Russia-Ukraine conflict stay: Starmer warns Putin over ‘games’ as he prepares to current peace plan to world leaders

Ukrainian air defences destroyed 130 out of 178 drones launched by Russia throughout its newest in a single day strike, Kyiv’s air power mentioned on Saturday.

It added that one other 38 drones had been “locationally lost”, usually a reference to digital jamming, and that Russian forces had additionally fired two ballistic missiles.

For as soon as, the US president and European leaders have been on the identical web page.

Greedy for a well-known metaphor, a refrain of western heads of state declared this week that “the ball was in Russia’s court” after Ukraine agreed in talks with the US on Tuesday to a right away 30-day ceasefire.

Fairly than making a play, Vladimir Putin on Thursday picked up the ball, scrawled a recent set of circumstances throughout it, and lobbed it again – insisting the sport couldn’t transfer ahead till the opposite facet performed by his guidelines.

“The idea itself is the right one, and we definitely support it,” Putin mentioned, sitting alongside his longtime ally Alexander Lukashenko at a press convention within the Kremlin.

It was the “but” that adopted that did all of the heavy lifting.

“There are questions that we need to discuss, and I think we need to talk them through with our American colleagues and partner,” he added, suggesting that Ukraine ought to neither rearm nor mobilise and that western navy support to Kyiv be halted through the ceasefire.

In the meantime, the message was clear: Russia had no intention of halting its personal rearmament. Ukraine fears that Putin is getting ready to do precisely what he accuses Kyiv of: exploiting the ceasefire to rearm and intensify his offensive if talks collapse, as Russian forces press their benefit on the bottom.

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Starmer to current proposals for a peace deal to world leaders

Peter Walker

As we simply talked about, Keir Starmer has warned that Vladimir Putin can’t be allowed to “play games” with the opportunity of a ceasefire in Ukraine, as he prepares to current proposals for a peace deal to a coalition of about 25 world leaders.

The UK prime minister will host a gathering on Saturday of the “coalition of the willing”, a bunch of countries which have agreed to assist maintain the peace in Ukraine. He’ll search to pile strain on the Russian president to “finally come to the table” and “stop the barbaric attacks on Ukraine” after Kyiv agreed this week to a right away 30-day ceasefire.

European nations, the EU Fee, Nato, Canada, Ukraine, Australia and New Zealand are anticipated to participate within the digital assembly and supply updates on the help they may present in direction of implementing a peace deal.

It got here as Putin praised Donald Trump for “doing everything” to enhance relations between Moscow and Washington, after Trump mentioned the US has had “very good and productive discussions” with Putin in current days.

Putin advised a gathering of his safety heads that improved relations with the US have been now on the agenda. “We know that the new administration headed by President Trump is doing everything to restore at least something of what was basically destroyed by the previous US administration,” he mentioned.

Welcome again to our stay protection of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

At this time, UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer will urge about 25 world leaders to make concrete commitments to help Ukraine and enhance strain on Vladimir Putin to just accept the ceasefire.

The British prime minister hopes the video name will see the so-called “coalition of the willing” give you agency commitments of assist for Ukraine within the run-up to any peace settlement and, after that, to make sure the nation’s safety.

Extra on that shortly. First, right here’s what else is making headlines:

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy has mentioned he sees a “good chance to end this war quickly and secure peace” after Kyiv accepted a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire however Moscow mentioned it will agree solely if sure circumstances have been met. The Ukrainian president additionally urged the US and different allies to use strain on Moscow, reiterating his perception that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will delay reaching a ceasefire for so long as potential. “If there is a strong response from the United States, they will not let them play around,” Zelenskyy advised reporters. “And if there are steps that Russia is not afraid of, they will delay the process.” He mentioned individually that Putin “will try to drag everyone into endless discussions … while his guns continue to kill people”.

• Vladimir Putin referred to as for beleaguered Ukrainian troops within the Russian area of Kursk to “surrender”, saying they might be handled with dignity. Donald Trump urged Putin to spare the lives of the troops whereas he mentioned his envoy had held “very good and productive” talks with the Russian chief on the proposed 30-day ceasefire. Moscow’s speedy counteroffensive in Kursk over the previous week has recaptured a lot of the territory that Ukraine seized final August within the western Russian border area and hoped to make use of as a bargaining chip in peace talks. “We are sympathetic to President Trump’s call,” Putin mentioned in remarks broadcast on Russian tv on Friday. “If they lay down their arms and surrender, they will be guaranteed life and dignified treatment.” Trump mentioned “thousands” of Ukrainian troops have been “completely surrounded by the Russian military and in a very bad and vulnerable position”. Putin, in the meantime, praised Trump for “doing everything” to enhance relations between Moscow and Washington.

• Ukraine’s navy management denied the battlefield claims. “There is no threat of our units being encircled,” Ukraine’s basic employees posted on social media. Zelenskyy additionally gave a extra sober evaluation, saying: “The situation in the Kursk region is obviously very difficult.” He insisted the marketing campaign nonetheless had worth. Sources in Ukraine and navy analysts additionally mentioned Trump’s claims of a mass encirclement in Kursk weren’t correct.

• G7 international ministers warned Russia of recent sanctions except it accepted the ceasefire “on equal terms”, saying sanctions might embody “caps on oil prices, as well as additional support for Ukraine, and other means”. France and Germany accused Russia of in search of to dam the truce, whereas Starmer mentioned Moscow has proven “complete disregard” for Trump’s proposal.

• A Russian missile struck a residential space within the central Ukrainian metropolis of Kryvyi Rih on Friday, injuring 11 individuals together with two youngsters, the regional governor mentioned. Serhiy Lysak posted pictures on Telegram displaying harm to high-rise residence buildings, non-public houses and a constructing that appeared to accommodate a lot of companies. Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the navy administration within the metropolis – Zelenskyy’s dwelling city – mentioned two areas took direct hits. One of many websites hit was an evening membership, he mentioned. Within the southern area of Kherson, Russian guided bombs struck a sequence of targets together with a residential space in Kherson metropolis, killing one particular person, the regional governor mentioned on Telegram. Close to the Black Sea metropolis of Odesa, Russian drones attacked the close by port of Chornomorsk, chopping energy to its residents, the regional governor mentioned.

• EU international affairs chief Kaja Kallas would suggest that the 27-country bloc provide as much as €40bn ($44bn) in new navy support to Ukraine, diplomatic sources have mentioned. Senior EU diplomats, in the meantime, agreed on Friday to a six-month extension of sanctions towards about 2,000 Russians together with Putin and plenty of senior politicians and businesspeople.
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