Here’s where things stand on Tuesday, June 3:
Fighting
- Ukrainian officials said at least five people were killed from fighting and shelling along the war’s front line in eastern Ukraine, which is mostly occupied by Russia.
- Ukrainian shelling and drone attacks on key infrastructure in Russian-occupied areas of southeastern Ukraine led to power cuts across the whole of the Zaporizhia region, according to Russian-installed officials there.
- Similar attacks damaged electrical substations in the adjacent Kherson region, leading to power loss for 100,000 residents and 150 towns and villages, according to the Russian-installed officials.
- However, there has been no effect on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, Europe’s largest nuclear facility, according to Russian officials who occupy the site. The station is currently in shutdown mode.
Ceasefire
- Little headway was made during talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Istanbul, but the two sides did agree to swap thousands of prisoners and the remains of 6,000 deceased soldiers. The deal will also include all injured soldiers and those aged between 18 and 25.
- Russia set out a memorandum at the talks to end its war on Ukraine. Terms include Ukrainian forces withdrawing from the four regions annexed by Russia in September 2022, but that Russian forces have failed to fully capture, Kyiv halting war mobilisation efforts and a freeze on Kyiv importing Western weapons.
- The Russian document also proposes that Ukraine end martial law and hold elections, after which the two countries could sign a comprehensive peace treaty.
- Ukraine must also abandon its bid to join NATO, set limits on the size of its armed forces and recognise Russian as the country’s official language on a par with Ukrainian, according to the memorandum.
- Ukraine – which has previously rejected all such demands by Moscow – said it would spend the next week reviewing the memorandum and proposed another round of talks between June 20 and 30.
- The White House said that United States President Donald Trump is “open” to a three-way summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
- Zelenskyy’s chief of staff said in a post on Telegram after the talks that he did not believe Moscow wanted a ceasefire. “The Russians are doing everything to not cease firing and continue the war. New sanctions now are very important,” he wrote.
Sanctions
- The US Senate said it would start working on further rounds of sanctions for Russia and secondary sanctions for its trade partners if peace talks continue to stall.
- Possible sanctions include 500 percent tariffs on countries that buy Russian exports, including oil, gas and uranium. The tariffs would hit India and China, Moscow’s two largest energy customers.
- US Senate Majority Leader John Thune said that senators “stand ready to provide President Trump with any tools he needs to get Russia to finally come to the table in a real way”.
