Russia ‘happy’ as Zelenskyy says U.S. ties security guarantees to Donbas concessions

Russia ‘happy’ as Zelenskyy says U.S. ties security guarantees to Donbas concessions
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy poses for a picture after an interview with Reuters, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 25, 2026.
Reuters

Russia has welcomed remarks by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggesting the U.S. is making security guarantees conditional on Kyiv relinquishing control of the Donbas region.

Speaking on Thursday (26 March), Russian Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev said Zelenskyy’s comments, made in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, “can’t help but make us happy.”

Dmitriev also said the U.S. had played a “positive and constructive” role in the European Union’s decision earlier this year not to seize €210 billion ($240 billion) in Russian sovereign assets for a loan to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russian strikes hit energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region overnight, leaving tens of thousands of residents without power, energy company DTEK said on Thursday.

“The damage is extensive, and repairs will take time,” the company said on Telegram, adding that power had been restored to 31,500 families, while 33,400 remained without electricity.

Elsewhere, foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) met in France to discuss the war in Ukraine, as well as tensions involving the U.S., Israel and Iran.

Ahead of the meeting, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned that the West was facing a “war on two fronts”.

“There’s the Iranian conflict and the continuing Ukrainian conflict,” he said.

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