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President Zelensky said he was ‘counting’ on talks with the US and Russia next week
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Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed that a new round of US-brokered talks between Ukraine and Russia will take place in Abu Dhabi next week.
The Ukrainian president said on Sunday that the next trilateral discussions will happen on 4 and 5 February.
“Ukraine is ready for a substantive discussion, and we are interested in ensuring that the outcome brings us closer to a real and dignified end to the war,” he added.
The comments came as Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s powerful Security Council, said that Russia would “soon” achieve military victory in the nearly four-year war.
Medvedev, who served as Russian president from 2008 to 2012, told a Russian war blogger in an interview: “I would like this to happen as soon as possible”.
The former president sang Donald Trump’s praises as an “effective and original” leader who had improved contacts between Russia and the US.
He also said Russia never found the two nuclear submarines that Trump said he had ordered to “be positioned in the appropriate regions” in response to “highly provocative” comments from Medvedev last summer.
Russia has lost 1,240,680 troops in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said on Sunday.
The figure includes 1,090 casualties that Russian forces sustained over the past day.
A report earlier this week said that the overall death toll for both sides in the four year conflict was approaching 2 million.
Russia has lost 1,240,680 troops in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said on Sunday.
The figure includes 1,090 casualties that Russian forces sustained over the past day.
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 is how Russia lures in foreign nationals with the promise of work:
One of Donald Trump’s senior envoys for Ukraine has sparked alarm after making a series of blunders during crucial peace talks, according to a report.
The unnamed official is said to have made several comments that exposed a basic lack of knowledge about the war between Ukraine and Russia during trilateral peace talks in Abu Dhabi last week.
Read the full story:
Russia and Ukraine said on Friday they had halted strikes on each other’s energy infrastructure, following a request from Donald Trump.
The Kremlin said it had agreed to Trump’s ask to halt strikes on energy targets, which have knocked out power and heating to hundreds of Kyiv apartment buildings.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov indicated the measure would end on Sunday.
Zelensky indicated on Friday that both sides did stick to the agreement, though assessed that Russia had shifted its targeting to logistics instead.
In a nightly address on Saturday, Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the “technical incident” that cut power in Ukraine and Moldova.
“The causes are being thoroughly investigated. As of now, there is no confirmation of external interference or a cyberattack,” Zelensky emphasised.
“Most indications point to weather: ice buildup on the lines and automatic shutdowns.”
Officials in both countries reported that power was partially restored in the early afternoon following rushed efforts to stabilise interconnected grids.
Russian media have so far confirmed the identities of 168,142 Russian military personnel killed in Ukraine.
The latest investigation, conducted by cross-referencing public sources like obituaries, posts by relatives, regional media reports, and statements from local authorities, has led to the addition of 4,536 Russian soldiers to the list since the last update mid-January.
Russia’s actual losses could be significantly higher, investigators say.
The analysis comes following the publication of a new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which noted that Russia has suffered “more losses than any major power in any war since World War II”.
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Ukraine was waiting for more information from the US about future peace talks.
The last talks with Russia and the US took place last week. Zelensky indicated he expects the next round to happen next week, pushing back Sunday’s anticipated summit.
Separately, a delegation of US officials had “productive” meetings with Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev in Florida on Saturday, according to US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Witkoff singled out the question of territory as the key to making progress in the negotiations, with Kyiv rejecting Moscow’s demand that it cede all of the Donbas region, including areas its army has not captured.
Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said this week that land was not the sole key issue under discussion, but did not identify other unresolved issues.
Additionally, Russia agreed to a request from Donald Trump to halt airstrikes on Kyiv until February 1 amid harsh winter temperatures, and Ukraine said it was ready to reciprocate as Washington pushes for a diplomatic solution to end the war.
Poland closed its airspace along its eastern border after its military radar detected objects entering from Belarus for the second time within 72 hours.
The mysterious objects are suspected to be smuggling balloons.
“This incident represents another in a series of hybrid-type events observed in the eastern region of Poland,” the Polish Operational Command said in a statement.
In recent times, Europe has been increasingly dealing with airspace alerts involving drones or unidentified objects.
This has prompted several European cities, including Brussels and Munich, to temporarily shut down their airspace.
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