Zelenskyy says he will reach out to Trump today to discuss call with Putin
Zelenskyy gets asked if he thinks Ukraine is sufficiently involved in peace talks.
He responds by saying that “next steps cannot be done without us,” as he intends to reach out to US president Donald Trump later today.
“We had a really good meeting in Jeddah between our teams, [and] I think everything was on the right track, except for Russia’s efforts,” he says.
He adds he “will discuss some details of the next steps with him, and I think I can hear the details of his conversation with Putin.”
Stubb joins in with praises for the Ukrainian “first class” diplomatic team involved in talks.
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Key events
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Finland’s Stubb calls to form European negotiating team on Ukraine
2m ago
‘No compromises’ in military, intelligence aid for Ukraine, Zelenskyy says, as he rejects Russian demand for halt in support
5m ago
Zelenskyy open to Ukrainian participation in Jeddah talks on Sunday
6m ago
Zelenskyy says he will reach out to Trump today to discuss call with Putin
10m ago
We hope America will continue to pressure Russia, Zelenskyy says
17m ago
Need to increase support for Ukraine and ratchet up pressure on Russia, Stubb says
23m ago
Ukraine has ‘undeniable right’ to defend itself, which ‘cannot be restricted,’ Finland’s Stubb says
26m ago
Russia poses ‘threat for all European nations,’ EU’s Costa says
45m ago
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy meeting with Finland’s Stubb
48m ago
Putin’s demands would make mockery of any peace agreement and unacceptable to Ukraine – analysis
1h ago
Russia ‘attacking civilian infrastructure and people,’ Zelenskyy’s top aide says
2h ago
Russia ‘doesn’t want to make any concessions,’ EU foreign policy chief says
2h ago
Further talks expected on Sunday in Saudi Arabia with sides in ‘relatively short distance to full ceasefire’, US Witkoff says
2h ago
Putin ‘playing a game’ on Ukraine with ‘unacceptable’ push for halting Western military, intelligence support, German defence minister says
2h ago
Morning opening: The (Russian) art of the deal
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Finland’s Stubb calls to form European negotiating team on Ukraine
Stubb backs Zelenskyy here, saying that “I think historical experience shows that if you portray any form of weakness in the face of Russia, they will use that.”
He praises UK prime minister Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron for their leadership on finding a new security arrangement for Ukraine, referencing tomorrow’s meeting of army chiefs in London.
He then goes on to say that just as Ukraine, the US, and Russia have their “extremely capable” negotiating teams, Europe should also be prepared to field its team of negotiators.
“I would like to see the leadership come from countries such as Britain, France, Germany and Italy.
So we need to sort of get our act together, to have skin in the game, and I think especially once the ceasefire begins and the actual peace negotiations begin, Europeans know one or two things about peace and should be involved.”
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‘No compromises’ in military, intelligence aid for Ukraine, Zelenskyy says, as he rejects Russian demand for halt in support
Zelenskyy gets also asked about the Russian demand to stop military and intelligence aid for Ukraine.
He responds by saying that “nobody can influence the US on … aid to Ukraine, or other countries,” saying it is a personal decision of national leavers.
He goes on to say:
In my opinion, yes, Russia will want our partners to stop helping us, because That would mean weakening Ukrainian positions.
Although that is strange, if you do not plan to continue waging war and you truly want peace, and I’m speaking about Putin now, then why would you fear Ukrainian army? Why would you do all to undermine our military or to weaken the protection of our people?
Zelenskyy says Putin’s call for Ukraine to be deprived of intelligence on planned attacks to help it protect its population “signals [plans] about continuation of the war.”
“I believe that there should be no compromises in the aid to Ukraine. We must strengthen, in contrary, the aid to Ukraine, because that is a signal that Ukraine is ready against any surprises from the Russians,” he says.
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Zelenskyy open to Ukrainian participation in Jeddah talks on Sunday
Zelenskyy gets asked if Ukraine will be involved in follow-up talks in Jeddah on Sunday.
He says that he will talks about details only after he has spoken with Trump, but Ukraine is ready to “send our technical team to discuss the next steps.”
“When this meeting is going to be and what is going to be the format of it, I will be able to tell that a bit later,” he says.
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Zelenskyy says he will reach out to Trump today to discuss call with Putin
Zelenskyy gets asked if he thinks Ukraine is sufficiently involved in peace talks.
He responds by saying that “next steps cannot be done without us,” as he intends to reach out to US president Donald Trump later today.
“We had a really good meeting in Jeddah between our teams, [and] I think everything was on the right track, except for Russia’s efforts,” he says.
He adds he “will discuss some details of the next steps with him, and I think I can hear the details of his conversation with Putin.”
Stubb joins in with praises for the Ukrainian “first class” diplomatic team involved in talks.
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Stubb also picks up that point, saying that “this is such an important moment in international relations and history … because in Europe there has been no serious territorial acquisition of takeover through force [since the second world war], and we do not want that to happen again.”
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We hope America will continue to pressure Russia, Zelenskyy says
There were issues with the live interpretation of Zelenskyy’s comments in the first few minutes, so we will get back to his opening statements in a bit.
But he’s now giving his comments on Trump’s efforts to bring about peace, as he says he hopes for an unconditional ceasefire at some point.
“We hope that America will continue to work and pressure Russia … to implement everything,” he says, adding that an unconditional ceasefire would be “one of the initial steps towards peace.”
“I believe that this year, the war can end with a dignified peace, but the security guarantees are definitely needed, otherwise Putin will come with the war again. That is his essence,” he says.
He adds that Ukraine’s red line is the recognition of occupied Ukrainian territories as Russian. “We will not agree to that,” he stresses.
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Need to increase support for Ukraine and ratchet up pressure on Russia, Stubb says
Commenting on yesterday’s Trump-Putin talks, Stubb says it was “a step in the right direction,” but he pointedly makes a reference to Russia’s heavily caveated response to all proposals on ceasefire.
There are only two ways to respond to the proposal of the President of the United States. It’s a yes or a no. No buts, no conditions.
Ukraine accepted a ceasefire without any forms of conditions.
If Russia refuses to agree, we need to increase our efforts to strengthen Ukraine and ratchet up pressure on Russia to convince them to come to the negotiating table.
He ends his opening comments assuring Zelenskyy:
We are in this together.
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Ukraine has ‘undeniable right’ to defend itself, which ‘cannot be restricted,’ Finland’s Stubb says
Opening the press conference, Finland’s Stubb says Europe faces “one of those moments of choices between two different worlds: Yalta or Helsinki; in other words, spheres of influence or equal rights and duties for all states.”
He stresses that Ukraine has “an undeniable right to defend itself on its own and supported by its partner,” a right that “cannot be restricted in any way,” dismissing Russian demands to halt help for Kyiv.
Stubb says:
The principles of international law and the European security order have not changed, and there is no need to start changing them.
Independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. These are the principles of the UN Charter and the Helsinki charter.
We must work towards a just and sustainable peace in Ukraine based on these principles.
The only solution is that Russia ends its war of aggression in Ukraine.
Ukraine has an undeniable right to defend itself on its own and supported by its partners.
This right cannot be restricted in any way, not now, and not in the future.
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Finland’s Alexander Stubb and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy are now speaking in Helsinki.
You can watch it below, and I will bring you all the key lines here.
Zelenskiy and Finnish president Stubb hold press conference – watch liveShare
Russia poses ‘threat for all European nations,’ EU’s Costa says
Russia represents a threat for all European nations, regardless of how far they lie from Moscow, EU chief António Costa told AFP ahead of a leaders’ summit on Thursday.
“Naturally, Russia’s neighbours are most concerned by Russia – that goes without saying,” Costa said in an interview. “But what is essential is for everyone to understand that this is a collective threat.”
Costa was also asked if Europe should start restricting defence procurement to European firms, and he responded highlighting the urgency of rearming the bloc.
“It’s a question of timeframe. The equipment we need now, we should buy where it is available – from Europe, South Korea, Japan, the United States or Turkey.
“Obviously if you look longer term, what matters is not just procurement but production. And for that we need to reinforce our industrial and technological base – which we are already doing.
António Costa seen in Berlin, Germany earlier this month. Photograph: dts News Agency Germany/REX/ShutterstockShare
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy meeting with Finland’s Stubb
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Helsinki today, meeting with the country’s leadership, including the highly-influential president Alex Stubb.
The two leaders are expected to give a press conference after their talks soon and I will bring you all the key lines.
Finland’s President Alexander Stubb (2-L) welcomes Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (L) during the latter’s official visit to Helsinki, Finland. Photograph: Kimmo Brandt/EPAUkrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Finnish president Alexander Stubb react ahead of their discussion at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland. Photograph: Heikki Saukkomaa/ReutersShare
Putin’s demands would make mockery of any peace agreement and unacceptable to Ukraine – analysis
Dan Sabbagh
Defence and security editor
Russian president Vladimir Putin speaks during the Congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in Moscow, Russia. Photograph: Maxim Shemetov/Reuters
Donald Trump began his conversation with Vladimir Putin with a simple demand: a 30-day ceasefire on land, sea and air which Ukraine has already signed up to, as an initial measure on which to build towards a peace.
Instead, what the US president got from Putin were questions, half-offers and limited concessions – and, above all, an extraordinary demand from the Russian leader to weaken Ukraine that would make a mockery of any peace agreement.
The “key condition” for resolving the conflict, the Kremlin said in a statement after the call, should be “the complete cessation of foreign military aid and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv”.
That means halting military support not just from the US but from all Ukraine’s foreign backers, including Britain, France and all those putting together plans for a post-conflict “reassurance force” intended to provide a long-term security guarantee to Kyiv, allowing it to open its ports and airports, and safeguard utility supplies.
It is nowhere near a position Ukraine can accept.
Full analysis:
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Russia ‘attacking civilian infrastructure and people,’ Zelenskyy’s top aide says
Andriy Yermak, head of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, just posted a social media update calling out Russian attacks overnight:
In Sumy, a Russian Shahed drone struck a hospital.
Russia is attacking civilian infrastructure and people right now.
Yermak (right) during talks with US in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, earlier this month. Photograph: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service Handout/EPAShare
Russia ‘doesn’t want to make any concessions,’ EU foreign policy chief says
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that Moscow cannot be trusted, after a phone call between US president Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin resulted in a Russian agreement to stop attacking Ukrainian energy facilities temporarily.
“If you read the two readouts from the call, it is clear that … Russia does not really want to make any kind of concessions,” Kallas told reporters in Brussels, Reuters reported.
European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas walks to attend the meeting of the new college of European Commissioners in Brussels, Belgium. Photograph: Yves Herman/ReutersShare
Further talks expected on Sunday in Saudi Arabia with sides in ‘relatively short distance to full ceasefire’, US Witkoff says
US envoy Steve Witkoff said in a televised interview overnight that US-Russia talks are expected to continue on Sunday, with the two sides meeting again in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Speaking to Fox, he suggested that Russians have also signed up to a form of agreement on “the Black Sea maritime aspect of a ceasefire,” and added that he was “certainly hopeful that Ukrainians will agree to it.”
It was not immediately clear if Ukraine will be invited to take part if the Jeddah talks.
The Russian readout after the call said that Putin “responded constructively” to Trump’s proposals, agreeing to negotiations to “further elaborate specific details.”
Witkoff was also asked on whether there will be “reciprocity” in arrangements, after Russia demanded that Ukraine should not be able to rearm during that period.
“I think the devil is in the details. We’ve got a team going to Saudi Arabia, led by our national security adviser and our secretary of state, and I think, you know, we’ve got to figure out those details,” he said.
He continued, with lots of praises for both Trump and Putin:
“The point is that, up until recently, we really didn’t have consensus around these two aspects, the energy and infrastructure ceasefire and the Black Sea moratorium on firing.
And today we got to that place, and I think it’s a relatively short distance to a full ceasefire from there.
And again, I stress that it was the president’s former relationship with president Putin, the president stressing that they needed to engage in mutual trust together to bring this war to an end.
President Putin, and I would commend him for this, said that he agreed with the president’s posture on it all, he agreed with the approach, he didn’t want to see more people dying in the field.
So it was these two great leaders coming together for the betterment of mankind, and it was honestly a privilege and an honour for me to set sit there and listen to that conversation.”
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Putin ‘playing a game’ on Ukraine with ‘unacceptable’ push for halting Western military, intelligence support, German defence minister says
German defence minister Boris Pistorius accused Vladimir Putin of “playing a game” on Ukraine, calling out Russia’s attacks on Ukraine overnight.
“We’ve seen that attacks on civilian infrastructure have not eased at all in the first night after this supposedly groundbreaking, great phone call” between Putin and US president Donald Trump, Pistorius said in a TV interview, quoted by AFP.
The minister also described as “unacceptable” the Kremlin’s insistence that a “key condition” for peace would be a total halt of western military and intelligence support to Ukraine’s embattled military.
“This is very transparent,” Pistorius said, adding that Putin aimed to prevent Kyiv’s backers from “further supporting Ukraine and enabling it to really defend itself if there is another attack, during or after a ceasefire”, AFP reported.
Boris Pistorius (SPD) during the 214th session of the German Bundestag in the Reichstag building in Berlin. Photograph: snapshot/Future Image/F Kern/REX/ShutterstockShare
Morning opening: The (Russian) art of the deal
US president Donald Trump has experienced a regional variation on his art of the deal manual on Tuesday, after Russian president Vladimir Putin seemingly refused to subscribe to his comprehensive ceasefire initiative and instead once again put forward a set of maximalist demands on Ukraine and the broader European security infrastructure.
Or as Daniel Szeligowski, head of eastern Europe programme at the Polish Institute of International Affairs, put it:
Trump wants to stop the fighting. Putin wants Ukraine to stop the fighting. That may be a subtle, yet fundamental difference.
Just hours after the Trump-Putin phone call concluded, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported around 40 “Shahed” drones attacking targets in Ukraine, including civilian infrastructure. Kyiv said this morning that Russia fired six missiles and 145 drones overnight.
Zelenskyy called out Putin saying he “effectively rejected the proposal for a full ceasefire,” and urged “the world to respond by rejecting any attempts by Putin to prolong the war.”
Sanctions against Russia. Assistance to Ukraine. Strengthening allies in the free world and working toward security guarantees. And only a real cessation of strikes on civilian infrastructure by Russia, as proof of its willingness to end this war, can bring peace closer.
European leaders will no doubt give their initial verdicts today, ahead of what promises to be another pivotal EU summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. And the EU will offer more details on its plan to rearm Europe, as part of its initiative worth up to €800bn.
Zelenskyy is in Finland, where he will meet with Finnish president Alex Stubb and speak alongside him at a joint press conference.
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