Russia-Ukraine war: Territory ‘biggest challenge’ in talks – Zelenskyy

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If you want to know more about why European leaders are opposing Trump’s peace plan, read this explainer.

If you want to watch an episode about whether the US will succeed in bringing all parties to a final agreement, watch here.

For more content on the Ukraine-Russia war, here is our dedicated page.

But before we go, here’s a recap of the latest developments:

• The Trump administration is “very optimistic” about peace talks, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, citing constructive talks with Ukrainian officials in Florida yesterday.
• Her comments came after Ukrainian President Zelenskyy met his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris and said they assessed “a great many details” in an hours-long conversation.
• Ukrainian officials have told US officials that they won’t accept giving up territory to Russia, let alone legitimise Russian occupation of Ukraine’s land.
• Putin has said the capture of the key Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk would enable the military to proceed with its tasks in its offensive operations in Ukraine, according to Russian news agencies cited by Reuters.
• The European Union’s diplomatic service has summoned Belarus’s representative in Brussels, calling on the country to stop hybrid attacks against EU countries, a spokesperson for Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry said.
• Canada has reached an agreement to join the European Union’s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative, which will give Canadian defence companies expanded access to the European market, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office says.
• Russia is ready to resume cooperation with the US on cybersecurity if Washington reciprocates, Deputy Secretary of the Russian Security Council Oleg Khramov has told the news outlet Kommersant, according to the Russian news agency TASS.

Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine’s minister of defence, has taken to X after he met with EU Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius.

In the post, he said he thanked the EU for its “consistent support of Ukraine”, and said that the two had “discussed in detail the implementation” of the EDIP (European Defence Industry Programme) and SAFE (Security Action for Europe) mechanisms.

He added that “the mechanism of reparation loans funded by Russian assets” was another topic discussed.

Zelenskyy’s top aide, Andriy Yermak, resigned this week amid a growing corruption scandal.

Yermak was due to lead key talks with the US on Russia’s war in his country this weekend.

So, what does this mean for Ukraine?

Watch this episode of Inside Story to hear the conversation:

Putin has said the capture of the key Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk would enable the military to proceed with its tasks in its offensive operations in Ukraine, according to Russian news agencies cited by Reuters.

“This is an important direction. We all understand just how important. It will ensure solutions going forward to the tasks we initially set at the beginning of the special military operation,” Putin said during a visit on Sunday to a command post.

Russia refers to its more than three-and-a-half-year-old invasion of Ukraine as a special military operation.

“Russia’s armed forces are confidently holding the initiative and continue to carry out the operation’s tasks. Russian forces are advancing on practically all directions.”

Ukraine, Putin was quoted as saying, was unable to react to the advances of the Russian military. He singled out successes recorded further south in the Zaporizhia region.

In his remarks, Putin also described heavy losses that he said had been sustained by Ukrainian forces in the fighting as “the tragedy of the Ukrainian people”.

Ukraine launched an offer to investors to swap $3.2bn of complex and costly GDP warrants for international bonds today, the government said, as it attempts to clear a major remaining hurdle in its push to emerge from sovereign default.

Kyiv managed to complete a restructuring of some $20bn in international bonds last year, after defaulting on its external debt in 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion. But Ukraine has until now struggled to rework the economic growth-linked instruments that might mean it having to pay out billions of dollars to investors in the coming years.

The offer, which needs to be accepted by holders representing at least 75 percent of the warrants maturing in 2041, would see the instruments swapped for cash and new bonds, dubbed C Bonds, that will mature between 2030 and 2032, government documents showed.

“The proposal is based on feedback we received from market participants, and takes into account comments on economics and structure provided by the Ad Hoc Committee,” said Yuriy Butsa, Ukraine’s top debt negotiator, referring to the group of warrant holders that spearheaded the negotiations.

The Ad Hoc group said it could potentially back the offer but that several points remained under negotiation. The group said it will give further information on Thursday.

The Ukrainian president said, “It is a process, it’s not over yet,” after he met with French President Emmanuel Macron, but concluded, “The plan looks better.”

Watch the moment he addressed the press here:

Canada has reached an agreement to join the European Union’s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative, which will give Canadian defence companies expanded access to the European market, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office says.

“Canada’s participation in SAFE will fill key capability gaps, expand markets for Canadian suppliers, and attract European defence investment into Canada,” Carney said in a statement.

SAFE, a 150 billion-euro ($174bn) rearmament fund announced earlier this year, is part of a major drive to get the EU ready to defend itself by 2030 amid fears of a Russian attack and doubts about US protection.

Russia is ready to resume cooperation with the US on cybersecurity if Washington reciprocates, Deputy Secretary of the Russian Security Council Oleg Khramov has told the news outlet Kommersant, according to the Russian news agency TASS.

“Resumption of cooperation with the US in this area and further interaction are possible if Washington reciprocates, based on the implementation of the provisions of the current Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters between Russia and the United States of June 17, 1999,” he is quoted as saying.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin visited a military command post yesterday and heard reports from top commanders of the capture of the towns of Pokrovsk and Vovchansk, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has been quoted as saying.

TASS news agency quoted Peskov as saying Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian military’s General Staff, “reported to the commander in chief of the liberation of the cities of Pokrovsk [called Krasnoarmeysk in Russia] in [Donetsk region] and Vovchansk in Kharkiv region, as well as the results of other offensive actions of troops in other sectors.”

Ukrainian officials have made no acknowledgement that either city has fallen into Russian hands.

Ukraine’s President Volodomyr Zelenskyy has taken to X to thank the Netherlands “for the very valuable decision to provide its second package under the PURL initiative that enables the purchase of US weapons”.

Under the financial arrangement – known as the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) – European allies and Canada are buying US weapons to help Kyiv keep Russian forces at bay.

“This includes highly effective air-defence systems and F-16 aircraft that save our people’s lives and intercept Russian missiles, as well as other weapons and equipment that are truly helpful,” Zelenskyy wrote. “The first Dutch package under PURL amounted to $500 million, and now there is an additional $250 million. We are stronger together!”

A Ukrainian soldier walks along a street in the front-line town of Kostyantynivka, in Donetsk [Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukraine’s 24th Mechanised Brigade via AP]

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says that attacks on commercial ships in the Black Sea are unacceptable, issuing a warning to “all related sides” after an unmanned vessel reportedly struck a tanker off Turkiye’s northern coast.

“The war between Russia and Ukraine has clearly begun to threaten navigational safety in the Black Sea. The targeting of vessels in our Exclusive Economic Zone on Friday signals a worrying escalation,” Erdogan told reporters.

“We cannot justify these attacks in any way. We are conveying the necessary warnings to all relevant sides regarding such incidents.”

Turkiye said on Saturday that the Virat, a tanker that forms part of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, was hit late on Friday by an unmanned vessel some 56km (35 miles) off Turkiye’s Black Sea coast.

A Ukrainian official said on Saturday that Ukrainian naval drones hit two sanctioned tankers in the Black Sea as they headed to a Russian port to load up with oil destined for foreign markets, as Kyiv tries to pile pressure on Russia’s vast oil industry.

The news agency Interfax is reporting that the number of injuries from the Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro has risen to 43.

Citing Vladyslav Haivanenko, the acting head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, it said 10 of them are in serious condition.

According to Haivanenko, an administrative building, businesses, four educational institutions, four high-rise buildings, two service stations and more than 50 vehicles were damaged.

As we reported earlier, the attack killed four people.

This is what the Elysee Palace has said, without providing further details.

Should we get more information on what the two leaders discussed, we will bring it to you.

What we do know is that the call took place after an hours-long meeting between Macron and Zelenskyy where “a great many details” were assessed on the ongoing ceasefire talks.

Russian Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov says a vital element is missing from the conversation surrounding ending the war in Ukraine.

He and 15 other past winners of Nobel Prizes for peace, literature and the sciences today sent an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the European Union, calling for a release or exchange of political prisoners to form part of the proposed deal.

The letter said that if Putin and Zelenskyy “demonstrate goodwill and mutually pardon at least a few dozen prisoners who are imprisoned merely for expressing their personal opinions and who have not committed violent crimes, this will hasten the advent of a lasting and just peace”.

The Nobel laureates were referring to more than 1,000 people held in Russian prisons for political crimes, and did not put a figure on the number jailed in Ukraine, who include people sentenced for treason or for collaborating with Moscow.

The signatories included peace laureates Jose Ramos-Horta, Jody Williams, Maria Ressa and Yan Rachinsky and literature winner Svetlana Alexievich.

“Look, they’re talking about money, deals, rare earth metals, borders, but have you ever heard anyone talk about people?” Muratov, a newspaper editor who continues to live and work in Russia despite being labelled a “foreign agent” by the authorities, told Reuters news agency in a video interview.

The rapid development of drone technology has changed how wars are fought.

Ukraine’s growing arsenal of drones has strengthened its chances against an overpowered Russian military force.

As tech companies are investing in this new technology of death and destruction, what will the Russia-Ukraine war’s legacy of drone warfare look like even after a peace deal?

Listen to this episode of The Take here: