Shaun
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff has hit out at Russian negotiators in Istanbul and said Moscow does not want peace, as he called for more sanctions. Monday’s talks in Turkey ended after barely an hour, and took place just a day after Ukraine surprised Russia with an audacious coordinated drone attack on its bombers and cruise missile carriers. Mr Zelensky said Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners each with the possibility of swapping an additional 200 POWs if all goes smoothly. Russia also shared a long-awaited memorandum with its ceasefire demands.
But the talks were immediately followed by recriminations, with Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office, telling reporters: “The Russians are doing everything to not cease firing and continue the war. New sanctions now are very important. In Kyiv, Mr Zelensky discussed whether the huge drone attack – dubbed Operation Spider Web – had “enraged” the Russians after the atmosphere in Istanbul appeared tense. He responded that “no one cares whether Russia is angry”.
Russian negotiators have handed a detailed memorandum to their Ukrainian counterparts outlining Moscow’s terms for a full ceasefire, Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky told reporters after talks in Istanbul yesterday.
Mr Medinsky, the head of the Russian delegation, also said Russia had suggested a ceasefire of two to three days in certain areas.
When the lorry stopped close to the Belaya airfield at the weekend, and the wooden sheds onboard opened their roofs to release a swarm of quadcopters, warfare changed for ever.
The homegrown operation to hide drones in false compartments within prefabricated sheds and unleash them simultaneously many thousands of miles apart – and many thousands of miles behind enemy lines – has clipped the wings of Vladimir Putin’s strategic air operations.
Ukraine claims that its SBU intelligence service destroyed 41 Russian aircraft, causing $7bn (£5bn) worth of damage to long-range bombers that carried the cruise missiles Putin has been using against Ukraine.
Donald Trump has not ruled out taking part in a future meeting between the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian president Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine, the White House said.
The US president is “open to” participating in a meeting between Mr Zelensky and Mr Putin “if it comes to that”, said White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt.
“But he wants both leaders and both sides to come to the table. And we saw them do that today at president Trump’s request,” Mr Leavitt added.
Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine’s major drone strikes against Russian airbases, which damaged dozens of Russian warplanes, shows what a “modern war really looks like”.
Speaking in his nightly video address, Mr Zelensky said: “Today, I addressed the participants of the Summit in Vilnius and emphasised that the key to lasting peace is clear – the aggressor must not receive any reward for war. Putin must get nothing that would justify his aggression.
Any reward would only show the Russian president “that war pays off”, he said.
“We talked about our operation inside Russia, which has seriously weakened their military. Operation ‘Spiderweb’ showed what modern war really looks like and why it’s so important to stay ahead with technology,” the Ukrainian leader said.
Russian shelling killed at least five people yesterday in different frontline areas of eastern Ukraine, officials said.
Vadym Filashkin, governor of Donetsk region, the focal point of the Russian military’s slow westward advance, said one person was killed and two injured in the city of Kramatorsk. The city would be a key Russian target if its forces make further progress through Donetsk region. Filashkin said two more people were killed and three injured further south in the town of Illinivka.
In Kharkiv region, farther to the north, prosecutors said two women were killed in a village south of Kupiansk, which has come under heavy Russian attack for months. The mayor of Kupiansk last month said his city was 90 per cent destroyed.
