Ukraine struck a chemical plant and fuel storage facilities deep inside Russia, escalating its campaign against infrastructure linked to Moscow's war effort
Residents of St Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city, were told not to leave their homes after a "large-scale" Ukrainian drone attack targeted the city Saturday morning, local officials said, underscoring Kyiv's growing ability to hit deep inside Russia. St Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov advised St Petersburg residents not to go outside and warned of possible disruptions to mobile internet service. Regional Gov Alexander Drozdenko said 141 drones were shot down over the surrounding Leningrad region. Russia's Defence Ministry said its air defences shot down 376 Ukrainian drones. Although no casualties were immediately reported, the renewed attack on St Petersburg strikes a further embarrassing blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin's efforts to cast the conflict as a distant event that doesn't affect Russian daily life. Saturday's attack follows a Ukrainian drone strike that set ablaze an oil terminal in the city and hit a nearby naval base Wednesday, hours before the ..
President Vladimir Putin on Friday rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's proposal to have a meeting. Speaking at the international economic forum in his hometown of St. Petersburg, Putin described Zelenskyy's open letter proposing the meeting as "boorish." "Is it a way to create conditions for personal meetings and talks, or create an environment which makes any personal meetings impossible?" he said. "I think it's the second." He said that he sees "no point" in the meeting.
Russia is "ready and willing" to reach an agreement with Ukraine based on US President Donald Trump's peace proposal if Kyiv was ready to make certain "compromises", President Vladimir Putin has said even as he asserted that Russian forces are dominating the battlefield. In an interaction with heads of leading global news agencies, including PTI on Thursday night, the Russian President said Moscow is strengthening its air defences to counter Ukrainian drone strikes, asserting that the "patriotism and will of the Russian people" will ensure they achieve their goals in Ukraine. In a related development, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an open letter to Putin, called for a face-to-face meeting between himself and the Russian president to end the war peacefully. Zelenskyy pitched for a full ceasefire to hold negotiations between the two sides arguing that peace could only come through direct engagement between Ukraine and Russia. The Kremlin said it received the ...
The appeal came as officials from Europe's three biggest economies - Germany, France and the UK - have been discussing the possibility of holding talks involving Russia and Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has written to US President Donald Trump and Congress asking for more American-made air defence ammunition to counter intensifying Russian ballistic missile attacks, Kyiv said Wednesday. Meanwhile, Russian lawmakers have backed a draft bill to have bank employees join the fight against Ukraine's long-range drones that strike deep inside Russia - with trained bank staff shooting down the unmanned aircraft. The steps came after a recent escalation in aerial attacks by both sides in the more than four-year war that followed Russia's all-out invasion of its neighbor. Neither side has been able to make much progress on the 1,250-km front line. Also on Wednesday, Anne Keast-Butler, head of UK's intelligence agency GCHQ, asserted that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "going backwards on the battlefield". New data shows that "almost half a million Russian soldiers have now been killed since the conflict began," she added. Ukraine has pounded Russ
The parade passed off without incident after days of spiraling tensions between Russia and Ukraine until Trump unexpectedly announced the ceasefire late Friday
Russia's Defence Ministry declared a unilateral ceasefire in Ukraine for Friday and Saturday to mark the 81st anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, but it threatened to strike back at Kyiv if it tries to disrupt the Victory Day festivities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in response said his country would observe a truce beginning at 12 am on Wednesday and respond in kind to Russia's actions from that moment on. He did not put an end date on the truce. The announcements on Monday come as Russia prepares to celebrate its most important secular holiday with a traditional military parade on Moscow's Red Square pared down due to what officials say are concerns over possible Ukrainian attacks. Ukraine has been launching drone attacks deep inside Russia to counter its more than 4-year-old invasion. They also follow a familiar pattern of previous attempts to secure ceasefires - most recently around Orthodox Easter - that had little to no impact. The Defence .
Ukraine's top diplomatic priority is securing allies' help to buy and build more air defence systems, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday between meetings with European leaders, as Russia warned that European sites that make drones and other equipment for Ukraine were "potential targets." Russian strikes hit more than a half-dozen areas of Ukraine behind the front line on Tuesday and Wednesday. An 8-year-old boy was killed in the central Cherkasy region, and a woman was hit in southern Zaporizhzhia, according to Zelenskyy and local officials. "Every day we need air defence missiles - every day Russia continues its strikes," Zelenskyy said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. With no plans announced for further US-mediated talks with Russia, Zelenskyy was visiting three European capitals in 48 hours to try to secure promises of further military and financial support. Germany and Ukraine agreed on a defence package valued at 4 billion euros (USD 4.7 billion), and Norway h
Kremlin says Putin envoy's US visit does not mean Ukraine talks have resumed
Ukrainian military personnel shot down Iranian-designed Shahed drones in multiple Middle Eastern countries during the Iran war, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, describing the operations as part of a broader effort to help partners counter the same weapons used by Russia in Ukraine. Zelenskyy made his first public acknowledgment of the operations Wednesday in remarks to reporters that were embargoed until Friday. Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces took part in active operations abroad using domestically produced, battle-tested interceptor drones.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed concern that a prolonged US-Israeli war on Iran could further erode America's support for Ukraine as Washington's global priorities shift and Kyiv braces for reduced deliveries of critically needed Patriot air defence missiles. Ukraine desperately needs more US-made Patriot air defence systems to help it counter Russia's daily barrages, Zelenskyy said, speaking to The Associated Press in an exclusive interview late Saturday in Istanbul. Russia's relentless pounding of urban areas behind the front line following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago has killed thousands of civilians. It has also targeted Ukraine's energy supply to disrupt the industrial production of Ukraine's newly developed drones and missiles, while also denying civilians heat and running water in winter. "We have to recognise that we are not the priority for today," Zelenskyy said. "That's why I am afraid a long (Iran) war will give us less .
"If Russia is ready to stop striking Ukrainian energy, we won't be returning the strikes against their energy," Zelenskyy said
According to Zelenskyy, Russian satellites imaged the base on March 24 and 25, suggesting they were preparing for the attack
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the UAE and met his Emirati counterpart Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Saturday, to discuss regional security in the Middle East. "For Ukraine, this is also a matter of principle: terror must not prevail anywhere in the world. Protection must be sufficient everywhere," Zelenskyy said in a post on X following his meeting with the Emirati leader. He said they discussed "the security situation in the Emirates, Iranian strikes, and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which directly affects the global oil market." The Emirates News Agency said the two leaders discussed "security developments in the region amid ongoing military escalation and their implications for regional and international peace and security, as well as their impact on international navigation and the global economy." During his visit to Saudi Arabia a day before, Zelenskyy said the two countries have agreed to "an important arrangement" on defence cooperation. Zelenskyy
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's assertion that the Trump administration is demanding Kyiv hand over its eastern Donbas region to Russia to receive American security guarantees in any ceasefire plan. Speaking to reporters following a Group of Seven meeting in France, Rubio disputed Zelenskyy's recent comments and said the US has made no such stipulation in its talks with Ukraine. "That's a lie," Rubio said. "And I saw him say that. And it's unfortunate he would say that because he knows that's not true and that's not what he was told." In an interview published this week, Zelenskyy told Reuters the US was making its offer of security guarantees for Ukraine contingent on the ceding of the Donbas region, the industrial heartland long coveted by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Moscow's forces occupy the bulk of the region, but have not seized a strip of land that is among the most heavily fortified parts of the front ...
Zelenskiy said the framework agreement was signed ahead of a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Russia and Iran "brothers in hatred" on Tuesday as he sought support from U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer at a time when the Iran war has robbed momentum from U.S.-brokered talks to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Zelenskyy urged Ukraine's allies not to forget about his country, and suggested the U.S. and others should make use of Ukraine's anti-drone technology during a Middle East war that has also revived Russia's ailing economy through increased oil revenue and could soon limit Kyiv's access to vital Western air defense systems, which are needed in the Middle East. "The regimes in Russia and Iran are brothers in hatred and that is why they are brothers in weapons," Zelenskyy told lawmakers in Britain's Parliament. "And we want regimes built on hatred to never, never win in anything." Holding talks with Zelenskyy at 10 Downing Street, Starmer said "(Russian President Vladimir) Putin can't be the one who benefits from the conflict
Zelenskyy has said that almost a dozen countries across the world have sought help from Ukraine on how to counter these attacks
His remarks come a day ahead of the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022