{"id":137800,"date":"2025-05-17T18:11:54","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T18:11:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-war-latest-russia-demands-five-ukrainian-regions-in-talks-father-mother-and-daughter-among-nine-killed-in-bus-strike-sky-news\/"},"modified":"2025-05-17T18:11:54","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T18:11:54","slug":"ukraine-war-latest-russia-demands-five-ukrainian-regions-in-talks-father-mother-and-daughter-among-nine-killed-in-bus-strike-sky-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-war-latest-russia-demands-five-ukrainian-regions-in-talks-father-mother-and-daughter-among-nine-killed-in-bus-strike-sky-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine war latest: Russia 'demands five Ukrainian regions' in talks; father, mother and daughter 'among nine killed' in bus strike – Sky News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump has revealed he will hold phone calls with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy next week. It comes after Moscow reportedly demanded five Ukrainian territories in the first direct talks with Kyiv since 2022. Follow the latest below.
Saturday 17 May 2025 18:45, UK
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Vladimir Putin will not compromise in peace negotiations unless Ukraine and the West inflict significant battlefield and economic losses on Russia, a leading think tank has said following Ukraine-Russian talks yesterday.
The Institute for the Study if War said the Russian leader articulated his plan for victory in June last year, when he laid out how Russia could win a war of attrition with “gradual, creeping advances” while preventing Ukraine from conducting counteroffensive operations.
He assumes Russia’s war effort will outlast Western support for Ukraine, the ISW said.
“Western \u2013 especially US \u2013 military aid and economic sanctions are necessary to enable Ukraine to inflict significant battlefield losses on Russia and force Putin to either change his theory of victory or make an economically painful and unpopular decision to implement another partial involuntary reserve call-up,” the think tank said.
Despite Russian negotiators’ threats of a long war during talks, there are pressures on the Russian president at home that undermine the war effort.
“Putin is likely prioritising dividing Ukraine’s Western allies and weakening Western support to Ukraine in order to secure his desired end state in negotiations, rather than effectively addressing Russia’s domestic problems,” the ISW said.
It outlined how Russia faces materiel, defence industrial, manpower, and economic issues that threaten Russia’s ability to continue the war.
“Putin’s decision to intensify offensive operations throughout Ukraine in March and April 2025 is only exacerbating these issues and underscores his commitment to pressuring Ukraine in negotiations.”
The Kremlin has confirmed a phone call will take place between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
“A conversation is being prepared,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, according to Russian news agencies.
Trump posted on Truth Social earlier today that he would speak with Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy separately on Monday.
Away from prisoner swaps and peace talks, Ukrainian soldiers continue to defend their country.
Pictures taken in the Dnipropetrovsk region show some of those service members preparing to take up positions on the frontline.
Ivan, 34, and Valerie, 48, were shown by Reuters photographers on the ground cleaning Kalashnikov assault rifles – stopping briefly to pet a cat.
Ukraine’s intelligence agency (SBU) has drawn up a list of Russian prisoners of war that could form part of a 2,000-strong prisoner exchange with Russia.
Kyiv and Moscow agreed to swap 1,000 Ukrainian PoWs for 1,000 Russian PoWs during talks in Turkey yesterday.
Ukraine’s internal affairs ministry is preparing to receive the Ukrainian soldiers, the SBU said.
“Among other things, the appropriate infrastructure, locations and medical personnel required to receive, accompany and rehabilitate our military are being prepared.”
Earlier today, Ukrainian intelligence chief Kirill Budanov said he hoped the exchange would take place next week.
Vladimir Putin refused to talk about a peace plan drawn up by the US with Ukrainian and European input, according to reports.
Senior Russian officials told US envoy Steve Witkoff that Putin did not want to discuss the 22-point plan, the Financial Times<\/a> reported, citing three people briefed on the discussions.
They said Witkoff postponed plans to meet the Russian leader for a fifth time since February in response.
“Putin is doing just enough to convince Trump that he is engaged in this effort to find peace in Ukraine, while also doing as much as possible to make sure it goes nowhere,” a senior European diplomat told the FT.
“And Trump is falling for it.”
The Polish foreign ministry says Russia’s deadly attack on a bus near Sumy reveals “the true intentions of the Kremlin” despite peace talks.
A Russian drone hit a bus evacuating civilians from a frontline area in the town of Bilopillia, killing nine people and injuring seven, Ukrainian officials said.
Sky News cannot independently verify these battlefield reports. There was no comment from Moscow. 
“We extend our condolences to the Ukrainian families of the victims of the Russian attack on a bus near Sumy,” the Polish foreign ministry said.
“Their deaths – immediately after peace talks – reveal the true intentions of the Kremlin.”
The US secretary of state and Russia’s foreign minister spoke over the phone today, according to the state department.
Rubio welcomed the prisoner exchange agreement reached during Friday’s talks between Russia and Ukraine in Turkey, the department’s spokesperson said.
Both nations agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners of war each, which Ukrainian intelligence chief Kirill Budanov hopes will take place next week.
Secretary Rubio also emphasised Donald Trump’s call for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the violence in Russia’s war in Ukraine, the department said.
Donald Trump says he will speak with Vladimir Putin on Monday, followed by a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
His phone call with the Russian leader at 10am will address “the bloodbath” of a war, Trump has posted on Truth Social.
The US president says he will also be speaking with “various members of NATO”.
In a post in all caps, Trump says: “HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE A PRODUCTIVE DAY, A CEASEFIRE WILL TAKE PLACE, AND THIS VERY VIOLENT WAR, A WAR THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED, WILL END. GOD BLESS US ALL!!!”
The conversations will come after the first direct talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations since 2022 yesterday.
The largest ever prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine could take place next week, according to reports.
Both countries agreed to trade 1,000 prisoners of war each during negotiations in Turkey yesterday – their first direct talks since 2022.
Ukrainian media now report that Kirill Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s defence ministry, is pinning his hopes on the exchange taking place within days.
“I hope this will happen next week,” he told TSN.
“Whoever we can take, we will take, and the same, give back.”
The swap was the only substantive outcome from Friday’s discussions, which lasted less than two hours.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend Pope Leo’s inaugural mass tomorrow, the Vatican has said.
He will be joined by many other world leaders, they added.
US vice president JD Vance will lead a delegation from Washington, which also includes secretary of state Marco Rubio.
Meanwhile, Russia will be represented by culture minister Olga Lyubimova, the Vatican said.
Zelenskyy would be happy to meet other leaders on the sidelines tomorrow, a top aide told Reuters news agency this week.
When he went to the Vatican for Pope Francis’s funeral last month, Zelenskyy held face-to-face talks with Donald Trump in St Peter’s Basilica.
Yesterday, the Pope proposed the Vatican as a venue for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
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