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Volodymyr Zelensky said a US security agreement for Ukraine was ‘100 per cent ready’ to be signed
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Nato secretary general Mark Rutte has warned that Ukraine is facing its “harshest winter” in over a decade as sustained Russian airstrikes disrupt its energy grid
“Russia is targeting civilian infrastructures and therefore leaving Ukrainians in the cold — without heat, without light and without water,” he said, urging the European parliament to be flexible on the use of EU funds.
Rutte says that the US-led peace talks were ongoing, adding that the aim should be to get to a peace deal or a long-term ceasefire. He said: “Let’s pray we have it as soon as possible,” and then make sure that Russia’s Vladimir Putin “never, never” attacks Ukraine again.
The US claims president Donald Trump hasn’t given up on peace and remains deeply involved in the process ahead of Sunday’s trilateral talks.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reaffirmed the president’s commitment to peace after both Russia and Ukraine officials met for two days’ worth of talks in Abu Dhabi, dubbed “constructive” by Kyiv.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said a US security agreement for Ukraine was “100 per cent ready” to be signed.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will provide Ukraine with 85 million euros (£73m) for additional gas volumes, Ukraine’s energy minister said on Tuesday.
In a statement on X/Twitter, Denys Shmyhal said that the funds would be provided through EBRD instruments and added that securing the relevant grant from one of the European countries was nearly complete.
For average wage earners in Russia, it’s a big payday. For criminals seeking to escape the harsh conditions and abuse in prison, it’s a chance at freedom. For immigrants hoping for a better life, it’s a simplified path to citizenship.
All they have to do is sign a contract to fight in Ukraine.
This desperate recruitment drive is part of Moscow’s strategy to replenish its forces in the nearly four-year conflict, while simultaneously avoiding an unpopular nationwide mobilisation. The bloody war of attrition has also seen foreign combatants join the fray. Following a mutual defence treaty in 2024, North Korea reportedly sent thousands of soldiers to help Russia defend its Kursk region against a Ukrainian incursion.
Russia has attacked an infrastructure facility in the region of Lviv, in western Ukraine, according to the area’s governor.
Regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi said no one had been hurt in the attack and that all the relevant services were working at the scene of the incident, in a post on Telegram on Tuesday.
He did not specify the type of infrastructure that was targeted. The countries have attacked each other’s energy infrastructure throughout the war.
Russian attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure have been so persistent, President Volodymyr Zelensky was forced to declare a state of emergency in the sector earlier this month.
President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev has said that Ukraine’s withdrawal from the Donbas region is the solution to the conflict raging between Russia and Ukraine.
Dmitriev, who has been part of high-stakes negotiations being held between the US, Russia and Ukraine, said on Tuesday: “Donbas withdrawal is the path to peace for Ukraine,” in a statement on X/Twitter.
Russia currently controls 90 per cent of the region and Putin has insisted on Ukraine surrendering the rest of it or Russia will take the region by force.
For average wage earners in Russia, it’s a big payday. For criminals seeking to escape the harsh conditions and abuse in prison, it’s a chance at freedom. For immigrants hoping for a better life, it’s a simplified path to citizenship.
All they have to do is sign a contract to fight in Ukraine.
As Russia seeks to replenish its forces in nearly four years of war — and avoid an unpopular nationwide mobilization — it’s pulling out all the stops to find new troops to send into the battlefield.
Some come from abroad to fight in what has become a bloody war of attrition. After signing a mutual defense treaty with Moscow in 2024, North Korea sent thousands of soldiers to help Russia defend its Kursk region from a Ukrainian incursion.
More here.
Authorities in the Philippines said they were verifying reports of a Filipino national said to have died on the front lines fighting for Russia.
Ukraine’s military intelligence yesterday claimed that a Filipino national, identified as John Patrick, was killed fighting for Russian forces in the Donetsk region.
The man had served in Russia’s 9th Battalion, 283rd Regiment, 144th Motorized Rifle Division in the 20th Combined Arms Army of the Russian military, Ukraine claimed.
The Kremlin said US-brokered trilateral talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators held in the Middle East had been held in a “constructive spirit” but there was still “significant work ahead”
.“It would be a mistake to expect any significant results from the initial contacts… But the very fact that these contacts have begun in a constructive spirit can be viewed positively. However, there is significant work ahead,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday.
Negotiators from Moscow and Kyiv faced each other for the firs time since the onset of the invasion in 20222 to talk about a peace plan being pushed by US president Donald Trump.
“I wouldn’t say there was any friendliness there, it’s hardly possible at this stage,” Peskov said.
“But if you’re trying to achieve something through negotiations, you need to speak constructively,” he added.
The next round of trilateral talks is expected to take place on 1 February.
The Donald Trump administration has signalled to Ukraine that US security guarantees would depend on Kyiv first agreeing to a peace deal likely requiring it to cede the Donbas to Russia, the Financial Times reported.
Washington has also indicated it could offer Ukraine more weapons to strengthen its peacetime army if Kyiv agreed to withdraw forces from the parts of the eastern region it controls, the newspaper said.
Prime minister Viktor Orban said Hungary would summon Ukraine’s ambassador over what he claimed were attempts to interfere in a Hungarian parliamentary election due on 12 April.
Orban has intensified his anti-Ukraine campaign in the past weeks, and has sought to associate Hungarian opposition leader Peter Magyar with Kyiv and the EU executive in Brussels as the campaign heats up.
In a campaign primarily targeting rural voters, Orban has portrayed Ukraine as unworthy of financial support, framing the April vote as a choice between war and peace and echoing his past anti-migrant campaigns.
Orban, who has kept close ties with Moscow, has repeatedly refused to support European Union aid for Ukraine, and has launched a “national petition” asking voters to sign up to say they do not want to help pay for the war.”
Last week, Ukrainian leaders and even the president himself made grossly insulting and threatening statements against Hungary … Our national security services have … concluded this is a coordinated attempt to interfere in Hungarian elections,” Orban said in a video.
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