Ukraine seeks to shore up support in Brussels, Paris

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron successful Paris to bolster enactment for Kyiv, arsenic Ukrainian and European defence chiefs gathered successful Brussels for talks centred astir Ukrainian and corporate security.

The meetings came connected Monday amid a diplomatic flurry of enactment to extremity Russia’s astir four-year-old warfare successful Ukraine.

Recommended Stories

• list 1 of 3Top planetary arms producers’ revenues surge arsenic large wars rage: SIPRI report
• list 2 of 3Russia-Ukraine war: List of cardinal events, time 1,376
• list 3 of 3Putin “shouldn’t beryllium rewarded” successful Ukraine bid plan

Before the meeting, Macron’s bureau said the 2 presidents would sermon the conditions indispensable for a “fair and lasting peace”.

Speaking to La Tribune Dimanche paper connected Sunday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the gathering aimed “to determination the negotiations forward”.

“Peace is wrong reach, if [Russian President] Vladimir Putin abandons his delusional anticipation of reconstituting the Soviet empire by archetypal subjugating Ukraine,” helium noted.

EU ministers

Reporting from Brussels, wherever a gathering of the European Union’s defence ministers, besides attended by Ukraine’s Defence Minister Denys Shmyhal, took spot connected Monday, Al Jazeera’s Hashem Alhelbarra said Kyiv’s European allies wanted to spot “an statement wherever there’s nary conception of portion of Ukraine being handed implicit to Russia arsenic the terms they person to wage for a imperishable deal”.

Alhelbarra added that the bloc is disquieted astir the anticipation of a “blanket amnesty”, which would forestall Russian officials from being tried implicit crimes committed successful Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy said connected societal media that helium had briefed Finland’s President Alexander Stubb connected “the signals we person received from the American side”, pursuing a time of talks connected Sunday betwixt Ukrainian and American negotiators successful Florida.

The Ukrainian person besides confirmed that helium had spoken to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO brag Mark Rutte, saying “these are important days, and overmuch tin change”.

Zelenskyy has described talks successful the United States connected Sunday betwixt US and Ukrainian negotiators arsenic “very constructive”, but noted that determination were “some pugnacious issues that inactive person to beryllium worked through”.

For Kyiv, it marks advancement from US President Donald Trump’s archetypal 28-point bid proposal, which it and its European allies viewed arsenic favourable to Russia.

On Sunday, the US president declared connected Air Force One that “there’s a bully accidental we tin marque a deal”.

However, helium besides said Ukraine has “some hard small problems”. Two days earlier, Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s main of unit and Ukraine’s apical negotiator, resigned amid a corruption ungraded successful the vigor sector.

More enactment needed

Marco Rubio, the US caput of state, hailed the Florida talks arsenic a success, but added that “there’s much enactment to beryllium done”.

“There are a batch of moving parts, and evidently there’s different enactment progressive present that volition person to beryllium a portion of the equation, and that volition proceed aboriginal this week erstwhile Mr Witkoff travels to Moscow,” helium said.

Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands said the Ukrainians would beryllium blessed that Rubio, whom they spot arsenic the Trump administration’s astir Ukraine-friendly elder official, was presently starring the negotiations.

“Because Rubio seems to beryllium driving the car astatine the moment, things look to beryllium going OK for the Ukrainians,” Challands said.

However, helium stressed that caution was needed due to the fact that of Trump’s unpredictability and due to the fact that Russia had yet to respond to the latest bid program draft.

Sticking to his maximalist demands, Putin has said helium volition extremity the warfare lone erstwhile Ukrainian troops retreat from 4 of its regions Russia illegally annexed successful 2022 but does not afloat control.

“If they don’t withdraw, we’ll execute this by force. That’s all,” the Russian president said past week.

US envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, volition sermon the latest draught bid statement with Putin erstwhile they conscionable successful the Russian superior connected Tuesday afternoon.

Russians are mostly not enthusiastic astir their visit, Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova said, reporting from Moscow.

“On the 1 hand, polls amusement that astir Russians truly privation an extremity to the struggle arsenic soon arsenic possible,” Shapovalova said. “On the other, there’s not overmuch enthusiasm astir Steve Witkoff’s visit,” she added.

Over connected the battlefield successful Ukraine, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said connected Monday that its troops had seized the colony of Klynove successful Ukraine’s Donetsk region. The announcement could not beryllium independently confirmed.

Deadly onslaught connected Dnipro

Elsewhere, astatine slightest 4 radical were killed and 40 others injured, 11 critically, successful a Russian rocket onslaught connected the Ukrainian metropolis of Dnipro connected Monday, according to Vladyslav Gaivanenko, the acting politician of Dnipropetrovsk region.

The onslaught damaged 4 residential high-rises and an acquisition installation successful the metropolis centre, Dnipro’s Mayor Borys Filatov said. He besides reported that hunt and rescue operations were ongoing.

Russia launched 89 onslaught and decoy drones overnight connected Sunday earlier the Dnipro attack, with 63 of those changeable down oregon jammed, Ukraine said.

The Russian Defence Ministry said it had downed 32 Ukrainian drones overnight crossed 11 of the country’s regions arsenic good arsenic the Sea of Azov.