German Prime Minister Friedrich Merz said he and British, French and Polish leaders are aiming to speak to Donald Trump ahead of the US president’s planned call with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
In a statement to reporters on Sunday, Meltz said he discussed the issue with Secretary of State Marco Rubio while attending the Vatican Pope Leo XIV’s first Mass. Meltz also said he spoke at length at the Vatican with Ukrainian host Voldymir Zelenki.
“I spoke with Marco Rubio and about the phone call tomorrow. We agreed to speak again with the four state leaders and the US president in preparation for this conversation. [with Putin]Meltz said.
Trump said he plans to speak to Putin and Zelensky to discuss ways to stop the “bloodbus” of war.
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed to Russian press that preparations for a conversation between Putin and Trump are underway.
Turkey’s talks on Friday in Istanbul city was the first time the Side had held an in-person meeting since March 2022, weeks after a full-scale invasion of Russian neighbors.
The brief speech, according to the heads of both delegations, only came to an agreement to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war, according to what is their biggest exchange since the war began.
A Ukrainian official familiar with the discussions said Russian negotiators had requested that the troops be drawn from all Ukrainian regions that Moscow had allegedly claimed before Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire. It is a red line for Ukraine, and as it is, Russia has no complete control in those regions.
Meanwhile, Zelensky met Vice President JD Vance and Rubio, who were bystanders at the Pope’s inauguration, according to sources from the Ukrainian delegation. Because Zelensky and Vance’s first meeting were publicly clashed during a talk at the White House over the future of the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine fears ballistic missile attacks
In the meantime, Ukraine claims that Russia plans to launch an Intercontinental ballistic missile on Sunday to blackmail it and its western allies.
GUR, Ukraine’s military intelligence reporting agency, said Russia is planning to carry out missile “training and combat” launches.
In a statement on the Telegram app, Gur said it was ordered to be released from Russia’s Sverdlovsk region, adding that the missile’s flight range is more than 10,000 km (6,200 miles).
Ukraine on Sunday also said Russia fired a record number of drones overnight, targeting various regions, including the region in the capital where women were killed.
The air force said Russia launched “273 Shahed attack drones and various types of copycat drones,” of which 88 were destroyed and 128 were lost “without any negative consequences.”
Deputy Prime Minister Julia Swillidenko said it was a “recorded” number of drones. “Russia has a clear goal: to keep killing civilians,” she said.
Reported by Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi said overnight, “The air raid sirens started and lasted nearly nine hours.”
“We’ve seen these massive drone strikes and seen crowds of people seeking safety in deep underground metro stations in the capital and elsewhere in the country,” the busrabi said.
“Deliberate killing of civilians”
Russian forces said they intercepted 25 Ukrainian drones one night and Sunday morning. He also claimed that he captured Bahathir, another village in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, to strengthen war efforts despite consultations.
The overnight Russian drone attack was roundly condemned by Ukrainian officials.
Zelensky repeated a strong sanctions on Moscow on Saturday after Russian drones killed nine bus passengers in the Smie region of northeastern Ukraine. “This was a deliberate killing of a civilian,” he said.
“We need to put pressure on Russia to stop the killing. Without strong sanctions, without stronger pressure, Russia will not seek real diplomacy.”
Russia, which denied targeting civilians, said it had hit a military target in Smee. The Ministry of Defense claimed that another settlement was captured in eastern Ukraine.
Zelenskyy’s top aide, Andriy Yermak, also condemned the attack.
“For Russia, negotiations in Istanbul are merely pretenses. Putin wants war,” Yermak said.
Russia aims to “create the conditions of lasting peace.”
In an interview with Russian state television, Putin said Moscow’s purpose was to “eliminate the cause that caused this crisis, create conditions for lasting peace and ensure Russia’s security.”
Russia’s reference to the “root cause” of the conflict usually refers to the alleged dissatisfaction between Kiev and the West, which Moscow proposed as justification for launching the invasion in February 2022.
They pledge to “unnadify” Ukraine and demilitarize it, protect Russian speakers in the country’s eastern world, oppose the expansion of NATO, and stop Ukraine’s western geopolitical drift.
Ukraine and the West rejected them all, saying that the Russian attack was nothing more than an acquisition of imperial style land.
Since Russia began the war, tens of thousands have been killed and millions have been forced to flee their homes.
Putin said the Russian military, which accounts for about 20% of Ukraine, has “the military and necessary means” to achieve that goal.
The US State Department said in a statement that Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov spoke to each other on Saturday. During the call, Rubio welcomed reaching a prisoner exchange agreement in Istanbul, a department spokesperson said.
Ukraine’s top negotiator, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, said the “next step” would be a meeting between the two fighting presidents.
Russia noted the demand, but added that the prisoner exchange would need to be completed first, but then the vision must be presented for the ceasefire before negotiations for the next round are arranged.
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