U.S. and European officials held talks on May 12, during which Washington made it clear that it wanted to allow talks between Russia and Ukraine before increasing pressure on Vladimir Putin, sources told Bloomberg.
According to Steve Witkoff, the key topics in the peace discussions are the fate of the five partially or fully occupied Ukrainian regions, the status of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, and Ukraine's access to the Dnipro River and the Black Sea.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is reportedly offering a deal that would give U.S. companies access to Syria's natural wealth, reminiscent of the minerals agreement Washington recently signed with Kyiv.
Russia attacked Ukraine with drones and guided bombs during the night, targeting multiple regions after the May 12 deadline for an unconditional ceasefire expired.
"Only member states can take out loans within the 150 billion euros instrument, but they can use these funds for joint procurement with Ukraine," EU Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said.
"We agreed to pursue ambitious measures to reduce Russia's ability to wage war by limiting Kremlin revenues, disrupting the shadow fleet, tightening the Oil Price Cap, and reducing our remaining imports of Russian energy."
Zelensky on May 12 removed Lieutenant General Ivan Havryliuk from the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the top command and control body for all branches of Ukraine's defense apparatus.
Ukraine remains the most mined country in the world. Nearly one-third of Ukraine's territory, approximately 174,000 square kilometers, had been mined since Russia began its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.
The phone call comes as Moscow once again rejected a 30-day ceasefire, with Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova claiming that a ceasefire would give "Kyiv a break to restore its military potential and continue its confrontation with Russia."
Flight MH17 departed from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport en-route to Kuala Lumpur International Airport on July 17, 2014. Three hours into the flight, the Boeing-777 was shot down by Russian proxy forces using a Buk surface-to-air missile above Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast.
"I am grateful for the support and the readiness at the highest level to promote diplomacy," President Volodymyr Zelensky said of the phone conservation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "We share the same view on the need for a ceasefire."
The convictions mark a significant development in Britain's efforts to counter Russian intelligence operations amid heightened tensions stemming from Moscow's war against Ukraine and repeated Kremlin threats toward Kyiv's allies.
US President Donald Trump (L) chats with Russia's President Vladimir Putin as they attend the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit in the central Vietnamese city of Danang on Nov. 11, 2017. (Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump plans to end the Russian war in Ukraine by freezing it if he wins the U.S. presidential election, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Oct. 28, citing its sources close to the former president's team.
Trump has claimed he would end Russia's war within "24 hours" without elaborating on how he plans to achieve it. Some reports and statements from Trump's inner circle indicate this might entail pressuring Ukraine to cede territory or give up on its NATO aspirations.
Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance, in September, outlined the idea of freezing the war by establishing autonomous regions on both sides of the demilitarized zone and leaving Ukraine outside NATO, according to the FT.
According to one of Trump's longtime advisors, the new plan would rethink the failed Minsk agreements of 2014 and 2015, which were never implemented. The agreements contained a plan that would create autonomous zones in Russian occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Occupied Crimea was not mentioned in the Minsk Agreement.
The new plan will include enforcement mechanisms and consequences for violating the agreement, the adviser said. But, in his opinion, European troops, not NATO forces or U.N. peacekeepers, will have to keep order.
"There are two things America will insist on. We will not have any men or women in the enforcement mechanism. We’re not paying for it. Europe is paying for it," he added.
Trump's allies argue that Ukraine is losing the war and, therefore, pushing for a settlement is morally right. Trump believes that Biden should talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin, as presidents did with Soviet leaders during the Cold War, and that NATO membership is not an option for Ukraine in the short term.
Fred Fleitz, a former CIA analyst who served in Trump's White House and is now at the America First Policy Institute Center for American Security, suggested in an interview with the FT that Ukraine's membership in NATO could be taken off the agenda for several years to force Russia to the negotiating table.
"We freeze the conflict, Ukraine does not cede any territory, they don't give up their territorial claims, and we have negotiations with the understanding there probably won't be a final agreement until Putin leaves the stage," Fleitz said.
This approach, though, will not have unanimous support within the Republican Party, the FT reported, citing the European Council on Foreign Relations.
Mike Waltz, one of the foremost Republican speakers on national security in the House of Representatives, suggested that Trump could threaten to collapse the Russian economy by lowering oil and gas prices to bring Putin to the negotiating table.
"You flood the world with cheaper, cleaner American oil and gas. You drive down the price," Waltz added.
Saudi Arabia, an important ally of Trump's during his first term, would not welcome such a move. Yet people close to Trump insist he will put economic solid pressure on Putin.
"He (Trump) has shown he knows how to bring both sides to the table," said Ric Grenell, who was an outspoken ambassador to Berlin and a Balkans envoy in Trump's first term, recalling the Abraham Accords, the agreements signed between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan, when Trump was in office.
"He's done it consistently. Arabs and Israelis, Russians and Ukrainians will be next."
Kateryna Hodunova is a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a sports journalist in several Ukrainian outlets and was the deputy chief editor at Suspilne Sport. Kateryna covered the 2022 Olympics in Beijing and was included in the Special Mentions list at the AIPS Sport Media Awards. She holds a bachelor's degree in political journalism from Taras Shevchenko University and a master's degree in political science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
Chris York
