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Peace talks between Russia and the USin Miami were “proceeding constructively” and set to continue on Sunday, Putin’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev said, concluding Saturday’s talks.
US negotiators met with Russian officials in Florida for the latest talks aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, as the Trump administration tries to coax an agreement out of both sides to end the conflict.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky meanwhile called for broader consultations with Kyiv’s European partners on Sunday, following talks between US and Ukrainian teams in Florida last week.
Europe has played an important role in backing Ukraine’s plea for clear security guarantees throughout the process.
The Kremlin, facing a challenge to its unyielding demands of Ukraine, said that proposed European and Ukrainian amendments to American plans were hindering the chances of peace.
Ukraine also claimed to have struck a Russian warship and drilling facilities in the Caspian Sea during Kyiv’s latest maritime blitz against Putin’s ailing war machine.
Russian forces crossed the border into Ukraine’s Sumy region and took about 50 residents from a village back into Russia, Ukrainian media quoted the military as saying on Sunday.
Russian forces are alleged to have entered Ukrainian territory on Saturday night in the area of the village of Hrabovske, according to public broadcaster Suspilne and the Ukrainska Pravda news outlet.
Most of the local residents captured from the village were elderly people, the media said.
The Independent could not independently verify the report. Russia has not yet commented on the matter.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy aide said on Sunday that changes made by the Europeans and Ukraine to US proposals for an end to the war in Ukraine did not improve prospects for peace.
“This is not a forecast,” Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters, though he said he had not seen the exact proposals on paper yet.
“I am sure that the proposals that the Europeans and Ukrainians have made or are trying to make definitely do not improve the document and do not improve the possibility of achieving long-term peace.”
France is contemplating restarting dialogue with Russia after the Kremlin said it was open to talking to president Emmanuel Macron.
“In the coming days, we will determine the optimal format for starting this process,” the Elysée Palace said on Sunday.
The Kremlin said Putin was ready to hold talks with Macron if there is mutual political will in remarks published by Russia’s RIA on Sunday.
The shift in diplomacy comes just two days after Macron suggested Europe would have to step up and talk directly to Putin if US talks fail.
“Either a robust and lasting peace is reached, with the required (security) guarantees,” Macron told reporters in Brussels, “or we will need in the weeks ahead to find ways for Europeans to re-engage in a fulsome dialogue with Russia, and in complete transparency.”
The latest round of talks to end the war have been ongoing since November, but clear sticking points remain around territory and security guarantees.
Publicly, both Ukraine and Russia have praised the work of the US to help mediate a ceasefire agreement. But no tangible results have yet emerged.
Zelensky had previously ruled out holding elections while the war is ongoing – a measure backed even by many opponents in Ukraine.
Earlier this month, and again under pressure from Trump, he said that he would be open to holding elections within 60-90 days if security guarantees are in place.
On Saturday, he told Putin to keep out of Ukraine’s affairs after the Russian president backed Trump’s call.
Zelensky also reiterated that elections can only be held when security is guaranteed.
Any election in Ukraine can not be held in Russia-occupied parts of the country, either, he said.
He added that Ukraine’s foreign minister had started the initial work on the infrastructure needed to make voting possible for Ukrainians living abroad.
Editorial: Vladimir Putin must be brought to the point where he no longer has an interest in prolonging the war:
Russia has launched approximately 2,500 strikes against Ukraine in the last week alone, president Volodymyr Zelensky shared today in a bleak reminder of the reality on the ground with peace talks ongoing.
Zelensky wrote on social media that Russia has launched an estimated 1,300 attack drones, 1,200 guided aerial bombs and nine missiles against Ukraine over the past week.
Odesa the southern part of the country were hit particularly hard, he said.
The Kremlin said on Sunday that the chances of peace in Ukraine were not improved by changes to US proposals made by the Europeans and Ukraine, Interfax news agency reported.
Following talks with the US in Florida last week, Ukraine’s Zelensky called for broader consultations with European partners on social media today.
Europe has played an important role in backing Ukraine’s plea for clear security guarantees through the negotiation process.
Those, and territory swaps, remains points of contention between Ukraine and Russia, via the US.
“We are moving at a fairly rapid pace, and our team in Florida has been working with the American side,” Zelensky said on Telegram messenger.
He said he had just talked with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere on the phone.
Swedish authorities boarded a sanctioned Russian freighter that anchored in Swedish waters after developing engine problems overnight, the country’s customs service said on Sunday.
Sweden carried out an inspection of the cargo aboard the Adler, which is subject to both EU and US sanctions. Authorities declined to say what they found on board the ship.
The owners are also on the EU’s sanctions list, a spokesperson for the customs authority said.
The Adler is a 126-metre-long, roll-on, roll-off container carrier. It is anchored off Hoganas in southwest Sweden.
“Shortly after 0100 last night we boarded the ship with support from the Swedish Coast Guard and the police service in order to make a customs inspection,” a spokesperson said. “The inspection is still ongoing.”
Amid ongoing US-led peace negotiations, Zelensky called on the American president to take an active role in ending the war in Ukraine, stating alternatives to US support “are uncertain”.
“I believe such strength exists in the United States and in President Trump. And I believe we should not look for an alternative to the United States, because all alternatives are uncertain as to whether they can (end the war),” the Ukrainian president said.
“Who else (can effectively establish peace)? Perhaps representatives of the Middle East. But I still believe the United States has greater chances. Who else? Europe – the Coalition of the Willing – which is Europe plus our friends from Canada and Japan. But they will all be at the negotiating table in one way or another. And perhaps China could as well, but we clearly see no desire from China to end this war,” he said.
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