Ukraine | Pakistan

Russia and Ukraine on Monday swapped plans for ending their three-year war during talks in Istanbul aiming to find a way out of Europe’s largest conflict since World War II. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said any deal must not “reward” Russian leader Vladimir Putin, but said Kyiv was willing to take the “necessary steps for peace”. Urged on by US President Donald Trump, Moscow and Kyiv have opened direct negotiations for the first time since the early weeks of Russia’s invasion, but have yet to make progress towards an agreement. Monday’s talks come a day after Ukraine carried out one of its most brazen and successful attacks ever on Russian soil — using drones to hit dozens of strategic bombers parked at airbases thousands of kilometres behind the front line. A first round of meetings in Istanbul last month yielded a large-scale prisoner exchange but no pause in the fighting, which has raged since Russia invaded in February 2022. On Monday, the delegations “exchanged documents through the Turkish si...

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Vladimir Putin was “playing with fire” by refusing to engage in ceasefire talks with Kyiv as Russian forces made gains in Ukraine’s northeast. With his frustration increasing, Trump has lashed out at the Russian president as Moscow has hit Ukraine with some of the three-year-old war’s deadliest drone […]

Russia and Ukraine each exchanged 307 of their service personnel on Saturday on the second day of an extended prisoner swap set to be the largest in the three-year war. U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested the swap – which should see 1,000 prisoners released on each side over three days – could herald a new phase in […]

Ukraine will ask the European Union next week to consider big new steps to isolate Moscow, including seizing Russian assets and bringing in sanctions for some buyers of Russian oil, as United States President Donald Trump has backed off from tightening sanctions. A previously unreported Ukrainian white paper to be presented to the EU calls for the 27-member bloc to take a more aggressive and independent position on sanctions as uncertainty hangs over Washington’s future role. Among 40 pages of recommendations were calls to adopt legislation that would speed up the EU’s seizure of assets from sanctioned individuals and send them to Ukraine. Those under sanctions could then seek compensation from Russia. The EU should consider a range of steps to make its sanctions apply more forcefully beyond its own territory, including targeting foreign companies that use its technology to help Russia, and “the introduction of secondary sanctions on purchasers of Russian oil”. Such secondary sanctions, which could hit big bu...

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that Russia and Ukraine “will immediately start negotiations” toward a ceasefire and an end to their three-year-old war, speaking after he held a call with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. “Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will begin immediately,” Trump said in a Truth Social post following his call with […]

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Russia and Ukraine “will immediately start negotiations” toward a ceasefire and an end to their three-year-old war, speaking after he held a call with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. “Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will begin immediately,” Trump said in a Truth Social post following his call with Putin, which lasted two hours. After the call, Putin said efforts to end the war were “generally on the right track” and that Moscow was ready to work with Ukraine on a potential peace deal. “We have agreed with the president of the United States that Russia will propose and is ready to work with the Ukrainian side on a memorandum on a possible future peace accord,” Putin told reporters near the Black Sea resort of Sochi. There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on the statement that talks would begin immediately. A source familiar with the matter earlier said Zelenskiy spoke “for a few minutes” with Trump before the US leade...

Ukraine rallied support from its Western allies on Friday after Kyiv and Moscow failed to agree to a ceasefire at their first direct talks in more than three years, with Russia presenting conditions that a Ukrainian source described as “non-starters”. Under pressure from US President Donald Trump to end the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War Two, delegates from the warring countries met for the first time since March 2022, the month after Russia invaded its neighbour. The talks in an Istanbul palace lasted well under two hours. Russia expressed satisfaction with the meeting and said it was ready to continue contacts. Both countries said they had agreed to trade 1,000 prisoners of war each in what would be the biggest such exchange yet. But Kyiv, which wants the West to impose tighter sanctions unless Moscow accepts a proposal from Trump for a 30-day ceasefire, immediately began rallying its allies for tougher action. As soon as the talks ended, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held a phone ca...

MOSCOW: After European leaders backed a US plan for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine and threatened Russia with “massive” sanctions if it failed to comply, the Kremlin accused European countries on Saturday of making contradictory and confrontational statements. “We hear many contradictory statements from Europe. They are generally confrontational in nature rather than aimed at trying to revive our relations. Nothing more,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying. Ukraine and European leaders agreed on Saturday to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire on May 12 with the backing of US President Donald Trump, threatening Presi­dent Vladimir Putin with new “massive” sanctions if he failed to comply. The announcement was made by the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Poland and Ukraine after a meeting in Kyiv, after which they held a phone call with Trump. The US leader, who wants a rapid peace, has not commented publicly on the course of action. “So all of us here, together with the US, are calling Putin...

U.S. President Donald Trump had a “very good and productive” call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday, the White House said, adding that Trump hopes both Ukraine and Russia will agree next week to a proposed 30-day ceasefire. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, speaking to reporters at a White House briefing on Friday, also […]