraine $67 billion in weapons and $31.5 billion in budget support, and that American demands for $500 billion in minerals are "not a serious conversation", and that he could not sell his country.

Kellogg, the US Ukraine envoy said as he arrived in Kyiv that he expected substantial talks as the war approaches its three-year mark. "We understand the need for security guarantees," Kellogg told journalists, saying that part of his mission would be "to sit and listen".

Trump's US policy reversal clashed with allies in the 27-member European Union, whose envoys on Wednesday agreed on a 16th package of sanctions against Russia, including on aluminium and vessels believed to be carrying sanctioned Russian oil.

The EU's diplomatic service has proposed boosting the bloc's military aid for Ukraine, aiming to show continued support for Kyiv, though no quick decision is expected.

The proposal says the main goals would be to supply at least 1.5 million rounds of large-calibre artillery ammunition, as well as air defence systems, missiles for deep precision strikes, and drones.

European officials have been left shocked and flat-footed by the Trump administration's moves on Ukraine in recent days. Chief among their fears: that they can no longer be sure of US military protection and that Trump will do a Ukraine peace deal with Putin that undermines Kyiv and broader European security.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Wednesday that while there was no complete agreement in the EU on how to proceed, "we need to keep a cool head and continue to support Ukraine".​

 

[Saif]

Zelensky accuses Trump of living in Russian ‘disinformation’

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday accused Donald Trump of succumbing to Russian ‘disinformation’, deepening a rift between Kyiv and the new US administration...

www.newagebd.net

Zelensky accuses Trump of living in Russian ‘disinformation’
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 20 February, 2025, 00:08

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. | AFP photo

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday accused Donald Trump of succumbing to Russian ‘disinformation’, deepening a rift between Kyiv and the new US administration.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference on Tuesday, Trump echoed many of Russia’s talking points on the three-year war in Ukraine, blaming Kyiv for having ‘started’ the fighting and suggesting Zelensky was hugely unpopular.

Trump claimed his Ukrainian counterpart had a minimal approval rating in his country — despite polls showing otherwise.

Zelensky hit back, saying that ‘unfortunately, president Trump, for whom we have great respect as leader of the American people lives in this disinformation space.’

Zelensky’s comments highlighted a growing rift between Ukraine and the Trump administration, which sent officials to meet with Russian negotiators on Tuesday in a high-level meeting in Saudi Arabia that excluded Kyiv.

‘I believe that the United States helped Putin to break out of years of isolation,’ the Ukrainian leader added, in some of his sharpest criticism yet of the new US administration.

Russia has revelled in Trump’s remarks, praising him on Wednesday as the ‘only Western leader’ who understood that ‘dragging Ukraine into NATO’ was a cause of the conflict.

‘He is a completely independent politician,’ Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying by the state-run TASS news agency on Wednesday.

Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, arrived in the Ukrainian capital on Wednesday morning in what he said was a mission to ‘sit and listen’ to Kyiv’s concerns, after Ukraine chided the US for not being included in the Russian talks.

Trump has upended US foreign policy since taking office last month, making statements that have alarmed even Washington’s closest allies.

His diplomatic overtures towards the Kremlin have alarmed Ukraine, which fears it will be forced to make massive concessions to end the fighting.

In his press conference on Tuesday, Trump suggested that one such concession would be to hold new elections in Ukraine, one of Moscow’s demands for a peace deal.

‘It’s been a long time since we’ve had an election,’ said Trump. ‘That’s not a Russian thing, that’s something coming from me, from other countries.’

Zelensky was elected in 2019 for a five-year term, but has remained leader under martial law imposed following the Russian invasion.

Trump also claimed the Ukrainian leader’s approval rating was ‘at four per cent’.

Zelensky’s popularity has eroded since the war began, but the percentage of Ukrainians who trust him has never dipped below 50 per cent since the invasion, according to the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.

A telephone poll of 1,000 people by the institute released on Wednesday found that 57 per cent of respondents trusted Zelensky, while 37 per cent said they did not and the rest were undecided.

Borys Filatov, the mayor of the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, appeared to push back at Trump’s comments.

‘We may or may not like Zelensky. We can scold him or we can praise him. We can condemn his actions or applaud them. Because he is OUR President,’ he said.

‘And not a single lying creature in Moscow, Washington, or anywhere else has the right to open their mouths against him.’

Trump’s latest comments are unlikely to allay fears among some European leaders, already worried that Washington will make serious concessions to Moscow and re-write the continent’s security arrangement in a Cold War-style deal.

Ukraine had been working on a deal to give the US access to vast amounts of Ukrainian natural resources in exchange for protection.

But the deal fell through as Ukraine said the draft agreement lacked any security guarantees.

‘I am defending Ukraine, I cannot sell our country. That’s all,’ Zelensky said.

In Paris, France’s president Emmanuel Macron was to host another meeting in Paris on Ukraine on Wednesday. In comments on Tuesday to the French media after the US-Russia talks, he suggested that Trump could restart ‘useful dialogue’ with Putin.

Early on Wednesday, Russian strikes in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa left tens of thousands of people without power, Zelensky said on social media.

‘At least 1,60,000 Odesa residents are now without heat and electricity,’ he said.

For the past three years, Russia has been targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, as well as its towns and villages.

In Brussels, EU diplomats said member states had on Wednesday agreed a new round of sanctions against Russia. It will be formally adopted by EU foreign ministers on Monday, the third anniversary of Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.​

 

[Saif]

Trump's Ukraine policy reasserts diplomacy

Russia is finally coming in from the cold. One couldn't have imagined this situation till recently. President Donald Trump, despite the many complaints people have over the nature of his politics in various fields, has dramatically altered conditions where the Russia-Ukraine war is concerned. In t

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Trump's Ukraine policy reasserts diplomacy
Syed Badrul Ahsan
Published :
Feb 19, 2025 21:40
Updated :
Feb 19, 2025 21:40

One couldn't have imagined this situation till recently. President Donald Trump, despite the many complaints people have over the nature of his politics in various fields, has dramatically altered conditions where the Russia-Ukraine war is concerned. In the three years since President Vladimir Putin sent Russian troops into Ukraine, diplomacy was conspicuous by its absence.

No effort was expended by the Biden administration or the European Commission or NATO to bring about a negotiated end to the conflict or to engage Moscow in steps toward a rolling back of the situation. Donald Trump is now doing precisely what should have been done in the past three years. In all this time, the West should have exercised diplomatic wisdom but didn't. People like Ursula von der Leyen and Jens Stoltenberg through their abrasive attitude toward Putin only helped to worsen conditions.

It is indeed deplorable that NATO and the West in general paid little heed to Russian concerns about the threats to its security in the form of Ukraine becoming part of NATO. In these three years, the West, led by Washington, went into systematically arming President Volodymyr Zelensky in the belief that Ukraine could beat Russia on the battlefield. That Putin committed a grave error in launching his war against Ukraine is a truth no one denies or looks away from. Both Moscow and Kyiv have paid the price, with thousands of their soldiers dying in battle. Villages and cities in Ukraine have borne the terror engendered by war. Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow have led to the death of important Russian officials and the destruction of property.

In modern times, it is the nature of politics to identify the aggressor and those aggressed against. It is only proper that nations or leaders responsible for initiating a process of calamity in a region be condemned. But with that also comes the idea that conflicts which break out must not be escalated by the actions of those who condemn such conflicts. In our times, it is of the gravest importance that every move be directed toward a de-escalation of conflict between and among nations. It is a serious offence for states and organisations to provoke an intensification of a conflict that is already affecting lives in the countries involved in the conflict.

In these three years, no effort was expended by the West toward addressing the core issues responsible for the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as also the leading political figures in Europe went into overdrive to arm Ukraine with the most sophisticated of weapons in the belief that Russia could be punished, that Zelensky needed to be propped up every step of the way. And into that process came the controversial decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to impose sanctions on President Putin, thereby restricting his right to travel. The ICC act was a grave mistake and should not have happened. In simple terms, since February 2022, the West went no-holds-barred into presiding over a worsening of the situation. No one was ready or willing to engage the Russians in a dialogue.

And that was a blunder. The European Commission and NATO never demonstrated any inclination for a diplomatic approach to the issue. It is inconceivable that in these times the need for diplomacy was discarded in such cavalier fashion. Every move made in the West, every summit of Western leaders had a target: punish Moscow. It was a replay of regional politics dating back to the times before Metternich, Castlereagh and Talleyrand. Diplomacy is never a means of insulting the enemy but keeping the door open for him to negotiate with those he has offended by his behaviour. On Ukraine, the West believed, naively, that President Putin would bite the dust in the face of its consistent and unwise arming of Ukraine.

Now that President Trump is keen on reversing the situation, through what is obviously dramatic diplomacy on his part, one expects a resolution of the crisis. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have met in Riyadh, which is again a breakthrough given that in the recent past, every time Russian's top diplomat rose to address a global gathering of eminent people, representatives of nations opposed to Moscow walked out of the hall. That is no more the situation, though one can't at this point quite fathom the nature of a possible resolution of the conflict in Ukraine. One does expect, though, this Moscow-Washington interaction to continue and in fact deepened through a Putin-Trump summit in the near future.

Moscow has to date given no hint of any concessions it might be willing to come forth with as part of a settlement. It is quite possible, in light of statements by US Vice President JD Vance and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, that Ukraine will have little option other than giving up slices of territory already under Russian control to Moscow. More significantly, Moscow will insist --- and Washington appears to agree --- that Ukraine will not be a member of NATO. A chastened NATO has in these past few days appeared to come round to the realisation that Ukraine's NATO ambitions will need to be put aside if the war must be brought to a close.

Ukraine and Europe were not invited to the Riyadh talks, which certainly has them miffed. But for both Trump and Putin, a point of note is that any negotiations on ending the war cannot but ensure that President Zelensky, NATO and the European Commission have seats at the table, the better for a durable peace agreement to be worked out. For the Trump administration, in light of the diplomacy it has initiated on Ukraine, it will be wise to go the whole stretch of the road if the requirement is indeed a total winding down of and closure to the conflict. And, yes, the ICC must move in to lift the sanctions it has imposed on President Putin.

President Trump's decisive action over Ukraine is an encouraging reassertion of diplomacy, a reality which had been put in cold storage in Washington and Brussels and other Western capitals in the last three years. It is an opportunity for the world to draw back from brinkmanship, be the brinkmanship initiated by Moscow or the West. The bridge to conflict resolution is diplomacy. Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin owe it to the world to prove the validity of this statement.​

 

[Saif]

‘Tone down’ US criticism

The White House continued to press Kyiv yesterday with its efforts to bring an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, urging it to rein in criticism and quickly sign a minerals deal pushed by US President Donald Trump.

www.thedailystar.net

‘Tone down’ US criticism
Trump aide urges Ukraine as Russia warns against Nato troops
​

• Moscow holds 'the cards' in peace talks: Trump​
• Zelensky calls for US pragmatism after Trump calls him 'dictator'​
• Russian air attack targets Ukrainian infrastructure​

The White House continued to press Kyiv yesterday with its efforts to bring an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, urging it to rein in criticism and quickly sign a minerals deal pushed by US President Donald Trump.

"They need to tone it down and take a hard look and sign that deal," Mike Waltz, the White House national security adviser, said in an interview with Fox News.

Pushback from Ukraine on the minerals deal and how Trump is carrying out peace talks is simply unacceptable, Waltz said, given everything the United States has done for Ukraine.

Waltz's comments come a day after Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky traded insults, with Trump calling Zelensky a dictator and Zelensky saying the US president was living in a disinformation bubble and spewing talking points from Moscow.

However, Waltz said US differences with Ukraine were not irreconcilable, saying: "The president also said how much he loves the Ukrainian people."

Trump on Wednesday said the Russians "have the cards" in negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine.

"I think the Russians want to see the war end... But I think they have the cards a little bit, because they've taken a lot of territory, so they have the cards," Trump told reporters on Air Force One.

Zelensky said he was counting on unity at home and in Europe as well as pragmatism from Washington, striking a conciliatory tone.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said yesterday that any plan to send Nato troops to Ukraine as part of a potential peacekeeping mission would be unacceptable for Russia and that it was monitoring such proposals with concern.

In a separate development, Russia launched 161 drones and a dozen missiles overnight, targeting gas infrastructure in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region and hitting power supply in the southern Odesa region for a second night in a row, Ukrainian officials said yesterday.

Russia has recaptured 64 percent of the territory captured by Ukraine in the Kursk border region since Kyiv's offensive there last summer, a senior Russian military leader said.

The Russian army rarely gives figures on the amount of territory taken by Ukraine in Kursk, which spans nearly 30,000 square kilometres.​

 

[Saif]

US pushes Zelensky to sign Ukraine resources deal

Trump wants Ukraine to give US companies access as compensation for the tens of billions of dollars of aid delivered under his predecessor Joe Biden, but Ukraine is seeking security guarantees from the United States in exchange for signing away precious rights to vast amounts of its natural...

www.newagebd.net

US pushes Zelensky to sign Ukraine resources deal
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 21 February, 2025, 22:38

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky faced pressure on Friday to sign a deal to hand the United States preferential access to Ukraine’s mineral deposits following harsh criticism from US president Donald Trump.

Trump wants Ukraine to give US companies access as compensation for the tens of billions of dollars of aid delivered under his predecessor Joe Biden.

Ukraine is, however, seeking security guarantees from the United States in exchange for signing away precious rights to vast amounts of its natural resources and critical minerals.

Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser on Friday predicted that Zelensky would sign the deal soon.

‘Look, here’s the bottom line, President Zelensky is going to sign that deal, and you will see that in the very short term, and that is good for Ukraine,’ Waltz told a conference on the outskirts of Washington on Friday.

Trump’s top advisers have doubled down on their attacks on Zelensky in recent days, after Trump branded him a ‘dictator’ and falsely claimed Ukraine had ‘started’ the war with Russia.

The war of words has stunned Kyiv and European capitals, a sign of just how rapidly Trump is overhauling Washington’s long-standing support for Ukraine as he opens talks with Moscow on a settlement to the conflict.

The United States had been Ukraine’s most important financial, military and political backer since Russia invaded in February 2022, in what the West’s top powers had condemned as an unprovoked and illegal war of aggression.

A senior Ukrainian official earlier Friday told AFP that despite the tensions between Zelensky and Trump, talks on a possible agreement were ‘ongoing’.

‘There is a constant exchange of drafts, we sent another one yesterday,’ the Kyiv source said, adding that Ukraine was now waiting for a US response.

Kyiv had rejected a first attempt by Trump’s team to strike a deal for Ukraine’s natural resources, saying the proposal did not include security guarantees for Kyiv — a move that infuriated Trump.

Ukraine is pressing for NATO membership or for the deployment of Western troops and masses of advanced equipment as part of any wider ceasefire agreement with Russia.

Zelensky said earlier this week he would not ‘sell’ Ukraine in any deal with the United States.

The spat risks undermining Western support for Kyiv at a critical juncture in the conflict, ahead of the three-year anniversary of Russia's invasion on Sunday.

Russia’s army on Friday said that it had captured two more villages in eastern Ukraine.

Europe has also been left scrambling to respond, though Zelensky has held a flurry of calls in recent days with European leaders reiterating their support for Ukraine, including French president Emmanuel Macron and the leaders of Finland and Denmark.

Macron will travel to Washington next week where he will tell Trump, ‘You can’t be weak with President Putin,’ he said in an address on Thursday.

British prime minister Keir Starmer will also visit Trump, as Paris and London seek to marshal Europe’s response to the Republican's first month in office.

Zelensky met this week in Kyiv with Trump’s envoy Keith Kellogg whose description of meetings with Ukrainian officials came in stark contrast with rhetoric from his counterparts in Washington.

In a social media post Kellogg called Zelensky ‘the embattled and courageous leader of a nation at war’.

Zelensky said that he had briefed Kellogg on the frontline situation and said ‘strong Ukraine-US relations benefit the entire world’.

But in Washington there was little sign Trump’s team was looking to dial down tensions.

Tech tycoon and Trump backer Elon Musk weighed in on Thursday, saying Ukrainians ‘despised’ their president and that the US leader was right to leave him out of talks with Russia.

‘Some of the rhetoric coming out of Kyiv, frankly, and insults to President Trump were unacceptable,’ Waltz said during a briefing at the White House.

In his most pointed criticism yet, Zelensky earlier this week said that Trump had succumbed to Russian ‘disinformation’ over the US president’s repetition of debunked Kremlin talking points on the conflict.

The Ukrainian presidency’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said Friday that he had spoken to Waltz on the phone and stressed the ‘importance of preserving bilateral cooperation and maintaining a high level of relations’.​

 

[Saif]

Russia could concede $300 billion in frozen assets as part of Ukraine war settlement, sources say

Russia could agree to using $300 billion of sovereign assets frozen in Europe for reconstruction in Ukraine but will insist that part of the money is spent on the one-fifth of the country that Moscow's forces control, three sources told Reuters. Russia and the United States held their first face-t

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Russia could concede $300 billion in frozen assets as part of Ukraine war settlement, sources say
REUTERS
Published :
Feb 21, 2025 21:03
Updated :
Feb 21, 2025 21:03

A firefighter works at a site of an apartment building damaged during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine January 28, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova/Files

Russia could agree to using $300 billion of sovereign assets frozen in Europe for reconstruction in Ukraine but will insist that part of the money is spent on the one-fifth of the country that Moscow's forces control, three sources told Reuters.

Russia and the United States held their first face-to-face talks on ending the Ukraine war on Feb 18 in Saudi Arabia and both US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have said they hope to meet soon.

After Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, the United States and its allies prohibited transactions with Russia's central bank and finance ministry, blocking $300-$350 billion of sovereign Russian assets, mostly European, US and British government bonds held in a European securities depository.

While discussions between Russia and the United States are at a very early stage, one idea being floated in Moscow is that Russia could propose using a large chunk of the frozen reserves for rebuilding Ukraine as part of a possible peace deal, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter.

Swathes of eastern Ukraine have been devastated by the war and hundreds of thousands of soldiers killed or injured on both sides while millions of Ukrainians have fled to European countries or Russia. A year ago, the World Bank estimated reconstruction and recovery would cost $486 billion.

The sources spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the discussions and because discussions are only preliminary. The Kremlin declined to comment.

The idea that Russia may agree to using the frozen money to help rebuild Ukraine has not been previously reported, and may give an insight into what Russia is willing to compromise on as Moscow and Washington seek to end the war, at a time when Trump is pushing for US access to Ukrainian minerals to repay Washington's support.

Russia's main demands to stop the fighting include a withdrawal of Kyiv's troops from Ukrainian territory Moscow claims and an end to Ukraine's ambitions to join NATO. Ukraine says Russia must withdraw from its territory, and wants security guarantees from the West. The Trump administration says Ukraine has unrealistic, "illusionary" goals.

Reuters could not establish whether the idea of using the frozen funds was discussed between Russia and US counterparts in the Saudi meeting.

The Group of Seven stated in 2023 that the Russian sovereign funds will remain frozen until Russia pays for the damage it inflicted in Ukraine. Trump has said he would like Russia to return to the G7, a grouping of wealthy nations.

Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said on Thursday the bank was not part of any talks on lifting sanctions or unfreezing of Russia's reserves.

Russia has previously said plans to use the funds in Ukraine amounted to robbery.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The British Foreign Office declined to comment.

"Nothing about Ukraine and the EU can be decided without Ukraine and the EU," said Anitta Hipper, a spokesperson for the European Commission. She said the EU and member states were helping Ukraine strengthen its position ahead of any talks, including with a new round of sanctions on Russia.

Renaissance Capital lead analyst Oleg Kouzmin said the differences between the United States and Europe, which controls most of the assets, would complicate a lifting of the freeze.

"It would require the European side to fully back the current stance of the US aimed at dialog with Russia," Kouzmin said, calling such a scenario "very optimistic".

TWO THIRD SPLIT?

Russia's frozen sovereign assets have been the subject of intense debate in the West with some proposing it be essentially given to Ukraine through a complex "repatriation loan", opens new tab.

One source with knowledge of the discussions in Moscow said that Russia could accept up to two-thirds of the reserves going to the restoration of Ukraine under a peace deal, provided there were accountability guarantees.

The rest could go to the Russian-controlled territories in eastern Ukraine that Russia now considers to be part of Russia, said the source.

Another source with knowledge of discussions said that Moscow would agree to using the money to rebuild Ukraine but that it was too early to say what the possible division might be. Two sources stressed that it was important to discuss which companies would get future contracts for reconstruction.

A different source, close to the Kremlin but not directly involved in the discussions, said that Russia would still demand the lifting of the freeze on the assets as part of gradual sanctions relief.

Several Western officials, especially in the German government and European Central Bank, have been reluctant to simply confiscate sovereign reserves, warning that such a move could face legal challenges and undermine the euro as a reserve currency.

Russian officials have repeatedly warned that the state confiscation of assets goes against free market principles, destroys banking security and erodes faith in reserve currencies. In retaliation, Russia has drafted legislation to confiscate funds from companies and investors from so-called unfriendly states, those that have hit it with sanctions. The bill has not yet been voted in Russia's State Duma lower house.

EUROPEAN FREEZE

At the time the assets were frozen, Russia's central bank said it held around $207 billion in euro assets, $67 billion in US dollar assets and $37 billion in British pound assets.

It also had holdings comprising $36 billion of Japanese yen, $19 billion in Canadian dollars, $6 billion in Australian dollars and $1.8 billion in Singapore dollars. Its Swiss franc holdings were about $1 billion.

Russia reports its total gold and foreign exchange reserves as around $627 billion, including the frozen funds. The value of Russia's frozen assets fluctuates according to bond prices and currency movements.

The bank's biggest bond holdings were in the sovereign bonds of China, Germany, France, Britain, Austria and Canada. Russia's gold reserves were held in Russia.

Around 159 billion euros of the assets were managed by Belgian clearing house Euroclear Bank as of early last year, Euroclear has said.

While the freezing of the funds has angered Moscow, some of Russia's most outspoken war hawks have previously acknowledged Russia may eventually part with the frozen reserves, provided that the controlled territories stay within Russia.

"I propose a solution. They pay this money towards our purchase of those territories, those lands that want to be with us," said Margarita Simonyan, head of the Russian state broadcaster RT, in 2023.

The Russian-controlled territories of Ukraine account for about 1% of Russia's gross domestic product, but some economists believe that their share could grow quickly if they remain with Russia when the war ends. The regions already provide around 5% of Russia's grain harvest.​

 

[Saif]

US proposes Ukraine UN text omitting occupied territory

The United States proposed Friday a United Nations resolution on the Ukraine conflict that omitted any mention of Kyiv’s territory occupied by Russia, diplomatic sources told AFP.

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US proposes Ukraine UN text omitting occupied territory
Agence France-Presse . United Nations, United States 22 February, 2025, 22:29

File photo

The United States proposed Friday a United Nations resolution on the Ukraine conflict that omitted any mention of Kyiv’s territory occupied by Russia, diplomatic sources told AFP.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged UN members to approve the ‘simple, historic’ resolution.

Washington’s proposal comes amid an intensifying feud between president Donald Trump and president Volodymyr Zelensky which has seen Trump claim it was ‘not important’ for his Ukrainian counterpart to be involved in peace talks.

It also appeared to rival a separate draft resolution produced by Kyiv and its European allies, countries that Trump has also sought to sideline from talks on the future of the three-year-old war.

The Ukrainian-European text stresses the need to redouble diplomatic efforts to end the war this year, noting several initiatives to that end, while also blaming Russia for the invasion and committing to Kyiv’s ‘territorial integrity.’

The text also repeats the UN general assembly’s previous demands for an immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.

Those votes had wide support, with around 140 of the 193 member states voting in favour.

Washington’s text, seen by AFP, calls for a ‘swift end to the conflict’ without mentioning Kyiv’s territorial integrity, and was welcomed by Moscow’s ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia as ‘a good move’—but stressed that it did not address the ‘roots’ of the conflict.

‘The United States has proposed a simple, historic resolution in the United Nations that we urge all member states to support in order to chart a path to peace,’ Rubio said in a statement Friday, without commenting in detail on the contents of the proposed resolution.

In a break with past resolutions proposed and supported by Washington, the latest draft, produced ahead of a general assembly meeting Monday to coincide with the third anniversary of the war, does not criticise Moscow.

Instead the 65-word text begins by ‘mourning the tragic loss of life throughout the Russia-Ukraine conflict.’

It then continued by ‘reiterating’ that the United Nation’s purpose is the maintenance of ‘international peace and security’—without singling out Moscow as the source of the conflict.

France’s ambassador to the UN, Nicolas De Riviere, the EU’s only permanent member of the council, said he had no comment ‘for the moment.’

‘A stripped-down text of this type that does not condemn Russian aggression or explicitly reference Ukraine’s territorial integrity looks like a betrayal of Kyiv and a jab at the EU, but also a show of disdain for core principles of international law,’ said Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group.

‘I think even a lot of states that favour an early end to the war will worry that the US is ignoring core elements of the UN Charter.’​