Ukraine Russia war live: White House hits back at Zelensky after ‘difficult’ peace talks end in two hours – UK Times

Volodymyr Zelensky has reiterated that Ukraine will not cede territory to Russia or withdraw from land it currently controls, as US-brokered peace talks remain deadlocked ahead of the war’s fourth anniversary.

In an interview with British broadcaster Piers Morgan, Zelensky said the defence of the Donbas had come at a devastating human cost.

“Thousands, dozens of thousands of Ukrainians have been killed on this direction, defending this part of Ukraine,” Zelensky said.

“We have to understand that Donbas is a part of our independence. It’s a part of our values. It’s not about the land. It’s not only about territories. It’s about people.”

He said negotiators had made more headway on technical discussions around monitoring a potential ceasefire than on political questions, stressing that any lasting settlement would require firm security guarantees and European involvement.

“When we speak about security guarantees, we mean strong guarantees that the rest of the world – or some countries – will be ready to respond if or when Putin returns with his aggression,” he said, referring to Vladimir Putin.

Zelensky described Ukrainians as exhausted after nearly four years of full-scale war but said the country remained united, pointing to the nationwide mobilisation of repair crews following winter energy attacks.

In the same interview, Zelensky criticised what he called “double standards” in international sport, citing the disqualification of Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics and condemning a decision by the International Paralympic Committee to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their own flags at next month’s Paralympics.

In Pavlohrad, the big lie for internal refugees from Russia’s “meat grinder” operations in the east is that Vladimir Putin sent forces to rescue them from Ukrainian nationalists… that he sent Russian soldiers to save Russian-speakers from the threat of oblivion meted out by Kyiv.

Nikolai Klymenko, 56, sits wheezing on the edge of a bed in the government-run relief coordination centre in the city, an hour’s drive from the front lines. A former soldier in the Soviet army, he fought in Kandahar, Jalalabad and elsewhere during Moscow’s efforts to prop up a communist regime in Kabul in the 1980s. He says he was decorated for bravery and that he was blown up by a booby trap in Kandahar, and has the scars to prove it.

Read Sam Kiley’s detailed ground report.

People stood in freezing temperatures as they waited to receive food aid from World Central Kitchen at a relief distribution point.

Wrapped in heavy coats and scarves, families line up patiently for hot meals and essential supplies, braving the bitter cold as humanitarian groups work to meet growing needs.

Russia attacked the Ukrainian energy system again this week, striking both thermal power plants and electrical substations.

Ukrainians endured record cold in early February, with temperatures in some parts of the country plunging to minus 30°C (–22°F).

Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s former military chief, has revealed new details of his rift with Volodymyr Zelensky, fuelling speculation of a future political rivalry.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Zaluzhnyi, who is now Ukraine’s ambassador to London, said he felt threatened by a 2022 raid by Ukraine’s SBU security service and blamed Zelensky for the failure of the 2023 counteroffensive, accusing him of not committing sufficient resources and overriding his strategy.

Polls have consistently shown Zaluzhnyi as Zelensky’s main potential challenger in any post-war election, though he has not declared political ambitions.

Zelensky’s office did not comment directly, but the president stressed the need for national unity, saying “any other politics in Ukraine is absolutely unnecessary at present.”

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky says his country and Russia are close to having a document that will establish how any ceasefire will be monitored.

Two days of peace talks in Geneva ended without a breakthrough as President Zelensky said he was dissatisfied with the outcome while Washington reported “meaningful progress”.

Mr Zelensky told Piers Morgan Uncensored that progress on political issues had been slow and that the countries’ leaders could try to hammer out a deal among themselves over the most divisive issue of land.

Police met the men at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport upon their Wednesday arrival.

Russia’s foreign ministry has said they have “no reason” to believe that India has changed its position on buying Russian oil.

The US president Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that India has agreed to stop its crude oil imports from Russia.

“We have no reason to believe that India has changed its position on buying Russian hydrocarbons. India’s purchase of Russian hydrocarbons benefits both countries and helps maintain stability in the international energy market,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in her weekly briefing.

“There is nothing new in the claims of US president Donald Trump, as well as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who have grabbed the right to dictate to independent nations,” Ms Zakharova said.

However, Russian crude accounted for its smallest share of India’s oil imports since late 2022 in January, industry data showed.

India – the world’s third-largest oil importer and consumer – had sharply increased purchases of discounted Russian oil after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with volumes exceeding 2 million barrels a day in some months.

But western sanctions and pressure to secure a trade deal with the United States have led New Delhi to scale back imports.

Since November, China has overtaken India as the largest buyer of Russia’s seaborne crude.

The White House has pushed back after Volodymyr Zelensky described American pressure tactics on Kyiv as “unfair”.

Zelensky had complained that Donald Trump kept publicly calling on Ukraine to make concessions to Russia in peace talks, without making similar demands of Moscow.

Responding to Zelensky’s comments, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Donald Trump views the conflict as “very unfair – not just for Russians and Ukrainians who have lost their lives, but also for the American people and the American taxpayer who were footing the bill for this war effort before President Trump put a stop to it”.

In March last year, the Trump administration suspended billions of dollars in US military aid to Ukraine, halting crucial weapons shipments as Washington increased pressure on Kyiv to pursue negotiations with Moscow.A revised arrangement was later introduced under which Ukraine receives weapons from US stockpiles funded by Nato countries.

On Monday, Trump issued a call for Ukraine to end the war, claiming it was up to the war-hit nation to reach a conclusion.

“Ukraine better come to the table fast. That’s all I’m telling you,” Trump said on Air Force One.