President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticised Russia for answering his offer of an Easter ceasefire with airstrikes on Wednesday but he praised as "positive" fresh talks with U.S. mediators aimed at resolving the four-year conflict.
Zelenskyy held talks remotely on Wednesday with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner - President Donald Trump's son-in-law - and U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham as part of ongoing U.S. efforts to negotiate an end to Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War Two.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also joined the call, amid ongoing tensions between Washington and some of its partners in the military alliance.
In his nightly video address after the call, Zelenskyy thanked America for its efforts to bring peace and said the Ukrainian and U.S. teams had agreed to strengthen a document outlining U.S. security guarantees for any future peace deal.
"This is precisely what could pave the way for a reliable end to the war," Zelenskyy said.
In recent weeks, Zelenskyy has said the U.S. was pressuring Ukraine to make concessions to bring a quick end to the conflict, which has fallen well below Iran in Washington's priorities since the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Tehran in late February.
Talks with Russia are deadlocked over the vital question of land, with Ukraine refusing to cede to Russian demands that it relinquish the remaining parts of the eastern, industrialised region of Donbas that Russia has been unable to conquer.
Zelenskyy said he spoke to U.S. negotiators about his offer of an Easter ceasefire to the Russian side. Easter, according to the Orthodox Christian calendar, the dominant faith in Ukraine and Russia, falls on 12 April this year.
Russia's foreign ministry on Wednesday publicly rejected the proposal as a "PR stunt." Zelenskyy said Russian forces fired more than 700 drones, many of them Iranian-designed "Shaheds," on Wednesday, when parts of western and central Ukraine were targeted in a rare daytime attack.
"Russia is responding with 'Shahed drones' and continues its terrorist operations against our energy sector, against our infrastructure," Zelenskyy said, adding he had discussed with U.S. negotiators ways of advancing diplomacy.
"Other signals are needed, and a silence over Easter could be exactly the signal that tells everyone that diplomacy can be successful," he added.
Zelenskyy said in an earlier Telegram post that he had also spoken with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday and briefed him on his ceasefire proposal as well as the status of the battlefield, where the Ukrainian military says it is holding back an intensified spring offensive by Russian forces.
"I informed Keir about the situation on the frontline: our positions are now much stronger," Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine has recently stepped up strikes on Russian oil infrastructure. Roughly 40% of Russia's oil export capacity has been halted, according to a Reuters calculation last week.
Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine was ready to suspend such strikes if Russia agrees to stop attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
On Wednesday, the Kremlin reiterated that Ukraine should have withdrawn troops "yesterday" from the remainder of Donbas.
Ukraine sees ceasing hostilities at current front lines as a compromise and rejects Russia's demands to pull back from the land it still controls in the Donetsk region, part of Donbas.
Zelenskyy has repeatedly called for a summit with Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying the territorial issue could only be discussed at the leaders' level.
Following tense exchanges in recent days between U.S. and European officials, Finnish President Alexander Stubb said on X on Wednesday that he spoke with Trump - "Constructive discussion and exchange of ideas on NATO, Ukraine and Iran".
The world’s space community is heading to Antalya for the 77th International Astronautical Congress (IAC), taking place from 5 to 9 Octo...
Iran says the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the United States meets seven conditions agreed under a June memorandum, as President...
Brazilians are voting on Sunday (04 October) in the first round of a closely contested general election, following a campaign shaped by ...
The co-pilot of Israel bound flydubai flight attempted to carry out a “terrorist attack” with an axe during the flight, the United Arab Emirates prosecutor general said on Saturday.
Hammam al-Hammami, the Flydubai co-pilot accused of stabbing the captain of an Israel-bound flight on Wednesday in a suspected terrorist attack, was banned from flying by Oman over concerns about his radical views, U.S. media reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Two Iranian nationals have been charged in Britain with preparing a suspected terrorist attack targeting the Jewish community in northern England, police said on Friday (2 October).
A major bridge across the Dnipro river in Kyiv was hit in a Russian air attack on Saturday, the city's mayor, Vitali Klitschko said, as strikes on the capital's infrastructure continue.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev warned against interference from outside actors in remarks at the 8th Congress of the New Azerbaijan Party in Baku on Friday 2 October.
Brazilians are voting on Sunday (04 October) in the first round of a closely contested general election, following a campaign shaped by corruption scandals, economic concerns and accusations of foreign interference.
The sound of air raid sirens and explosions rang out in Ukraine's capital Kyiv on Sunday (4 October) as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived for a visit to show support for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid escalating Russian attacks.
An alleged 2024 rape case involving seven former members of Cornell University’s Chi Phi fraternity has been reopened after the alleged victim, known anonymously as Jane Doe in court documents, filed a civil lawsuit accusing the men of drugging and gang-raping her.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is voting in general elections on Sunday (4 October) that could shape the country’s stalled path towards European Union membership, as well as the competing influence of the United States and Russia in the Western Balkans.
Maisa, a 17-year-old in a deprived Paris suburb who aspires to be an English teacher, joined tens of thousands of other students and their supporters this week in protests that spread across France over dilapidated schools, classroom overcrowding and teacher shortages.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment