{"id":198512,"date":"2026-01-29T11:03:05","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T11:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-russia-war-latest-zelensky-warns-putin-is-planning-massive-attack-ahead-of-sunday-peace-talks-the-independent\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T11:03:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T11:03:05","slug":"ukraine-russia-war-latest-zelensky-warns-putin-is-planning-massive-attack-ahead-of-sunday-peace-talks-the-independent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-russia-war-latest-zelensky-warns-putin-is-planning-massive-attack-ahead-of-sunday-peace-talks-the-independent\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky warns Putin is planning \u2018massive\u2019 attack ahead of Sunday peace talks – The Independent"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Zelensky has said the attacks discredit peace talks
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Ukraine<\/a> has intelligence warning that Russia<\/a> plans to carry out a “new massive strike” between now and Sunday’s trilateral peace talks, Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a> has said.
\u201cThe United States<\/a>, Europe<\/a>, and all our partners have to understand how this discredits diplomatic talks. Every single Russian strike does,\u201d he said.
The latest round of negotiations between the US, Ukraine<\/a> and Russia<\/a> are set to take place on Sunday, after talks last weekend that all sides referred to as “constructive”.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin<\/a> has responded to a new report saying Russia is believed to have suffered the heaviest battlefield losses the world has seen since the Second World War<\/a> during its invasion of Ukraine<\/a>.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies<\/a> says the war has resulted in about 1.2 million Russian casualties and between 500,000 and 600,000 Ukrainian casualties. This includes both wounded and killed troops.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov<\/a> said such reports were not “reliable” and pointed to Russia’s own official statistics instead \u2013 though Moscow<\/a> has rarely released numbers for its casualties, and those it has are considered understatements.
A top US<\/a> official<\/a> has made a series of blunders exposing a lack of basic understanding about the Ukraine<\/a> and Russia<\/a> conflict amid high-stakes <\/a>peace talks<\/a>, according to reports.
The trilateral discussions between the US, Russia and Ukraine <\/a>are set to continue this weekend but inexperience and misunderstandings by the Americans are said to pose serious risks to Ukraine. <\/a>
Among the incorrect statements made during the meetings are errors about how long the war has been going on, when it started and whether or not the country has a vice president.
The discussions have so far been led by US special envoy Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner, army secretary Dan Driscoll and other senior members of the administration.
\u201cThis is a serious problem,\u201d Oleksandr Merezhko, head of Ukraine’s parliament foreign affairs committee, told the publication explaining that the developments were deeply troubling. \u201c(The envoy) has already made several big mistakes \u2014 both technical and, in essence, serious diplomatic ones.\u201d
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.
Firefighters work at a facility of an industrial enterprise hit during an overnight Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Odesa on Thursday.
Donetsk remains the final contentious issue preventing a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, according to US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
\u201cThe one remaining item \u2026 is the territorial claim on Donetsk. There is active work going to try to see if both sides\u2019 views on this can be reconciled,\u201d he told a US Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting.
\u201cIt\u2019s still a bridge we haven\u2019t crossed. It\u2019s still a gap, but at least we\u2019ve been able to narrow down the issue set to one central one, and it will probably be a very difficult one.\u201d
President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Russia is preparing a \u201cnew massive strike\u201d as he said the attacks discredited peace talks.
\u201cThe Russians are preparing a new massive strike \u2013 our intelligence indicates this,\u201d he said in a video to his social media account on Wednesday.
\u201cThe United States, Europe, and all our partners have to understand how this discredits diplomatic talks. Every single Russian strike does.\u201d
Russia\u2019s second largest oil producer has agreed to sell most of its foreign assets to the US Carlyle Group pending approval from the US government.
The foreign assets are worth around $22bn and are held by the company\u2019s unit LUKOIL International GmbH, which oversees them.
\u201cThe agreement signed is not exclusive for the Company and is subject to some conditions precedent such as procurement of necessary regulatory approvals including permission of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for the transaction with Carlyle,\u201d Lukoil said in a statement.
The company was sanctioned by the US in October due to slow progress in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, according to Washington.
Three people have been killed in overnight Russian attacks in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, according to the area\u2019s governor.
Two women aged 26 and 50 and a 62-year-old man were killed in the incident in the city of Vilnyansk, said Governor Ivan Fedorov.
Drones struck the area at around midnight (10pm GMT). Several houses were damaged and one was completely destroyed, he said.
Estonia\u2019s foreign minister Magnus Tsahkna has said that Russians who have fought in the war against Ukraine should be prevented from entering the Schengen area.
The region consists of 29 countries in Europe and border-free travel is enabled between them.
\u201cYou can imagine these hundreds of thousands of ex combatants and criminals, coming here and what they’re going to do,\u201d he said.
\u201cThey’re going to do many bad things.\u201d
A senior Kremlin official has said Russia can hold direct talks with Ukraine\u2019s president Volodymyr Zelensky, provided he travels to Moscow to speak with his Russian counterpart.
\u201cWe have never refused and do not refuse this kind of contact,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said, adding that Moscow is prepared to ensure Zelensky’s security and working conditions if he comes to Russia.
It isn’t the first time Russia has said Zelensky should travel to Moscow if he wants a leaders’ summit with Putin. Kyiv has dismissed the suggestion as a non-starter given the security threat the Ukrainian president would face.
Ushakov’s remarks come after Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said Zelensky is ready to meet Putin to resolve the two key issues in the peace talks, including territorial questions and the future of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
A senior Kremlin official has rejected a report claiming Russia has sustained the largest number of troop deaths for any major power in any conflict since the Second World War.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov snubbed the findings and said people should only trust casualty figures shared by the Russian defence ministry.
\u201cI don\u2019t think such reports can and should be viewed as reliable information,\u201d Peskov told reporters at a daily briefing yesterday.
Russia has rarely released any details of its casualties in Ukraine and the figures it does put out are widely considered to be understatements.
A report from US think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies said Russia suffered 1.2 million casualties, including up to 325,000 troop deaths, between February 2022 and December 2025.
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