Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin’s strikes show true attitude towards peace, Zelensky says ahead of EU address – UK Times

While speaking with journalists following another busy day of diplomacy on Wednesday, Volodymyr Zelensky was interrupted by a world leader.

The Ukrainian president had spent the day in Helsinki with his Finnish counterpart, Alexander Stubb, before holding a one-hour long phone call with Donald Trump to discuss next steps in bringing about a ceasefire in Ukraine.

But as he debriefed journalists on Zoom, a call came in from one of his closest allies – French president Emmanuel Macron.

“Sorry, Emmanuel! I’m just having a conversation with a journalist. Can I be back in 15-20 minutes?” the Ukrainian president replied in English, according to Ukrainska Pravda.

“Yes, I just spoke to President Macron. We often talk a lot. Once a day, I would say, on average,” he confirmed, stressing that Mr Macron “helps a lot”.

Exactly 11 years ago, on March 18, 2014, Russia’s seizure of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine, was quick and bloodless.

It also marked a turning point in Moscow’s relations with the West, triggering a downward spiral unseen since the Cold War and setting the stage for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, during which it annexed more land from the war-torn country.

The strategically important diamond-shaped peninsula in the Black Sea highlights the long-standing tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

From valuable naval bases to the desirable coastline, here’s a look at why Crimea is so coveted.

Russia has imposed a state of emergency after a Ukrainian drone attack on a military airfield, local officials said.

The airfield near a strategic bomber base in Engels, around 850 kilometres southeast of Moscow, was set on fire on Thursday following the Ukrainian drone attack, officials added.

Volodymyr Zelensky will address a summit of EU leaders as they convene in Brussels to discuss Ukraine, the Middle East, and European defence.

Later this morning, European leaders will hear the Ukrainian president’s take on his phone call with Donald Trump yesterday, which saw difficult relations with Washington take a positive turn.

In his invitation to fellow world leaders, European Council president António Costa wrote: “Our continued support to Ukraine, the need to invest in our defence and our competitiveness are closely interlinked. A more competitive Union will be a stronger Union, better able to protect its citizens, its interests and its values on the global stage.”

Mr Zelensky is set to address his European counterparts over video conference at 11:30 Brussels time (10:30 GMT).

At least 10 people, including four children, were injured following a major overnight attack which damaged residential buildings in the city of Kropyvnytskyi, officials said.

“Kropyvnytskyi has survived through the most massive enemy attack,” said Arkadyi Raikovych, regional governor of the central Ukrainian city.

“Peaceful residential buildings were destroyed – private houses and multi-story buildings.”

Ukraine’s air force says its defences shot down 75 of 171 Russian drones fired overnight.

The Independent’s world affairs editor, Sam Kiley, says Putin may fear a growing relationship between Kyiv and Washington.

By respecting, vocally, Trump’s efforts to get a ceasefire with Russia, Ukraine has exposed Putin’s deep reluctance to agree to any lowering of hostilities until he can be sure of permanently mangling Ukraine’s sovereignty.

Major gaps still exist between the US and Ukraine. First is that Trump’s administration will not acknowledge that Russia invaded Ukraine. The White House has agreed with Russia that Ukraine will have to concede territory its has lost to Moscow. And Ukraine’s request for US military support to guarantee its security after any peace deal is signed remains off the table, as far as Trump is concerned.

But Putin may fear that the unison he has enjoyed with the White House is now discordant as Kyiv and Washington start singing a few lines together.

The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, will be a critical sticking point in future ceasefire negotiations.

While the White House said US control of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants was discussed in yesterday’s phone call between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president said they had only mentioned the Zaporizhzhia facility.

Located on the frontline and occupied by Russia since March 2022, the plant has been used as a shield from which Russian forces can attack the nearby city of Zaporizhzhia – in the knowledge that Ukraine wouldn’t risk major counter-strikes near the plant.

Kyiv has said that Russia will not be allowed to retain control of the plant, which has not been producing energy since it was occupied.

But by suggesting that the could take US control of Zaporizhzhia, Mr Zelensky has now given Washington a financial incentive to push Russia out of the plant.

Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump held what they described as a positive phone call yesterday, the latest development in the pair’s highly volatile relationship.

Soon after the call, Mr Trump took to Truth Social to hail the “very good” discussion – the first time he had spoken with the Ukrainian president since booting him out of the Oval Office nearly three weeks ago.

Mr Zelensky echoed the US president’s sentiment, praising the “positive, very substantive and frank conversation” and reaffirming Kyiv’s willingness to end strikes on energy and other civilian infrastructure.

It threw the ball back into Russian president Vladimir Putin’s court, after he agreed to the partial ceasefire before Kyiv accused Moscow of striking on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure hours later.

Also discussed in the call was the battlefield situation in Kursk, where Ukrainian troops lost large swathes of land reclaimed by Russia, and the provision of air defence systems and missiles to Ukraine, which Mr Trump committed to continue assisting with.

The White House also proposed US control of Ukraine’s electrical supply and nuclear power plants. US control of these plants, it said in a readout after the call, would be “the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure.