Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump pushes Zelensky to reach peace deal with Putin and claims Kremlin is ‘ready’ – UK Times

“Our children at school, they study and they have to run very quickly to shelters,” Zelensky told The Independent’s World of Trouble podcast in an exclusive interview.

“They have to do it. It doesn’t matter where they study, in the capital or, closer to the front line, because the missile is not choosing where to go. They just bring destruction… So that’s why all our children are in danger.”

President Donald Trump said of Sir Keir Starmer this week that “this is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with”.

It is a pity that the president has always tragically failed to recognise that he has already met and dealt with someone who has inherited the mantle of that old lion: Volodymyr Zelensky.

Like the hero of Britain’s finest hour, President Zelensky inspires in his own people the same indomitable spirit of defiance that Churchill did during the disasters and setbacks of the earlier phases of the Second World War.

One day, perhaps some future US president will place a fine bust of Mr Zelensky in the Oval Office as partial repentance for Mr Trump’s shameful treatment of him – and as a standing rebuke to all those who would appease a tyrant such as Vladimir Putin.

For obvious reasons, President Zelensky’s interview with The Independent should remind Europeans in particular that a far more imminent threat to Western security than Iran is still crawling its way through the Donbas.

Ukraine’s speedy entry into the European Union has been resisted by EU ambassadors who have rejected the idea of “reverse enlargement of the block”, according to diplomats of the bloc.

The diplomats, speaking with Politico, said EU member states have firmly opposed the idea during a meeting of ambassadors. “It’s done. Reverse enlargement isn’t going anywhere,” a diplomat said, adding that the EU commission will now have to reconsider the proposal.

Under the proposal, Ukraine would have formally joined the EU first and then received full membership privileges afterward.

Another senior diplomat said the idea was setting unrealistic expectations. “The have created false hopes. Now we have to correct that and tell them: actually, this reverse enlargement was dead on arrival,” the diplomat said.

Other diplomats of the bloc have called for following the procedures. “We want to anchor Ukraine in the EU, but we cannot tear up our procedures and scrap the merit-based system,” another diplomat told Politico.

“The point is to find a realistic way forward,” the diplomat said.

Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha accused Hungary of detaining seven employees ‌of Ukraine’s state savings bank while they were transporting cash from Austria.

“In ​fact, we ​are ⁠talking about Hungary taking hostages and stealing money,” ​Sybiha wrote on ​Friday on X after Hungarian ​prime minister Viktor Orban said Budapest ​would force Ukraine with “political and financial tools” to reopen the Druzhba pipeline carrying ​Russian oil to Hungarian ​refineries.

Sybiha said the employees were travelling in ‌two ⁠cars through Hungary when they were detained. He said their whereabouts were unknown at the moment.

“If this is ​the ‘force’ ⁠announced earlier today by Mr Orban, then this is a force ⁠of ​a criminal gang. ​This is state terrorism and racketeering,” he said.

Tension has long been high between the two leaders during Russia’s four-year war on Ukraine, with Orban maintaining a staunchly anti-interventionist stance.

EU member Hungary has maintained cordial ties with Moscow.

“We hope a certain person in the EU will not keep blocking the 90 billion… and Ukrainian soldiers ​will have weapons,” Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv.

“Otherwise, we will give the address of this person to our armed forces, our guys. Let them call him, speak with ​him in their own language,” Zelensky said.

Donald Trump has once again pushed Volodymyr Zelensky to strike a deal with Russia and claimed that Vladimir Putin was ready to reach an agreement.

“Zelensky, he has to get on the ball, and he has to get a deal done,” Trump said in an interview with Politico.

The US president went back to his rhetoric from the tense White House showdown between him, Zelensky and vice-president JD Vance who publicly shot back at Zelensky to claim he was in a weak position.

“Now he’s got even less cards,” Trump said.

Trump has consistnely maintained his view that US support for Ukraine is wasteful to the US, berating his predecessor Joe Biden for assisting Ukraine with military aid against the Russian invasion.

At the same time, Trump has been reiterating the Kremlin’s stance that it is ready for peace, so long as Ukraine gives up its territory and security guarantees, along with Nato membership plans.

The USand its allies in the Middle East are seeking Ukraine’s expertise in countering Iran’s Shahed drones, according to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

Various countries, including the US, have approached Ukraine for help in defending against the Iranian drones, Zelensky said late on Wednesday.

He said he has spoken in recent days with the leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait about possible cooperation.

Russia has fired tens of thousands of Shaheds at Ukraine since it invaded its neighbor just over four years ago, launching a swarm of more than 800 drones and decoys in its biggest nighttime barrage. Iran has responded to joint US-Israeli strikes by launching the same type of drones at countries in the Middle East.

Ukrainian assistance in countering Iranian drones will be provided only if it does not weaken Ukraine’s own defenses, and if it adds leverage to Kyiv’s diplomatic efforts to stop the Russian invasion, according to the Ukrainian leader.

“We help to defend from war those who help us, Ukraine, bring a just end to the war” with Russia, Zelensky said.

Later Thursday, Zelensky said he had received a US request for support to defend against the drones in the Middle East and had given the order for equipment to be provided along with Ukrainian experts without providing further details.

“Ukraine helps partners who help our security and the protection of our people’s lives,” he added in a social media post.

Trump, in an interview on Thursday with Reuters, said, “Certainly I’ll take, you know, any assistance from any country.”