Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Berlin today for talks on ending the war after the German leader endorsed Kyiv’s right to launch long-range missiles into Russia. Meanwhile, Ukraine launched a huge drone attack on Russia overnight. Follow the latest.
Wednesday 28 May 2025 12:00, UK
Our security and defence analyst Michael Clarke is live now answering your questions in his weekly Q&A on the Ukraine war.
Amid rumours that Ukraine could receive German Taurus missiles, he’ll be looking at whether the weapons would be a game-changer for Ukraine.
Among other questions, he’ll also answer whether there is any likelihood of Belarus entering the conflict and if the war is any closer to ending.
Watch and follow the live Q&A here…
Russia has claimed that its troops have taken control of the settlement of Kostyantynivka, in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region.
The Kremlin’s defence ministry also claims they have taken control of the village Zelene Pole, in the eastern Donetsk region.
Sky News cannot independently confirm the battlefield report.
But the latest report comes as Russia continues to intensify pressure on Ukraine as it advances into the northeast of the country.
Yesterday, Sumy governor Oleh Hryhorov said Russian forces had captured four villages in the region.
He said the villages of Novenke, Basivka, Veselivka and Zhuravka had been occupied, and that local residents had been evacuated.
The region was used by Ukrainian forces to seize a chunk of Russia’s Kursk region in a surprise offensive last year before being largely driven out by April.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his host Friedrich Merz will begin talks soon as part of a diplomatic drive to end the war in Ukraine.
Merz, a conservative who took office this month, has vowed to take more of a leadership role in ensuring support for Ukraine than his Social Democrat predecessor Olaf Scholz.
He visited Ukraine with other European leaders within days of becoming chancellor and on Monday endorsed Ukraine’s right to launch long-range missile strikes into Russian territory – in contrast with Scholz’s cautious rhetoric on the issue.
We’ll keep you updated with what comes about from Zelenskyy’s talks with Merz.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has just shaken hands with Friedrich Merz in Berlin and is welcomed by a military honour guard after his arrival in the German capital.
The Ukrainian president is there seeking to shore up support from one of his country’s key European allies and further military aid as peace talks stall, Donald Trump’s frustration with the lack of progress grows and Russia increases its bombardment.
Germany has been the second-biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine after the US. Merz announced for the first time on Monday that Germany was lifting range restrictions on the weapons supplied to Ukraine, leading many to wonder if today’s visit would include confirmation that Ukraine would finally get the long-range Taurus missiles after repeated requests.
See more on that from Europe correspondent Siobhan Robbins in our 9.28am post.
Russia is building new electricity lines for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which it occupies, a Greenpeace report has revealed.
Satellite images show construction is ongoing to the west of Berdyansk in theZaporizhzhia region and north of Mariupol, in southeastern Ukraine.
In their report, Greenpeace say they have identified Russian engineers constructing an electricity high voltage power line for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
The construction of these lines is “further confirmation of plans by the Russian state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, to restart the nuclear reactors at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant”, Greenpeace say.
Images show the electricity line pylons installed in Zaporizhzhia extend to nearly 56 miles.
And between 11-22 May this year, 15 pylons and electricity lines over three miles in length were constructed from the east of Topolyne, north of Mariupol.
“This is some of the first hard evidence of Russian moving ahead with its dangerous and illegal plans for restarting Ukraine and Europe’s largest nuclear plant at Zaporizhzhia,” Shaun Burnie, nuclear specialist at Greenpeace Ukraine, said.
“But the plant is the sole property of Ukraine and this further step towards a potentially disastrous operation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactors must be condemned.
“Russia and Rosatom must be stopped from its restart plans and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant must be de-occupied and returned to Ukraine.”
In the latest episode of The World podcast, Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim try to make sense of the latest drama between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
This comes after the US president said the Russian leader was “absolutely crazy” after Moscow’s massive bombardment of Ukraine over the weekend.
The pair also ask how likely a Gaza ceasefire is in the coming weeks.
To get in touch or to share questions for Richard and Yalda, email theworld@sky.uk.
Listen to the latest The World podcast and never miss an episode by clicking here.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russia offered Belarus, whose leader is a key ally of Vladimir Putin, as a location for peace talks – a proposal he branded impossible.
The Ukrainian president said instead that the most realistic places for talks are Turkey, Switzerland or the Vatican, echoing a suggestion by Donald Trump that has been dismissed by Russia.
The first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine were held in the Turkish city of Istanbul on 16 May, after US negotiators had separate talks with Russian and Ukrainian officials in the Saudi capital of Riyadh in March.
Trump’s Vatican proposal is also supported by Pope Leo XIV but three senior Russian sources told Reuters that Moscow does not see the Vatican as a serious venue for peace talks with Ukraine because it is the seat of Catholicism and is surrounded by Italy, a NATO and EU member.
Belarus, a former Soviet republic, has been ruled since 1994 by Alexander Lukashenko, who is often referred to as Europe’s last dictator and he is a strong ally of Vladimir Putin.
Belarus allowed its territory to be used by Russia’s army to launch attacks into northern Ukraine as part of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said the Kremlin’s demands for a non-nuclear and neutral status for Ukraine must be met in any form of conflict resolution.
“It was the proclamation of a neutral, non-aligned, non-nuclear status for all time that made it possible for Russia and all other members of the international community to recognise Ukraine as an independent state,” he said.
Russia has said previously that Ukraine has to be “neutral” in order for a deal to go ahead.
But some experts have warned that imposed neutrality would leave Ukraine exposed to a continued threat from Russia.
And it should also be pointed out that Ukraine was already neutral when Russia attacked Crimea and illegally annexed it in 2014.
Since the invasion, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sought Ukrainian membership of NATO.
He has even said he would be willing to give up his presidency in exchange for NATO membership.
By Siobhan Robbins, Europe correspondent
“Taurus” – that’s the word on the lips of journalists in Berlin today.
The Ukrainian president is meeting the German chancellor amid swirling speculation about whether Germany will supply the long-range missiles.
On Monday, Friedrich Merz announced for the first time that Germany was lifting range restrictions on the weapons supplied to Ukraine, along with main allies.
It led many to wonder if today’s visit would include confirmation that Ukraine would finally get Taurus after repeated requests.
But by yesterday, the chancellor had updated his message saying: “I described something yesterday in Berlin that has already been the case for months: that Ukraine has the right to use the weapons it receives beyond its own borders against military targets on Russian territory.”
The confusing statement sparked outrage from both Russia and colleagues at home.
Former chancellor Scholz and his SPD party members had always refused to supply Taurus over concerns about provoking nuclear armed Moscow.
In response to this week’s speculation, vice-chancellor Lars Klingbeil of the Social Democrats claimed there was “no new agreement that goes beyond what the previous government did” on range restrictions.
And a senior member of Merz’s own Christian Democrat party, Roderich Kiesewetter wrote on X: “There is no sign of Germany finally delivering Taurus cruise missiles, because I still see no unity in the coalition and no political will to respond appropriately and with strength and consistency to Russia’s massive escalation.”
During his time as opposition leader and in his recent election campaign, Merz had repeatedly called for Taurus to be sent but it seems his coalition partners have slowed him down.
In a few hours we will know but the mood music suggests that while Germany will continue to underline its support for Ukraine, it won’t be delivering Taurus any time soon.
The Kremlin will announce the next round of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine soon, Sergei Lavrov has told a security summit in Moscow after weeks of stalled peace negotiations.
The Russian foreign minister also repeated that Moscow would insist on Kyiv repealing all “discriminatory laws” in Ukraine in the new round of peace negotiations.
“At these negotiations on 16 May in Istanbul, when they resumed, we insisted on the abolition of all discriminatory laws and will continue to do so at the next round of direct negotiations, which we will announce in the very near future,” he said.
“I would like to emphasise that we have always, for many years, before the special military operation and after its beginning, proposed and continue to propose to the Ukrainian side to resolve all problems, and they are becoming more serious every year, to resolve them through dialogue and diplomacy.”
The Istanbul negotiations Lavrov refers to were the first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in more than three years.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy flew to Turkey for the talks and challenged Vladimir Putin to meet him there – but the Russia leader did not, sending a junior delegation which Zelenskyy dismissed as “props”.
The talks failed to achieve Ukraine’s aim of a full and unconditional ceasefire, but the two sides did agree to swap 1,000 prisoners of war each in the biggest exchange of the conflict. That began on Friday.
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