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As the Russia-Ukraine conflict enters its fourth year, its ripple effects continue to shape global geopolitics, economies, and everyday lives. Let's examine the evolving dynamics of the conflict, the diplomatic efforts for peace, and the shifting sentiments on the ground and look at the current situation as well as the shifting US stance and EU commitments that may affect the conflict's outcome.
MOSCOW/KIEV - A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not being planned, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday as heavy fighting between Russia and Ukraine dragged on.
"Putin is ready to meet with Zelensky when the agenda would be ready for a summit, and this agenda is not ready at all," Lavrov told the US news outlet NBC.
His comments came a week after US President Donald Trump met with Putin in the US state of Alaska for talks aimed at ending the three-year conflict in Ukraine. The US president also met with Zelensky and European leaders on Monday.
The latest discussions of a potential Putin-Zelensky meeting surfaced after Trump said he called Putin and started working on a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelensky -- and possibly a trilateral one including himself -- following his talks on Monday.
Commenting on the potential meetings, Trump told reporters Friday: "We're going to see if Putin and Zelensky will be working together. You know, that's like oil and vinegar a little bit."
"They don't get along too well ... but we'll see, and then we'll see whether or not I would have to be there. I'd rather not. I'd rather have them have a meeting and see how they can do," he said.
Lavrov told NBC that Russia has agreed to show flexibility on several issues raised by Trump during his meeting with Putin.
The foreign minister previously said that Russia does not reject any formats, either bilateral or trilateral, on resolving the conflict in Ukraine, but noted that any contacts over Ukraine involving top officials need to be prepared "extremely carefully."
Zelensky on Friday said Russia is "doing everything" to prevent his meeting with Putin from taking place.
"The meeting is one of the components of how to end the war. And since they don't want to end it, they will look for space to (avoid it)," he added.
On the frontline, both Russia and Ukraine have intensified attacks on each other's energy infrastructures over the past week.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Friday that over the past week, Russian troops captured nine settlements and launched six group strikes targeting the Ukrainian military-industrial complex and energy facilities, an oil refinery, and storage sites of Ukrainian missiles, fuel, rocket-artillery weapons, and long-range drones.
During the period, Russian air defense systems shot down 25 guided aerial bombs, 11 rocket projectiles from the US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system, as well as 1,500 drones, it said.
Zelensky said Thursday that Russia launched one of the largest strikes against Ukraine overnight involving over 570 drones and 40 missiles. A US factory in western Ukraine was targeted, he added.
The commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, Robert Brovdi, announced on Friday an attack on the Unecha pumping station in Russia's Bryansk region.
The station is a crucial part of the Druzhba oil pipeline, which supplies oil to Hungary and Slovakia. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Friday the pipeline was subjected to repeated Ukrainian attacks over the past weeks.
KYIV -- Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Saturday that Kyiv is ready for a "full and unconditional" 30-day ceasefire with Russia starting Monday.
Sybiha made the statement in a post on social media X, following a meeting with leaders of the "coalition of the willing," an initiative led by Britain and France in support of Ukraine.
A durable ceasefire can pave the way to peace negotiations, Sybiha said.
Earlier in the day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with leaders of the coalition, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
According to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, the five leaders also held a "fruitful call" with US President Donald Trump, focusing on peace efforts.
KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed for the first time on Monday that his country's troops have been active in Russia's Belgorod region, as they seek to protect Ukrainian towns near the border.
Ukrainian troops remain in parts of the neighboring Russian region of Kursk eight months after a cross-border incursion, though Russian forces have recaptured much of the lost territory.
In his nightly video address, Zelensky said Ukraine's top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, had presented a report "on the front line, our presence in the Kursk region and our presence in the Belgorod region".
"We continue active operations in the enemy's border areas and this is absolutely justified. The war must return to where it came from," he said. "Our main objective remains the same: to protect our land and our communities in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions from Russian occupiers."
It is the first time in the more than three years since the conflict broke out that Zelensky has explicitly mentioned a Ukrainian presence in Belgorod, a region with a population of about 1.5 million people.
The Russian military acknowledged facing Ukrainian land attacks in the region last month, at a time when Ukrainian forces were under pressure in Kursk.
Zelensky repeated Kyiv's long-held contention that despite Russia's recapturing of areas in Kursk in recent weeks, the operation was successful in that it drew Russian forces away from the conflict's main front line in the eastern Donetsk region.
"Due to the entire Kursk operation, we have managed to reduce pressure on other front-line sectors, particularly in the Donetsk region," he said.
According to the DeepState military blog, which is considered close to Ukraine's army, troops have occupied a 13-square-kilometer area in the Russian region, near the border village of Demidovka.
Russian military bloggers had reported battles in Belgorod region between Russian and Ukrainian troops.
Meanwhile, the Ukraine air force said on Tuesday that Russia launched 46 drones and an Iskander-M ballistic missile during an overnight attack.
The air force shot down nine drones, with another 31 drones not reaching their targets, likely because of electronic warfare countermeasures, it said on Telegram. It did not say what happened to the remaining six drones or the missile.
In another development, the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih held vigils on Monday to begin three days of mourning for 11 adults and nine children allegedly killed by a Russian missile last week.
Friday evening's strike on Zelensky's home city sprayed shrapnel across a dense residential area, including a playground.
Russia said the strike had targeted a meeting of Ukrainian service members and foreign trainers and killed up to 85 of them, a claim rejected by Kyiv as disinformation.
"No strikes are carried out on social facilities and social infrastructure," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a briefing on Monday when asked about Friday's attack.
Agencies via Xinhua
MOSCOW — The Kremlin said on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin still supported the idea of a truce in Ukraine, but many questions remained about how it would work.
United States President Donald Trump has been pushing for a ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv since taking office in January, but his administration has failed to make a breakthrough despite talks with both sides.
"Putin does support the idea that a ceasefire is needed, but before that a whole range of questions have to be answered," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.
"These questions are hanging in the air, so far no one has given an answer to them," he added, blaming the lack of progress on "the Kyiv regime's uncontrollability".
Meanwhile, Trump has voiced frustration at the slow pace of talks, telling NBC news last month that he was "pissed off" with Putin.
On Sunday, he told reporters: "We're talking to Russia. We'd like them to stop. I don't like the bombing. The bombing goes on and on."
Last month, Putin rejected a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for an unconditional and full ceasefire, while the Kremlin has made a US-proposed truce in the Black Sea dependent on the West lifting certain sanctions.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday lamented the lack of a US response to Russia's refusal to agree on the ceasefire.
"We are waiting for the United States to respond — so far there has been no response," he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron echoed Zelensky's calls for a stronger response to Russia.
"A ceasefire is needed as soon as possible. And strong action if Russia continues to try to buy time and refuse peace," Macron said on X on Sunday.
On the ground, Russia mounted a "massive" missile and drone attack on Ukraine that killed two people and wounded seven others, Zelensky said on Sunday.
"The number of Russian air attacks is increasing", which proved that "the pressure on Russia is still insufficient", he said.
In Kyiv, explosions were heard in the night and smoke rose from the city on Sunday morning.
One person was killed and three people were wounded, the head of the city's military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, wrote on social media.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said "the body of a man killed in an enemy attack was discovered in Darnytsia district".
A missile strike partially destroyed a building housing state foreign-language broadcasters, the Russian-language Freedom television channel reported, saying that its newsroom had been destroyed.
Russia attacked Ukraine with 23 cruise and ballistic missiles and 109 drones during the night, the Ukrainian air force said on Sunday, adding it shot down 13 of the missiles and 40 drones while 54 others caused no damage.
In the southern Kherson region, a drone killed a 59-year-old man, while in the northeastern Kharkiv region, near the border with Russia, two people were wounded in an aerial bomb attack, regional officials said.
Russia's Defense Ministry said on Sunday that troops "liberated" a village in Ukraine's Sumy region, close to the border with Russia's Kursk region.
"A unit of the North group of forces, during offensive actions, liberated the village of Basovka in Sumy region," the ministry said.
Ukraine quickly rejected the report.
"The enemy continues its disinformation campaign regarding the seizure of settlements in Sumy region or the breakthrough of the border," Andriy Demchenko, spokesman for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, told AFP.
In Russia's southwest, a Ukrainian drone damaged railway tracks in the Krasnodar region, local authorities said on Monday.
"There were no casualties and no fire occurred," the administration of the region said on Telegram.
Separately, Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Monday that Kyiv is sending officials to Washington in the coming days for further talks on a deal giving the US preferential access to Ukrainian natural resources.
AGENCIES VIA XINHUA
The United States announced agreements on Tuesday with Ukraine and Russia to ensure safe passage in the Black Sea and ban military attacks by the two countries on energy facilities.
The White House issued separate statements for Ukraine and Russia, summarizing the three days of talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Some of the points, such as on the Black Sea, contained the same language for both sides.
The statements said that the sides in the three-year-long war have "agreed to ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force, and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea".
Both statements concluded that President Donald J. Trump's "imperative that the killing on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine conflict must stop, as the necessary step toward achieving an enduring peace settlement".
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: "We will need clear guarantees. And given the sad experience of agreements with just Kiev, the guarantees can only be the result of an order from Washington to Zelensky and his team to do one thing and not the other."
"If the Russians violate this, then I have a direct question for President Trump. If they violate, here is the evidence — we ask for sanctions, we ask for weapons, et cetera," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters in Kiev.
The Kremlin said in its own statement that the United States also vowed to help restore access for Russian agricultural and fertilizer exports to the world market, reduce the cost of insurance for maritime transportation, and enhance access to ports and payment systems for such transactions.
Zelensky said that the agricultural provision was "a weakening of positions and a weakening of sanctions".
Lifting restrictions on Russia's agricultural exports would also need the approval of the European Union, which currently is not likely, The New York Times reported.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative, originally brokered in July 2022 by the United Nations and Türkiye, sought to guarantee the safe passage of Ukrainian agricultural exports in return for the easing of Western restrictions on Russia's grain and fertilizer business. Moscow did not renew the deal in 2023, claiming that the West failed to uphold its commitments.
Russia also wants restrictions lifted on the Russian Agricultural Bank and other financial institutions involved in international trade of food and fertilizers, including reconnecting them to the SWIFT payment system.
"We're thinking about all of them right now," Trump said Tuesday of Russia's requests. "There are five or six conditions."
The statements also cited agreements to develop measures to enforce the previously reached 30-day ban on strikes against energy infrastructure.
One potential sticking point in the agreements is where the EU stands.
In a TV interview on Tuesday, Lavrov said that the approach taken by EU leaders on the conflict contradicts Trump's position.
Lavrov said the bloc's continued push for NATO membership for Ukraine stems from former US president Joe Biden's decision to push the EU toward a confrontation with Russia.
"In other words, they are in direct contradiction to the Trump administration," Lavrov said, noting that Trump, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz, had "made it clear that preliminary talks are underway on the parameters of the final settlement and that NATO should be off the table".
Lavrov said Biden made "a colossal mistake" by refusing to engage with Russia and insisting that Ukraine join the military bloc, "thereby creating an unacceptable threat for us".
Earlier this month, the UK and France discussed sending a military contingent to Ukraine once a ceasefire is reached.
Moscow called it a pretext for deploying NATO troops in the country, which it said could lead to a war between the military bloc and Russia.
The US and Ukraine also agreed that the United States "remains committed to helping achieve the exchange of prisoners of war, the release of civilian detainees, and the return of forcibly transferred Ukrainian children".
Both statements also said that the US, Russia and Ukraine "welcome the good offices of third countries with a view toward supporting the implementation of the energy and maritime agreements".
The United States and Russia held talks on Monday aimed at producing a 30-day limited cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine — focused on stemming attacks on energy infrastructure — but the two countries in the conflict accused the other of continuing military attacks.
One major sticking point in the discussions is what targets would be off-limits to strike.
While the White House said "energy and infrastructure" would be covered, the Kremlin said that the agreement referred more narrowly to "energy infrastructure".
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he would like to see infrastructure such as railways and ports protected. Kyiv blamed Moscow for a cyberattack that knocked out the online ticketing system for Ukraine's state railway service, causing long queues at stations on Monday.
The talks in the Saudi capital of Riyadh were expected to address some of those differences, as well as a potential pause in attacks in the Black Sea to safeguard commercial shipping.
A joint statement on the talks was expected on Tuesday, according to Russia media, which reported that the talks Monday lasted more than 12 hours.
"Not every negotiation yields a high-profile document or agreement," Grigory Karasin, part of the Russian team, told reporters during a break in the negotiations. "What matters is maintaining communication and understanding each other's positions. In this regard, we are succeeding."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the US had suggested the talks focus on ways to protect the Black Sea shipping route.
"This was President Trump's suggestion, and President Putin agreed to it," Peskov said.
He also said that on the table would be the restoration of a 2022 grain deal that allowed millions of tons of Ukrainian grain to be exported. Russia withdrew from the agreement in 2023, claiming that Western sanctions restricted its own agricultural exports, The New York Times reported. The deal was originally mediated by the United Nations and Türkiye.
US President Donald Trump, in speaking to reporters at the White House, said territorial lines and the potential for US ownership of a key nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine also have been part of the talks.
Serhii Leshchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, said the delegation remained in Riyadh on Monday and expected to meet again with the Americans.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that a Ukrainian drone targeted an oil pumping station in southern Russia that serves a pipeline carrying Kazakhstan's Caspian Sea oil to the Russian port of Novorossiisk. It said the drone was downed before it could reach the station.
Peskov said Monday that the Russian military has been fulfilling President Vladimir Putin's order to halt attacks on energy facilities for 30 days. He has accused Ukraine of derailing the partial cease-fire with attacks on Russia's energy facilities, including a gas metering station in Sudzha in Russia's Kursk region.
Ukraine's military general staff rejected Moscow's accusations and blamed the Russian military for shelling the station, a claim Peskov called "absurd".
Zelensky said Sunday evening that "since March 11, a proposal for an unconditional cease-fire has been on the table, and these attacks could have already stopped."
Zelensky has emphasized that Ukraine is open to Trump's proposal of a full, 30-day cease-fire.
Putin has made a complete cease-fire conditional on a halt of arms supplies to Kyiv and a suspension of Ukraine's military mobilization — demands rejected by Kyiv and its Western allies.
Agencies contributed to this story.
hengweili@chinadailyusa.com
Negotiators from the United States and Russia sat down on Monday for talks in Saudi Arabia on a partial ceasefire in the Ukraine conflict, hours after a round of negotiations between US and Ukrainian delegations, Russian news reports said.
The state Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies confirmed that negotiations had begun in the capital Riyadh. The meeting is expected to be followed by another contact between US and Ukrainian teams.
Originally planned to take place simultaneously to enable shuttle diplomacy -- with the US going back and forth between the delegations -- the talks are now taking place one after the other.
The separate meetings are set to discuss details of a pause in long-range attacks from both Russia and Ukraine against energy facilities and civilian infrastructure, as well as a halt on attacks in the Black Sea to ensure safe commercial shipping.
Earlier, US special envoy Steve Witkoff voiced optimism that any agreement struck would pave the way for a "full-on" ceasefire.
"I think you're going to see in Saudi Arabia on Monday some real progress, particularly as it affects a Black Sea ceasefire on ships between both countries. And from that you'll naturally gravitate to a full-on shooting ceasefire," he told Fox News.
But the Kremlin on Sunday downplayed expectations of a rapid resolution.
"We are only at the beginning of this path," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state TV. "There are difficult negotiations ahead."
US and Russian delegations will meet in Saudi Arabia on Monday to discuss a potential 30-day cease-fire in the Ukraine-Russia war.
The talks will take place a day after representatives of the United States and Ukraine met in Riyadh, the Saudi capital.
"We have concluded our meeting with the American team, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Unerov posted on X on Sunday. "The discussion was productive and focused — we addressed key points including energy."
Protecting energy facilities, critical infrastructure and allowing navigation in the Black Sea are expected to be discussed Monday.
"I think that you're going to see in Saudi Arabia on Monday some real progress, particularly as it affects a Black Sea cease-fire on ships between both countries. And from that, you'll naturally gravitate into a full-on shooting cease-fire," US special envoy Steve Witkoff said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.
A Ukrainian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Ukrainian delegation might hold additional discussions with US officials on Monday, The New York Times reported.
The US hopes to reach a broad cease-fire within weeks, targeting a truce agreement by April 20, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday.
Despite the continued talks, Russia and Ukraine have significant differences over what a peace deal should include.
"Both sides still believe that they can continue the war regardless of the American position," Dmitry Kuznets, a military analyst with the Russian news outlet Meduza told the Times, adding that the two sides' "visions of what an agreement could look like are still infinitely far from each other".
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed last week "that the movement to peace will begin" with the 30-day pause in attacks on energy facilities.
But that plan was cast into doubt, with Moscow saying Ukraine hit an oil depot in southern Russia, while Kiev said Russia had struck hospitals and homes and knocked out power to some railways.
In a post on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: "This week alone, more than 1,580 guided aerial bombs, almost 1,100 strike drones and 15 missiles of various types were used against our people. New solutions are needed, with new pressure on Moscow to stop both these strikes and this war."
Russia's Ministry of Defense said on Sunday it had shot down 59 Ukrainian drones overnight.
A moratorium on energy infrastructure strikes could favor Moscow more than Kiev, given it would prevent Ukraine from conducting strikes on Russian oil facilities.
Putin has said he wants Ukraine to drop its ambitions to join NATO.
Ukraine defines joining NATO as a goal in its constitution and says that membership would be the best security guarantee that it can receive as part of a peace deal.
Last month, John Coale, Trump's deputy Ukraine envoy, said the US had not ruled out potential NATO membership for Ukraine — or a return to its pre-2014 borders.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth a day earlier had told Ukraine's military allies in Brussels a return to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders was unrealistic and that the US did not see NATO membership for Kiev.
Trump has said he does not believe Russia would "allow" Ukraine NATO membership.
The UK and France are looking to create a deterrent force of foreign troops, ships and planes in or around Ukraine after a peace deal is signed.
But some Russian officials have said they could not accept such a force.
Witkoff minimized concerns among NATO allies that Putin might be emboldened by any peace deal in Ukraine.
"I just don't see that he wants to take all of Europe. This is a much different situation than it was in World War II," Witkoff said. "And I think the Europeans are beginning to come to that belief, too. But it sort of doesn't matter.
"The agenda is stop the killing, stop the carnage. Let's end this thing," he said.
Russia wants to control all of the four eastern Ukrainian regions it has claimed as its own, plus the Crimean peninsula.
Russia's Kommersant daily cited unnamed sources who attended a private business event with Putin on Tuesday as saying he wants the US to formally recognize the four regions — Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — as part of Russia along with Crimea.
Ukraine says it already recognizes that it cannot recapture some occupied Ukrainian territory by force and that it will have to be returned diplomatically over time. Kiev says, however, that it will never recognize Russian sovereignty over Ukrainian territory.
Agencies contributed to this story.
US President Donald Trump, in a call on Wednesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, suggested that the United States could take control of Ukraine's power plants to ensure their security, in their discussion about a limited cease-fire between Kiev and Moscow.
Trump told Zelensky that the US could be "very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise", according to a White House statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz.
Trump added that "American ownership of those plants could be the best protection for that infrastructure".
The power plant discussion included the Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility, Europe's largest, which is currently controlled by Russia, The New York Times reported.
"The question was exclusively about the station under temporary occupation," Zelensky said.
The two leaders also agreed on a partial cease-fire against energy facilities, according to the statement.
Technical teams will meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to discuss broadening the cease-fire to the Black Sea on the way to a full cease-fire. They agreed that could be the first step toward the full end of the war and ensuring security.
Trump also briefed Zelensky on his conversation Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump and Zelensky reviewed the battlefield situation in Kursk and agreed to share information closely between their defense staffs as the situation evolved.
Zelensky asked for additional air defense systems to protect civilians, particularly Patriot missile systems; Trump agreed to work with him to find what was available, particularly in Europe.
While there were signs of progress, Putin and Zelensky still have firm positions on certain issues.
According to the Kremlin, Putin made clear to Trump that there must be a halt to foreign military aid and intelligence-sharing as part of any deal.
But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday said that US "intelligence sharing in terms of defense for Ukraine" would continue.
In a readout on Tuesday of the talk between Trump and Putin, Leavitt posted: "The leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace."
Trump's call with Zelensky was about half as long as his call with Putin, in which the Russian president agreed to not target Ukraine's energy infrastructure but declined to back a full 30-day cease-fire.
"Even last night, after Putin's conversation with ... Trump, when Putin said that he was allegedly giving orders to stop strikes on Ukrainian energy, there were 150 drones launched overnight, including on energy facilities," Zelensky said at a news conference with Finnish President Alexander Stubb in Helsinki prior to his call with Trump.
Russia responded by saying it had halted its targeting of Ukraine's energy facilities and accused Kiev of attacking equipment near one of its pipelines.
"Unfortunately, we see that for now there is no reciprocity on the part of the Kiev regime," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The White House described the call between Trump and Putin as the first step in a "movement to peace".
But there was no indication that Putin backed away from his conditions for a prospective peace deal, which are fiercely opposed by Kiev.
Waltz said on social media that he and his Russian counterpart, Yuri Ushakov, agreed Wednesday that their teams would meet soon in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, "to focus on implementing and expanding the partial cease-fire President Trump secured from Russia".
The Russian Defense Ministry said its military had launched seven drones at power facilities related to the military-industrial complex in Ukraine's southern Mykolaiv region, but that it shot them down after receiving Putin's order to not hit energy infrastructure.
Moscow accused Ukraine of targeting its energy facility in the Krasnodar region bordering the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014, several hours after the Putin and Trump talks.
The ministry said that three drones targeted oil transfer equipment that feeds the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, causing a fire and leading an oil tank to lose pressure.
"It is absolutely clear that we are talking about yet another provocation deliberately concocted by the Kiev regime, aimed at derailing the peace initiatives of the US president," the ministry said.
Russia said that its air defenses intercepted 57 Ukrainian drones over the Azov Sea and several Russian regions — the border provinces of Kursk and Bryansk and the nearby regions of Oryol and Tula.
Zelensky said that "words of a cease-fire" weren't enough.
"If the Russians don't hit our facilities, we definitely won't hit theirs," Zelensky said.
"I don't think anybody should make any concessions in terms of helping Ukraine, but rather, assistance to Ukraine should be increased," Zelensky said. "This will be a signal that Ukraine is ready for any surprises from the Russians."
Trump has repeatedly complained about the cost of the conflict — the US has sent Ukraine more than $180 billion in military and economic aid since the start of the war in February 2022.
Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that it was "completely unsurprising" that Putin rejected the cease-fire, adding that it's "imprudent for him to tell President Trump that directly, since Trump has made ending the war a very, very high priority".
Zelensky said that one of the most difficult issues in future negotiations would be the issue of territorial concessions.
"For us, the red line is the recognition of the Ukrainian temporarily occupied territories as Russian," he said. "We will not go for it."
Agencies contributed to this story.
MOSCOW - The Russian military operation to retake the Kursk region from Ukrainian armed forces entered its final stage, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited one of the command posts in the Kursk region on Wednesday evening, and was briefed by senior commanders that Russia is close to liberating the territory of the Kursk region from Ukrainian armed forces, reported the TASS news agency.
Putin emphasized the urgency of swiftly concluding the operation and establishing a security zone in the region.
Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov said that the Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region had been isolated and were being systematically destroyed.
The large-scale offensive by Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region began in August 2024.
MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday proposed establishing a security zone along Russia's state border and demanded the complete expulsion of enemy forces from the Kursk region during a visit to a military command center overseeing operations in the area.
"Of course, we should think about the future and about creating a security zone along the state border," Putin said, adding that the immediate priority is to "achieve a full defeat of the enemy in the Kursk region and ensure its complete liberation".
The Russian president also noted that those enemy soldiers who were taken captive in the Kursk region "should be treated as terrorists in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation".
According to Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, who reported to Putin during the visit, Russian troops have reclaimed over 1,100 square kilometers of territory in the Kursk region, representing more than 86 percent of the area previously occupied by opposing forces.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning expressed hope on Wednesday that all parties involved in the Ukraine crisis would find a sustainable and lasting peace solution that addresses each party's concerns through dialogue and negotiations.
Mao made the remarks after Ukraine expressed readiness to accept the US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Russia after talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
"We have taken note of the relevant reports. From the very first day of the (Ukraine) crisis, China has been calling for political settlement through dialogue and negotiation. We have been actively working toward peace and pushing for talks," Mao said.
She said China hopes that all parties involved can reach a sustainable solution that addresses each other's concerns through dialogue and negotiation.
High-level delegations from Ukraine and the United States held talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, with Kyiv ready to sign a key minerals deal with the Donald Trump administration and poised to propose a partial cease-fire with Moscow — in an effort to mend ties and restore support from Washington.
The three-day meeting in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah started as the US was gauging if Ukraine is willing to make concessions for Trump's efforts to swiftly end Europe's biggest conflict since World War II. Since taking office in January, the US president has engaged directly with Russia, while halting military assistance to and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
Ukrainian presidency chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, who is part of the Ukrainian delegation, said the discussions had begun positively. "The meeting with the US team started very constructively, we continue our work," he wrote on X.
China supports all efforts conducive to a peaceful settlement of the Ukraine crisis and hopes all parties can reach a just, lasting and acceptable solution, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Tuesday.
China is willing to continue to work with the international community to play a constructive role in the political settlement of the crisis, she told a news briefing in Beijing.
However, Ukraine on Tuesday launched its biggest drone attack on Moscow to date, deploying at least 91 drones, killing at least three people, injuring 18 others and causing a short shutdown of the Russian capital's four airports, according to Russian officials.
The Jeddah talks were expected to also focus on a minerals deal between the US and Ukraine. Trump has framed the deal as key to continued US support and compensation for $65 billion in US military aid to Ukraine in three years.
Previous row
On Feb 28, Trump and Vice-President JD Vance accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of avoiding a cease-fire with Russia, and of being ungrateful to the US and Trump for supplying military and other assistance.
Zelensky later said he is still willing to sign the deal on critical minerals, though US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it would not be the focus of Tuesday's meeting.
Two senior Ukrainian officials said earlier their delegation is ready to sign the minerals accord and will propose a partial ceasefire covering the Black Sea and long-range missile strikes, as well as the release of prisoners.
Rubio signaled that Trump would likely be pleased by such a proposal. "We have to understand the Ukrainian position and have a general idea of what concessions they'd be willing to make. You're not going to get a cease-fire and an end to this war unless both sides make concessions," he told reporters.
However, Rubio declined to specify the concessions each side has to make, but said Kyiv would have difficulty reclaiming all of its lost territory. "The Russians can't conquer all of Ukraine, and obviously it'll be very difficult for Ukraine in any reasonable time period to sort of force the Russians back all the way to where they were in 2014," he said.
Rubio and Zelensky landed a few hours apart on Monday in Saudi Arabia, but did not meet. They both met with the kingdom's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday.
According to a joint statement published on Tuesday by the Saudi state news agency, the crown prince and Zelensky discussed efforts to achieve "sustainable, fair, and comprehensive" peace in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Trump's Middle East Special Envoy Steve Witkoff plans to visit Moscow to meet President Vladimir Putin, a person briefed on the plans said on Monday.
Agencies and Xinhua contributed to this story.
KYIV - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said overnight Tuesday that he discussed steps toward peace in Ukraine with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
"We had a detailed discussion on the steps and conditions needed to end the war and secure a reliable and lasting peace," Zelensky wrote on X.
The talks also covered the release of prisoners, the return of Ukrainian children from Russia, and formats of security guarantees for Ukraine, Zelensky added.
Emphasizing that Ukraine's position in upcoming talks with the US team will be "fully constructive", Zelensky expressed hope for "practical outcomes".
Economic cooperation, investments and Ukraine's reconstruction were also discussed at the meeting.
Zelensky arrived in the Saudi coastal city earlier Monday with the head of the president's office Andriy Yermak, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, ahead of the US-Ukraine talks.
Also on Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Jeddah and met with the Saudi crown prince.
The US-Ukraine meeting, reportedly scheduled for Tuesday, follows a rare shouting match at the White House between Trump and Zelensky in late February, which led to the cancellation of a bilateral minerals agreement and the subsequent suspension of US military aid to Ukraine.
MOSCOW - Russia's air defense systems shot down 337 Ukrainian drones overnight, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced Tuesday on its Telegram channel.
Those drones included 91 shot down over the Moscow region, 126 over Kursk, 38 over Bryansk, and 25 over Belgorod, the ministry said.
According to the TASS news agency, it was the largest drone attack Ukraine has launched against Russia in 2025.
MOSCOW - Four people were killed in a Ukrainian shelling attack on a shopping center in the village of Belaya in Russia's Kursk Oblast, the region's acting governor said Monday.
"The death toll from the shelling of a shopping center in the Belovsky district has risen to four. Two women (born in 1959 and 1988), a 39-year-old man and an 18-year-old boy were killed," Khinshtein said on the messaging app Telegram.
According to the governor, Ukrainian forces targeted the Dobrynya shopping center in Belaya on Monday evening.
Earlier reports put the death toll at three, with nine others injured, including four teenagers.
WASHINGTON — The US side is planning to use Tuesday's meeting with a Ukrainian delegation in Saudi Arabia in part to determine whether Ukraine is willing to make material concessions to Russia to end the conflict, according to two US officials.
The US delegation will also be watching for signs that the Ukrainians are serious about improving ties with the Donald Trump administration after a meeting between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky devolved into an argument last month, said one of the officials who requested anonymity.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was expected to arrive in Jeddah on Monday for the bilateral talks on Tuesday with Ukrainian officials, who will be led by Andriy Yermak, a top Zelensky aide. Rubio will be joined by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
"You can't say 'I want peace', and, 'I refuse to compromise on anything,'" one of the US officials said of the upcoming talks.
"We want to see if the Ukrainians are interested not just in peace, but in a realistic peace," said the other official. "If they are only interested in 2014 or 2022 borders, that tells you something."
Trump expressed optimism about the talks. "We're going to make a lot of progress, I believe, this week," he told reporters traveling with him on Air Force One.
Zelensky traveled to Saudi Arabia on Monday to "continue to work for the sake of peace". He said he hopes the talks between his team and US officials will bear results.
Aerial and naval truce
Kyiv will propose an aerial and naval cease-fire with Russia during talks, a Ukrainian official told AFP on Monday.
"We do have a proposal for a cease-fire in the sky and cease-fire at sea because these are the cease-fire options that are easy to install and to monitor and it's possible to start with them," the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
US officials had met with Russian officials in the Saudi capital of Riyadh in February for separate bilateral discussions which were focused largely on rebuilding a working relationship after a near-total freeze on official contact under former US president Joe Biden.
On the battlefield, Russian troops have been making slow but steady progress in eastern Ukraine, while thousands of Ukrainian troops who stormed into Russia's Kursk region last summer are nearly surrounded.
The Ukrainian military said on Monday that Russia launched 176 drones during its overnight attack.
The country's armed forces shot down 130 drones and another 42 did not reach their targets, likely due to electronic warfare countermeasures, the military said in a statement on Telegram.
In a statement, National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said Zelensky had made progress in restoring the US-Ukraine relationship following his acrimonious meeting with Trump on Feb 28.
Hanging over Jeddah is the fate of a minerals deal between the US and Ukraine, in which Kyiv wants a security guarantee from Washington in exchange for access to certain mineral resources in Ukraine.
Zelensky and Trump were slated to sign that accord during Zelensky's Washington visit, but it was not signed after the White House blow-up between the two men.
Since then, both sides have expressed a renewed willingness to sign the deal, but no signing has taken place yet. Trump said on Sunday he thought Ukraine would sign it, with a caveat that he wanted Zelensky's government to show that it wanted peace.
The US State Department and the Ukrainian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Agencies via Xinhua
KYIV — Russia said on Saturday its troops had retaken three villages seized by Ukraine in its Kursk border region, in a fresh setback for Kyiv ahead of talks to try to end the conflict.
"In all directions of the Kursk section of the front, all units have launched a large-scale offensive," Major General Apti Alaudinov, commander of a Chechen unit in Kursk, said on Telegram. "The enemy is abandoning its positions."
Russia's Defense Ministry announced the recapture of three more villages: Viktorovka, Nikolayevka and Staraya Sorochina.
According to DeepState, an online military tracker linked to the Ukrainian army, the Russian move followed a "breach" in the Ukrainian defense lines near the town of Sudzha, which is under Kyiv's control.
The advance appears to have cut off the logistics route needed by Ukraine to supply its troops, though Kyiv has not confirmed this.
Ukrainian troops stormed into Kursk last summer, taking chunks of territory in an unexpected lightning attack. Russia has taken back more than two-thirds of the territory Ukraine initially seized in Kursk.
The Ukrainian military General Staff said on Saturday that clashes were continuing amid heavy bombardment with artillery and guided aerial bombs.
Russia's Defense Ministry said on Sunday that its air defense units destroyed 88 Ukrainian drones overnight with no injuries or damage reported.
The ministry said 52 of the drones were destroyed over the border Belgorod region, while 13 were over the Lipetsk region and nine were over the Rostov region, both in Russia's southwest.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday named a high-level delegation, including foreign and defense ministers, to meet United States negotiators in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
"We hope to discuss and agree on the necessary decisions and steps," Zelensky said, stressing that Ukraine was "fully committed to constructive dialogue".
He also urged allies to "increase sanctions against Russia" after heavy overnight bombardment in the east and northeast.
A Russian barrage hit the center of Dobropillia in the eastern Donetsk region on Friday, killing 11 people, including five children, and wounding 40, emergency services said.
Ukrainian Interior Ministry said on Saturday that three civilians were killed and seven wounded in a separate drone attack on the Kharkiv region in the northeast.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump threatened new sanctions and tariffs against Russia over its bombardment of Ukraine.
Agencies via Xinhua
The public argument between US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart was the "opposite of diplomacy", and its damage will be "hard to repair", with the test being whether Washington will stop sending weapons to Kiev, analysts said.
The meeting at the White House Oval Office on Friday between Trump — who was joined by Vice-President JD Vance — and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky developed into a shouting match while the television cameras rolled.
Trump accused Zelensky of "gambling with World War III" and claimed Ukraine lacked the "cards" to fight Russia, while Vance labeled him disrespectful and ungrateful.
Trump later declared on X.com that Zelensky is "not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a huge advantage in negotiations", canceling lunch and a scheduled news conference.
Zelensky departed the White House less than three hours after he arrived, and a highly anticipated rare earth minerals deal was not signed.
US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said what many saw as Trump, Vance and Zelensky sparring in public was "diplomacy in action with blunt talk and a clarity that you rarely, rarely see … part and parcel of what it means to make America great again".
"Public debates like those are the opposite of diplomacy in action. In my view, the relation had soured before the meeting, which only confirmed that fact," Stanley Renshon, a political scientist at the City University of New York, said on Saturday.
"The relation will not improve but continue as it now is," Renshon told China Daily. "All that is left to watch for now is the ongoing charade."
Cal Jillson, a political scientist and historian at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said that inviting reporters and cameras into the Oval Office and then dressing down a "beleaguered wartime ally" is not diplomacy.
"The damage created by such a public break will be hard to repair. Trump will require more access to Ukrainian minerals; he and Vance will require that Zelensky crawl, and he seems unwilling to do that. But pressure on him will build," Jillson said in an email.
Jillson said one of the things to watch in the coming weeks would be "how fast and fully the major European states move to fill the intelligence and material gaps left as American assistance declines".
For James M. Lindsay, a senior fellow in US foreign policy and director of Fellowship Affairs at the Council on Foreign Relations, the main thing to watch for in the near term is whether Trump cuts US weapons shipments to Ukraine.
Lindsay said the "acrimonious" meeting with Zelensky that culminated in the Ukrainian president being asked to leave the White House "has no precedent", as heads of government generally do not bicker in front of the cameras.
The researcher said in a note posted immediately after Friday's meeting that although Trump said in December that he might reduce US military aid to Ukraine once in office, that has yet to happen.
"Ukraine's ability to hold off Russia depends on maintaining the flow of US weapons. Everything changes if that stops," Lindsay wrote.
"Europe cannot make up the shortfall. So while the rhetorical fireworks between Trump (and Vance) and Zelensky grab the headlines — Trump himself said that today's meeting made for 'great television' — deeds matter more than words," he added.
Early on Saturday, Zelensky took to X to do some thanking, in response to Vance, who asked him "Have you said thank you once?" in Friday's talk.
Also in the morning, Zelensky outlined the terms of the deal he is seeking, saying that he is ready to sign the minerals agreement as "a first step toward security guarantees".
The heated exchange between Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump as well as Vice-President JD Vance has all the social media platforms abuzz.
Tens of thousands of comments have been made under a single thread devoted to the discussion.
Americans are divided on the issue.
"I am horrified watching it unfold and I feel so ashamed for my country," said one.
"I am proud of the President and Vice President for standing up for the United States," said another.
Alisa Lei, a small-business owner in Houston, said she tried to comprehend the situation.
"I watched the entire broadcast leading up to Trump's tantrum. Before the blowup, Trump wanted President Zelensky to sign another ceasefire agreement, Zelensky said Putin has broken the ceasefire agreements 25 times and another ceasefire won't matter," she posted. "Then Trump was set off when Zelensky said that if Ukraine is defeated, even the USA would feel the impact. This shows that Trump knows nothing about how diplomacy works," Lei continued.
"Now the Conservatives are attacking Zelensky for not taking this deal. Who in the world would take this deal? That is not a deal but an extortion on the part of Trump. Any decent American should feel ashamed by his act. I know I do," Lei said.
But many other Americans were feeling proud.
"I'm glad we elected Trump and Vance. We got men in office who care deeply for our country and our people. It's about time we had some backbone in the White House," one Facebook user commented.
"America will not be taken advantage of with President Trump in office," another said.
Elon Musk reposted a post by Cynical Publius on his own platform X with a "Yes" on Saturday.
The post reads: "Ukraine cannot win this war. What Zelensky wants is for the US and/or NATO to literally start fighting the Russians, and that's not going to happen because nobody wants nuclear Armageddon and the end of humanity (except possibly Zelensky)."
"So what is the ONLY option? Answer: mark the boundaries where they are right now and stop fighting," the post continued. "THERE IS NO OTHER OPTION."
US Democrat and Republican politicians also expressed opposing views.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, posted on X: "Thanks to President Trump — the days of America being taken advantage of and disrespected are OVER."
Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, called the meeting "a complete utter disaster".
"Somebody asked me, am I embarrassed about Trump. I have never been more proud of the president. I was very proud of JD Vance standing up for our country."
Graham said he has visited Ukraine eight or nine times since the war started. He once expressed strong support to Zelensky and encouraged former president Joe Biden to do more to help Ukraine in 2023.
"We want to be helpful. What I saw in the Oval Office was disrespectful, and I don't know if we can ever do business with Zelensky again," he said. "The way he handled the meeting, the way he confronted the president, was just over the top."
Democrats mostly expressed dismay over the meeting.
"What we saw in the Oval Office today was beyond disgraceful," Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland posted on X. "Trump and Vance berating Zelensky — putting on a show of lies and misinformation that would make Putin blush — is an embarrassment for America and a betrayal of our allies. They're popping champagne in the Kremlin."
Al Green, a US representative from Texas, held a news conference Friday addressing the issue. He filed an impeachment article against Trump earlier this year.
"I was very disappointed to see earlier today what I consider a shameful display of bully diplomacy," Green said. "This is unbelievable behavior emanating from the highest office of the land, and this behavior is being emulated by others who hold positions under the president."
Green said people will see more of that type of behavior at state and local government levels.
Zack, a Houston computer professional in his mid-20s who declined to provide his last name, said Friday's events were "very concerning".
"It's not apparent what the executive office wants to signal by turning a diplomatic talk into a reality TV show. It's not good for the US because the whole exchanges indicated that Trump is mouthing Russian's talking points when it comes the war," Zack said. "The US executive office is operating under the influence of foreign propaganda, that's very concerning. He's being played like a fiddle by people who have a different interest than ours."
Zack said that judging from the White House live broadcast, "Trump appeared to be hyperfocused on having optics on his ending the war, being in control and in a dominating position."
