Ukraine | Pakistan

Russia attacked Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine with hundreds of missiles and drones on Saturday, ahead of what President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said would be a crucial meeting with US President Donald Trump to work out a plan to end nearly four years of war. Zelenskiy cast the vast overnight attack, which he said involved about 500 drones and 40 missiles and which knocked out power and heat in parts of the capital, as Russia’s response to the ongoing peace efforts brokered by Washington. The Ukrainian leader has said Sunday’s talks in Florida would focus on security guarantees and territorial control once fighting ends in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two, started by Russia’s 2022 invasion of its smaller neighbour. The attack continued throughout the morning, with a nearly 10-hour air raid alert for the capital. Authorities said two people were killed in Kyiv and the surrounding region, while at least 46 people were wounded, including two children. “Today, Russia demonstrated how it responds to pe...

A car bomb killed a senior Russian general in southern Moscow on Monday morning, the latest high-profile army figure to be blown up in a blast that came just hours after Russian and Ukrainian delegates held separate talks in Miami on a plan to end the war. Kyiv has not commented on the incident, but Russian investigators said they were probing whether the blast was “linked” to “Ukrainian special forces”. The attack was similar to other assassinations of generals and pro-war figures that have either been claimed, or are widely believed to have been orchestrated, by Ukraine. Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, 56, head of the Russian General Staff’s training department, was killed when the bomb, which had been placed under his parked car, detonated in a residential quarter of southern Moscow. AFP reporters at the scene saw a mangled white Kia SUV, its doors and back window blown out. The frame was twisted and charred from the blast. The scene had been cordoned off by security forces, and investigators were sifti...

Russia is trying to sever Ukraine’s access to the Black Sea, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday, following days of ramped-up airstrikes on ports and energy facilities in the Odesa region and a critical route to the Moldova border. Russia has unleashed an almost continuous drone and missile campaign against a region where ports key to Ukraine’s foreign trade and fuel supplies operate, after Moscow threatened to cut “Ukraine off from the sea”. Strikes have escalated even as the United States pursues an uphill diplomatic drive to coax a deal to end the war. Ukraine held talks with the US team on Friday, and American negotiators were set to meet Russian officials in Florida today. “The situation in the Odesa region is harsh due to Russian strikes on port infrastructure and logistics. Russia is once again trying to restrict Ukraine’s access to the sea and block our coastal regions,” Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv. Russia’s aim is “to sow chaos, to exert moral pressure during winter … so that there is n...

Ukraine has relinquished its aim to join the Nato military alliance in exchange for Western security guarantees as a compromise to end the war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday as peace talks got underway in Berlin. Zelensky aired the concession as he flew to the German capital, where he began meetings with US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner in efforts to end Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War Two. The move marks a major shift for Ukraine, which has fought to join Nato as a safeguard against Russian attacks and has such an aspiration included in its constitution. It also meets one of Russia’s war aims, although Kyiv has so far held firm against ceding territory to Moscow. Zelensky met the US envoys at talks hosted by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who, a source said, had made brief remarks before leaving the two sides to negotiate. Other European leaders are also due in Germany for talks on Monday. Security guarantees from the United...

Germany will host US and Ukrainian delegations over the weekend for talks on a ceasefire in Ukraine, before a summit with European leaders and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Berlin on Monday, a German official said. A US official said President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were travelling to Germany for talks involving Ukrainians and Europeans. The choice to send Witkoff, who has led negotiations with Ukraine and Russia regarding a US peace proposal, appeared to be a signal that Washington saw a chance of progress after nearly four years of war since Russia’s 2022 invasion. The White House had said on Thursday Trump would send an official to talks only if he felt there was enough progress to be made. Show of support for Ukraine “Talks on a possible ceasefire in Ukraine are taking place in Berlin this weekend between foreign policy advisers from, among others, the US and Ukraine,” a German government source said on Saturday when asked about the meetings. On Monday, Merz is ...

President Donald Trump’s envoys were to meet Thursday with Ukrainian negotiators for the third time in two weeks to press his plan to end the war as his administration eased economic pressure on Russia. Two days after the envoys met Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Treasury Department partially suspended measures that Trump had announced in October when he finally vowed to get tough on Moscow. The Treasury Department suspended until at least April 29 economic sanctions against Lukoil-branded gas stations outside of Russia. A ban remains on place to prevent the money from flowing back to Russia, which has been under sweeping US and EU sanctions since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Trump’s sanctions had been one of the most concrete means to pressure Russia, which European diplomats accuse of trying to avoid pressure by pursuing negotiations. Easing isolation Steve Witkoff, Trump’s business partner-turned-roving global ambassador, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, will meet in the M...

Washington and Kyiv said that any eventual deal to halt the war with Russia must fully uphold Ukraine’s sovereignty, after “constructive” talks between US, Ukrainian and European officials in Geneva. After a day of meetings that kicked off based on a United States’ proposal that was criticised as being in Russia’s favour, negotiators have drafted “an updated and refined peace framework”, a US-Ukraine joint statement said on Sunday. US President Donald Trump had given Ukraine until November 27 to approve his plan to end the nearly four-year conflict, which began after Russia launched a full-scale invasion. But Kyiv was seeking changes to the draft that accepted a range of Russia’s hardline demands, with the 28-point plan requiring the invaded country to cede territory, cut its army and pledge never to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato). “The talks were constructive, focused, and respectful, underscoring the shared commitment to achieving a just and lasting peace,” the joint statement said. “The...

Ukraine and the US will soon meet in Switzerland to discuss Washington’s plan for ending the war with Russia, Kyiv said Saturday, as it seeks to fix the draft that heeds to some of Moscow’s hardline demands. US President Donald Trump gave Ukraine less than a week to approve the 28-point plan to end the nearly four-year conflict, which would see the invaded country ceding territory, cutting its army, and pledging to never join NATO. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s European allies, who were not included in drafting the agreement, said the plan requires “additional work” as they scrambled at the G20 summit in South Africa to come up with a counter-offer to Trump’s plan to beef up Kyiv’s positions. “In the coming days, consultations will take place with partners regarding the steps needed to end the war,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said, after he issued a decree stating Ukraine’s team for the talks, which will be led by his top aide, Andriy Yermak. “Our representatives know how to defend Ukraine’s national interests and w...

European countries pushed back on Thursday against a United States-backed peace plan for Ukraine that sources said would require Kyiv to give up more land and partially disarm, conditions long seen by Ukraine’s allies as tantamount to capitulation. Two people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday that Washington had signalled to President Volodymyr Zelensky that Ukraine must accept a US-drafted framework to end the war, which includes territorial concessions and curbs to Ukraine’s armed forces. The sources spoke on condition they not be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. The acceleration in American diplomacy comes at an awkward juncture for Kyiv, with its troops on the back foot at the front and Zelensky’s government undermined by a corruption scandal. Parliament fired two cabinet ministers on Wednesday. A Ukrainian soldier sits in a pickup truck before a combat mission near the frontline town of Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region of Ukraine on November 20. — Reuters Moscow p...

United States President Donald Trump slapped sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies on Wednesday, complaining that his talks with Vladimir Putin to end the Ukraine war “don’t go anywhere”. The European Union also unveiled a fresh wave of sanctions to pressure Russia to end its relentless, three-and-a-half-year invasion of its neighbor, which is allied with both Washington and Brussels. Trump has held off pulling the trigger on sanctions against Russia for months, but his patience snapped after plans for a fresh summit with Putin in Budapest collapsed. “Every time I speak with Vladimir, I have good conversations, and then they don’t go anywhere,” Trump said in response to a question from an AFP journalist in the Oval Office. But Trump added that he hoped the “tremendous sanctions” against Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil would be short-lived. “We hope that the war will be settled,” he said alongside Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday evening tha...

United States President Donald Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday agreed to another summit to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, a day before the US president was due to speak with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump said he and Putin would soon meet in Budapest after a more than two-hour-long phone call he described as productive. The Kremlin did not immediately comment. The surprise development came as Zelensky was headed to the White House on Friday to push for more military support, including potential long-range offensive missiles. Yet the positive tone following the US-Russia call appeared to leave in question the possibility of such support in the near term. Energy systems targeted Kyiv and Moscow have been escalating their war with massive attacks on energy infrastructure while Nato struggles to respond to a spate of Russian air incursions. The Trump-Putin meeting will follow lower-level talks between Moscow and Washington next week, Trump said. No date was...

Russia said on Tuesday it was waiting for clarity from the United States about the possible supply of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, saying such weapons could theoretically carry nuclear warheads. US President Donald Trump said on Monday he would want to know what Ukraine planned to do with Tomahawks before agreeing to provide them because he did not want to escalate the war between Russia and Ukraine. He said, however, that he had “sort of made a decision” on the matter. Asked about the comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “We understand that we need to wait, probably, for clearer statements, if any come.” Peskov said that under Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden, US practice had been to announce supplies of new weapons only once they had been delivered to Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in comments published on Sunday that if Washington supplied Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine for long-range strikes deep into Russia, it would lead to the destruction of Moscow’s relationship with the US. Pes...

Poland said on Wednesday it had scrambled aircraft alongside allies to shoot down “hostile objects” violating its airspace during a Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine, a first for a NATO country during the war. “Aircraft have used weapons against hostile objects,” Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on social media, adding: “We are in constant contact with NATO command.” The incursion came as Russia unleashed a barrage of strikes across Ukraine, including in the western city of Lviv, around 50 miles (80 kilometres) from the Polish border. Russian drones and missiles have entered the airspace of NATO members — including Poland — several times during Russia’s three-and-a-half-year war, but a NATO country has never attempted to shoot them down. A cornerstone of the Western military alliance is the principle that an attack on any member is deemed an attack on all. The operational command of Poland’s military slammed the “unprecedented” airspace violations, saying it had spotted around a dozen dron...

Russia fired its biggest-ever aerial barrage at Ukraine early on Sunday, killing four people and setting government offices in Kyiv ablaze, an attack Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned would prolong the war. Flames could be seen rising from the roof of the sprawling government complex that houses Ukraine’s cabinet of ministers in the heart of the city — the first time it has been hit during the three-and-a-half-year conflict. Drone strikes also damaged several high-rise buildings in the Ukrainian capital, according to emergency services. Russia has shown no sign of halting its onslaught despite efforts by the United States to broker a peace deal, and Kyiv residents have become hardened to the daily rhythm of strikes and alerts. “This is already routine for us, unfortunately,” Olga, a 30-year-old resident of a damaged building, told AFP after the latest strikes. An AFP reporter saw helicopters dropping buckets of water over the government building’s roof, as emergency services rushed to the scene. E...

Twenty-six nations have pledged to provide postwar security guarantees to Ukraine, which will include an international force on land and sea and in the air, French President Emmanuel Macron said after a summit meeting of Kyiv’s allies on Thursday. Macron said he, fellow European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held a call with United States President Donald Trump after their summit, and US contributions to the guarantees would be finalised in the coming days. The meeting of 35 leaders from the “coalition of the willing” — of mainly European countries — was intended to finalise security guarantees and ask Trump for the backing that Europeans say is vital to make such guarantees viable. Security guarantees are intended to reassure Ukraine and deter Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, from attacking its neighbour again. “The day the conflict stops, the security guarantees will be deployed,” Macron told a press conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris, standing alo...

United States President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he plans to hold talks about the war in Ukraine in the coming days after his Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in August failed to achieve a breakthrough. Trump has been frustrated at his inability to put a halt to the fighting, which began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, after he initially predicted he would be able to end the war swiftly when he took office in January. Trump said he would be holding talks in the next few days. A White House official said Trump is expected to speak on the phone on Thursday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The French presidency said earlier today that several European leaders, including Zelensky and France’s Emmanuel Macron, would call Trump on Thursday afternoon. That call was expected to follow a mostly virtual meeting on Thursday, hosted by France, of some 30 countries to discuss their latest efforts to provide Ukraine with security support once there is a peace agreeme...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that the presence of foreign troops in Ukraine after the war with Russia ends was “important” as Kyiv seeks to work on potential security guarantees with its Western allies. The issue of on-the-ground “presence, as they say, boots on the ground, is important to us,” Zelensky said, speaking alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who visited Kyiv as it celebrated Ukrainian Independence Day against a backdrop of fading hopes for recent peace efforts. Carney said earlier that it was not up to Russia to decide on potential security guarantees for Ukraine that Kyiv seeks from Western allies for when the war ends. “It’s not the choice of Russia how the future sovereignty, independence and liberty of Ukraine is guaranteed. It’s the choice of Ukraine and the decisions of the partners,” Carney told reporters on his visit to Kyiv. Earlier today, Ukraine launched a wave of drone strikes on Russia, triggering a fire at a nuclear power plant. After a flurry of d...

MOSCOW: Vladimir Putin is demanding that Ukraine give up all of the eastern Donbas region, renounce ambitions to join NATO, remain neutral and keep Western troops out of the country, three sources familiar with top-level Kremlin thinking told Reuters. The Russian president met Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday for the first Russia-U.S. summit in more than four years […]

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he hoped Russia’s Vladimir Putin would move forward on ending the war in Ukraine but conceded that the Kremlin leader may not want to make a deal at all, adding this would create a “rough situation” for Putin. In an interview with the Fox News “Fox & Friends” programme, Trump […]

European leaders will join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on a Monday visit to Washington to see United States President Donald Trump in a collective bid to find a way to end Moscow’s invasion, with the US offering security guarantees for Kyiv. The meeting follows a summit in Alaska between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that failed to yield any breakthrough on an immediate ceasefire that the US leader had been pushing for. Trump, who pivoted afterwards to say he was now seeking a peace deal, on Sunday posted, “Big progress on Russia, stay tuned!” on his Truth Social platform, without elaborating. Trump’s Russia envoy Steve Witkoff said on Sunday that Trump and Putin had agreed in their summit on “robust security guarantees” for Ukraine. But Zelensky, on a Brussels visit hosted by European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen today, rejected the idea of Russia offering his country security guarantees. “What President Trump said about security guarantees is much more important to me than P...