Russia Ukraine war latest: Starmer says he is willing to put British troops in Ukraine; Kyiv recaptures frontline village

Ukrainian forces have recaptured the village of Pischane to the southwest of Pokrovsk, in response to navy officers, amid rising indicators that Russia’s advance is slowing.

Russian progress in Ukraine has stalled, with the excessive fee of Russian casualties having a demoralising impact on fight items, in response to Russian bloggers.

Main Viktor Trehubov, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s floor forces within the east, instructed the Guardian that 7,000 Russian troopers died in January within the battle for Pokrovsk, and 15,000 are wounded or lacking.

Zelensky has made it clear that he would by no means settle for a peace deal negotiated by the U.S. and Russia with out Ukraine having an equal place on the desk

“I’ll by no means settle for any choices between america and Russia about Ukraine, by no means,” Zelenskyy instructed ‘Meet the Press’ moderator Kristen Welker on Friday in Munich, Germany. “That is the battle in Ukraine, in opposition to us, and it’s our human losses.”

He added: “There isn’t any any chief on the earth who can actually make a take care of Putin with out us about us.”

Zelensky additionally mentioned he instructed Trump to not belief Putin, and pressured that America, Europe, Ukraine and Russia all wanted to be concerned in ceasefire offers.

Donald Trump on Sunday mentioned he believed Vladimir Putin is keen for a deal, whereas additionally noting that Russia has traditionally impressed on the battlefield.

“I feel he needs to cease preventing,” Mr Trump mentioned. “They’ve an enormous highly effective machine, you perceive that they defeated Hitler and so they defeated Napoleon. They have been preventing a very long time.”

Heather Conley, a deputy assistant secretary of state for Central Europe throughout Republican President George W Bush’s administration, mentioned that with Mr Trump’s present method to Moscow, the US seems to be “looking for to create a brand new worldwide method based mostly on a modern-day live performance of nice powers”.

“As within the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it is just for the nice powers to resolve the destiny of countries and to take — both by buy or drive — that which strengthens the nice powers’ financial and safety pursuits,” Ms Conley mentioned.

“Every of those powers posit claims or coerce nations of their respective regional spheres of affect.

“There’s some debate contained in the administration about its creating method to Moscow, with some extra in favor of a speedy rapprochement and others cautious that Mr Putin is trying to fray the Euro-Atlantic alliance as he goals to reclaim Russian standing and wield higher affect on the continent, in response to the US official who spoke on situation of anonymity.

Mr Trump mentioned final week that he wish to see Russia rejoin what’s now the Group of Seven main economies. Russia was suspended from the G8 after Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea area.

White Home officers on Sunday pushed again in opposition to the notion that Europe has been overlooked of the dialog concerning a peace deal for Ukraine.

Officers mentioned Donald Trump spoke by telephone in current days with French president Emmanuel Macron and is predicted to seek the advice of prime minister Keir Starmer this week.

Throughout his visits to Munich and Paris, vp JD Vance held talks with Mr Macron, British international secretary David Lammy, German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte in addition to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Now they might not like a few of this sequencing that is occurring in these negotiations however I’ve to push again on this … notion that they don’t seem to be being consulted,” nationwide safety adviser Mike Waltz instructed Fox Information.

“They completely are and on the finish of the day, although, that is going to be beneath President Trump’s management that we get this battle to an finish,” Mr Waltz mentioned.

Marco Rubio, who was in Israel on Sunday earlier than heading to Saudi Arabia, mentioned the US is taking a cautious method because it reengages with Moscow after the Biden administration’s clampdown on contacts with the Kremlin following the February 2022 invasion.

President Donald Trump’s method to ending Russia’s battle in opposition to Ukraine has left European allies and Ukrainian officers anxious they’re being largely sidelined by the brand new US administration as Washington and Moscow plan direct negotiations.

With the three-year battle grinding on, Mr Trump is sending secretary of state Marco Rubio, nationwide safety adviser Mike Waltz and particular envoy Steve Witkoff to Saudi Arabia for talks with Russian counterparts, in response to a US official who was not authorised to publicly talk about the upcoming diplomatic efforts and spoke on situation of anonymity.

It’s unclear to what extent Ukrainian or European officers can be represented in discussions anticipated to happen in Riyadh within the coming days. The official mentioned america sees negotiations as early-stage and fluid, and who finally finally ends up on the desk may change.

In an trade with reporters on Sunday, Mr Trump mentioned Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky “can be concerned” within the negotiations. Mr Trump provided no additional rationalization.

The outreach comes after feedback by high Trump advisers this previous week, together with vp JD Vance, raised new considerations in Kyiv and different European capitals that the Republican administration is intent on fast decision to the battle with minimal enter from Europe.

“A long time of the previous relationship between Europe and America are ending,” Mr Zelensky mentioned in an handle on Saturday on the Munich Safety Convention. “Any longer, issues can be totally different, and Europe wants to regulate to that.”

A Ukrainian drone assault on Krasnodar injured one particular person and broken at the very least 12 homes, the governor of the southern Russia area mentioned early this morning.

In a submit on the Telegram messaging app, governor Veniamin Kondratyev referred to as the assault “huge”, however didn’t present additional element.

Russia’s Shot Telegram information channel reported that Ukraine tried to assault the Ilsky oil refinery and that drone wreckage sparked a hearth there.

The report couldn’t be independently verified.

There was no instant remark from Ukraine. It has mentioned prior to now its assaults inside Russia goal infrastructure key to Moscow’s battle efforts.

The refinery, which has a capability of round 138,000 barrels per day, has been a goal of quite a few Ukrainian assaults since 2023, when Kyiv stepped up its drone assaults on Russian power infrastructure.

A world through which america doesn’t assist its allies can be “quite extra harmful”, former prime minister Sir John Main warned.

He mentioned democracy is beneath menace and “tin-pot dictators” can be emboldened if Donald Trump rushes right into a peace deal that leaves Vladimir Putin in charge of Ukrainian territory.

And he mentioned if the US “retreats in the direction of isolation” it could go away the door open for China and Russia to wield elevated affect.

“There’s little question in my thoughts that the world is altering and that it’s reshaping, that it is probably not reshaping in a means that’s congenial to the West and that it’s a really unsettled time certainly,” Sir John mentioned.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to the United Arab Emirates late on Sunday as momentum grows for potential peace talks ending Moscow’s battle on the nation.

US president Donald Trump final week advised he can be assembly Russian president Vladimir Putin in Saudi Arabia.

The UAE, residence to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, lengthy has been floated as a attainable website for peace talks as properly given the big inhabitants of Russian and Ukrainian expatriates who’ve flooded the nation because the battle started, and as a result of Emirates’ work on prisoner exchanges prior to now.

Mr Zelensky arrived in Abu Dhabi after attending the Munich Safety Convention in Germany. Footage launched by his workplace confirmed him and his spouse, Olena Zelenska, being greeted by an Emirati official and honor guard on the airport late Sunday night time.

Ms Zelenska has traveled to the UAE since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, however this journey is Mr Zelensky’s first to the UAE because the battle started.”Our high precedence is bringing much more of our individuals residence from captivity,” Mr Zelensky’s workplace mentioned in messages on-line.

“We may also concentrate on investments and financial partnership, in addition to a large-scale humanitarian program.”

Throughout the first abroad journey in his official submit, Hegseth additionally mentioned Wednesday that Ukraine’s NATO membership was off the table.

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After US defence secretary Pete Hegseth instructed Western allies on Wednesday that European safety is now not an American precedence, concern over the Trump administration’s dedication to Nato is greater than ever.

Donald Trump not too long ago advised the US wouldn’t defend Nato allies who didn’t spend sufficient on defence, reportedly telling allies he would “encourage” Russia to assault any Nato member that failed to fulfill the alliance’s goal of two% of their GDP.

The way forward for the Western navy alliance, which was fashioned after the Second World Conflict to ensure safety in opposition to the Soviet Union, has by no means confronted larger questions.

The US is probably the most highly effective member of Nato, spending much more on defence than some other ally and outweighing allies in its navy muscle.

Consequently, the US calls the photographs. However these near the Trump administration have lengthy questioned how a lot Nato membership serves in America’s curiosity, with European allies ostensibly failing to spend as a lot as they need to on defence.

Earlier this week, former US Nationwide Safety Advisor John Bolton instructed Tom Swarbrick on LBC that it’s “extremely possible that Trump will attempt to withdraw america from NATO”.

Nobody can say for positive whether or not a president as unpredictable as Trump will pull the US out of Nato – however he will definitely make the US a much more prickly member of the alliance than it was beneath former presidents.