Closing summary
German chancellor Friedrich Merz said Wednesday during a visit by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Berlin will help Kyiv develop new long-range weapons that can hit targets in Russian territory, AFP reported. “Our defence ministers will sign a memorandum of understanding today regarding the procurement of Ukrainian-made long-range weapons systems,” said Merz, without naming the manufacturers involved.
Germany will provide further military support for Ukraine amounting to about €5bn ($5.65bn), its defence ministry said on Wednesday, as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy met senior officials in Berlin. According to Reuters, in its statement, the ministry pointed to Russian airstrikes, “with many civilians killed and injured, as well as the massive destruction of civilian infrastructure in particular”.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Germany’s plans to jointly develop long-range missiles with Ukraine, as well as supplies of its tanks to Kyiv, showed that it was already a participant in the Russia-Ukraine war. German chancellor Friedrich Merz, speaking during a visit of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Berlin on Wednesday, said his government would not impose any range limits on the missiles which could be produced in Ukraine and Germany.
Russia has proposed holding the next round of peace talks with Ukraine on 2 June in Istanbul, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday. “The Russian side, as agreed, has promptly developed a relevant memorandum, which sets out our position on all aspects of reliably overcoming the root causes of the crisis,” he said.
Nearly 175,000 servicemen have signed Russian army contracts since the beginning of the year, the TASS state news agency reported on Wednesday, quoting top security official Dmitry Medvedev. Medvedev, Russia’s former president, also said that more than 14,000 additional people had joined the army on a volunteer basis, TASS reported.
German prosecutors have charged three people – a Ukrainian, a Russian and an Armenian – with foreign agent activity, on suspicion of spying on a Ukrainian man in Germany with the possible aim of killing him, prosecutors said on Wednesday. The target of the operation was a man who had taken part in combat operations for the Ukrainian armed forces following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a statement from the federal prosecutor said.
Ukraine’s military said on Wednesday it struck several Russian weapon production sites during a major overnight drone attack that Moscow said its air defences had repelled. The latest attack struck Russia’s Kronstadt plant, which produces drones in the town of Dubna outside Moscow, and the nearby Raduga plant that makes cruise missiles, Ukraine’s general staff said.
Russia’s military has committed “crimes against humanity” and “war crimes” in its drone attacks on civilians in Ukraine’s Kherson region, UN experts concluded in a report published on Wednesday. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, established by the UN human rights council, said Russian armed forces were “systematically” hitting civilians, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Zelenskyy said that Ukraine not being invited to the upcoming Nato summit would mean a victory for Russian president Vladimir Putin over the alliance. Zelenskyy had said on Tuesday that Nato chief Mark Rutte wanted Ukraine to attend the summit.
Ukraine has protested to the international atomic energy watchdog about reports that Russia is building power lines to connect the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to its own grid, a Ukrainian official said on Wednesday.
Belarus will scale back military drills with Russia planned for September, cutting the number of soldiers taking part and moving them away from the western border, Minsk said on Wednesday, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The Kremlin believes that US president Donald Trump was not fully informed about the Russia-Ukraine conflict, foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
Russia has massed more than 50,000 troops, including some of its best forces, near Ukraine’s north-eastern Sumy region, but Kyiv has taken steps to prevent them from conducting a large-scale offensive, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, according to Reuters.
Turkey’s foreign minister will travel to Kyiv on Thursday for a two-day visit after discussing peace efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine in Moscow earlier this week, a Turkish foreign ministry source told Reuters on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday said Russian president Vladimir Putin may be intentionally delaying negotiations on a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine and expressed disappointment at Russian bombing.
“We’re going to find out whether or not he’s tapping us along or not, and if he is, we’ll respond a little differently,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
Russia has proposed holding the next round of peace talks with Ukraine on 2 June in Istanbul, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.
“The Russian side, as agreed, has promptly developed a relevant memorandum, which sets out our position on all aspects of reliably overcoming the root causes of the crisis,” he said.
The Russian delegation, led by Vladimir Medinskiy, is ready to present the memorandum to the Ukrainian side and to provide necessary clarifications during the second round of resumed direct talks in Istanbul next Monday, Lavrov added.
Vladimir Medinsky, the head of Russia’s delegation at peace talks on Ukraine, said on Wednesday he had sent proposals to Ukraine with a date and venue to exchange memorandums, or conditions, to stop the fighting.
He also said on the Telegram messaging app that he expected a reply and that Russia’s delegation was ready to meet its Ukrainian counterpart face-to-face in the coming days.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Germany’s plans to jointly develop long-range missiles with Ukraine, as well as supplies of its tanks to Kyiv, showed that it was already a participant in the Russia-Ukraine war.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz, speaking during a visit of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Berlin on Wednesday, said his government would not impose any range limits on the missiles which could be produced in Ukraine and Germany.
Lavrov told a Russian state TV reporter that Berlin’s decisions were “building tension”, adding that he hoped “responsible politicians” in Germany “will make the right conclusion and stop the madness.”
Nearly 175,000 servicemen have signed Russian army contracts since the beginning of the year, the TASS state news agency reported on Wednesday, quoting top security official Dmitry Medvedev.
Medvedev, Russia’s former president, also said that more than 14,000 additional people had joined the army on a volunteer basis, TASS reported.
German prosecutors have charged three people – a Ukrainian, a Russian and an Armenian – with foreign agent activity, on suspicion of spying on a Ukrainian man in Germany with the possible aim of killing him, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
The target of the operation was a man who had taken part in combat operations for the Ukrainian armed forces following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a statement from the federal prosecutor said.
The Armenian man, identified only as Vardges I, was tasked with spying by the Russian intelligence service, the statement added. He is said to have recruited Ukrainian national Robert A. and Russian national Arman S. to assist with the operation, Reuters reported.
The plot involved a planned meeting with the target at a cafe in central Frankfurt in June 2024, but he did not show up after being tipped off by German authorities, the prosecutor said.
“The spying operation presumably served to prepare further intelligence operations in Germany, possibly including the killing of the target person,” the statement said.
The three suspects have been in custody since their arrest on 19 June 2024, the day of the attempted meeting.
European security officials have warned of the increased threat of hybrid attacks by Russia in the wake of the Ukraine war, including espionage and sabotage targeting critical infrastructure.
Ukraine’s military said on Wednesday it struck several Russian weapon production sites during a major overnight drone attack that Moscow said its air defences had repelled.
The latest attack struck Russia’s Kronstadt plant, which produces drones in the town of Dubna outside Moscow, and the nearby Raduga plant that makes cruise missiles, Ukraine’s general staff said.
The Angstrem microchip factory in Moscow region was also struck, it said, adding that the facility produced components widely used by Russia’s military-industrial complex.
The factory is in the Elma Technological Park in Zelenograd.
Videos circulating online showed fire and smoke at the technological park. Reuters was able to independently confirm the location of the video, but not the date of the footage.
Russia’s defence ministry said its air defences had downed 296 Ukrainian drones over 13 regions overnight.
The Ukrainian military’s statement did not make clear what weapons its forces used to conduct the long-range attack. But an official from Ukraine’s SBU security agency said in a written statement that the Ukrainian side had used drones. Kyiv lacks an arsenal of long-range missiles.
Ukraine’s general staff also said it conducted a “successful” attack on a factory in Ivanovo region the day before. The factory makes organic chemicals, components of explosives and powders, as well as additives for rocket and aviation fuel, it said.
Reuters could not independently confirm the claims by either side.
Germany to provide €5bn military aid package to Ukraine
Germany will provide further military support for Ukraine amounting to about €5bn ($5.65bn), its defence ministry said on Wednesday, as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy met senior officials in Berlin.
According to Reuters, in its statement, the ministry pointed to Russian airstrikes, “with many civilians killed and injured, as well as the massive destruction of civilian infrastructure in particular”.
The aid will be financed by funds already approved by Germany’s lower house of parliament, it added.
Russia’s drone attacks in Ukraine constitute 'crimes against humanity’: UN experts
Russia’s military has committed “crimes against humanity” and “war crimes” in its drone attacks on civilians in Ukraine’s Kherson region, UN experts concluded in a report published on Wednesday.
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, established by the UN human rights council, said Russian armed forces were “systematically” hitting civilians, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“Russian armed forces have committed the crimes against humanity of murder and the war crimes of attacking civilians, through a months-long pattern of drone attacks targeting civilians on the right bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson Province,” the inquiry said.
These acts were committed with the primary purpose to spread terror among the civilian population, in violation of international humanitarian law.
They added:
The attacks are continuing at the time of the publication of this report.
The inquiry said that since July last year, Russian military drone operators on the left bank of the Dnipro had “systematically” struck civilians, and had “targeted ambulances”.
The commission documented drone attacks on civilians in Kherson city and 16 other localities, geolocating videos of attacks and reviewing open sources.
Nearly 150 civilians had been killed and hundreds injured, the report said, citing official sources. It said men, women and children were among the victims.
Several Russian Telegram channels with links to the perpetrating military units, some of them with thousands of followers, have disseminated hundreds of videos of the attacks from the original feeds of the drones.
The footage “leaves no doubt that they intended to target civilians”. The report said the attacks amount to the war crimes of intentionally directing attacks against civilians.
The recurrence of such attacks for more than 10 months, against multiple civilian targets in a wide area “demonstrates that they are widespread and systematic and have been planned”.
Such elements “led the commission to conclude that Russian armed forces carried out drone attacks targeting civilians pursuant to an organisational policy and committed murder as a crime against humanity”, the investigation said.
The commission concluded that publishing of videos of civilians being killed and injured “amounts to the war crime of outrages upon personal dignity”.
Merz says Germany will 'do everything' to prevent Nord Stream restart
Germany will “do everything” to make sure the damaged Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia will not resume deliveries of natural gas to Europe, chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday.
“We will continue to increase the pressure on Russia,” Merz said at a press conference with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Berlin. He added:
We will do everything in this context to ensure that Nord Stream 2 cannot be put back into operation.
The Nord Stream 2 gas link connecting Russia and Germany via the Baltic Sea was damaged in September 2022 by huge underwater explosions, said to be an act of sabotage. The explosions destroyed one of the two pipes of Nord Stream 2 and both branches of its controversial sister pipeline, Nord Stream 1.
While Nord Stream 2 never went into operation, Nord Stream 1 for years shipped cheap Russian gas to Europe via Germany.
Critics have argued the existence of the pipeline left Germany and the rest of Europe over reliant on fossil fuel deliveries from Moscow.
German and British media have recently reported that Washington and Moscow had discussed the idea of reviving the Nord Stream 2 project during talks on ending the war in Ukraine, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Senior political figures in Merz’s own party had also expressed tentative support for restarting gas deliveries via the pipeline from Russia before the chancellor definitively ruled out the possibility.
European Commission president chief Ursula von der Leyen said earlier this month the bloc was working on a new set of sanctions that would include measures against Nord Stream 1 and 2, pre-empting a restart.
Explaining the measures, EU spokesperson Paula Pinho said, “the idea is to dissuade any interest, and notably interest from investors, in pursuing any activity on Nord Stream, also in the future”.
Istanbul could be a venue for the next round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
Merz says Germany, Ukraine to jointly produce long-range weapons
German chancellor Friedrich Merz said Wednesday during a visit by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Berlin will help Kyiv develop new long-range weapons that can hit targets in Russian territory, AFP reported.
“Our defence ministers will sign a memorandum of understanding today regarding the procurement of Ukrainian-made long-range weapons systems,” said Merz, without naming the manufacturers involved.
“There will be no range restrictions, allowing Ukraine to fully defend itself, even against military targets outside its own territory,” he told a joint press conference.
The production of long-range weapons “can take place both in Ukraine and here in Germany,” he said. “We will not provide any further details until further notice.”
Merz hailed the project as “the beginning of a new form of military-industrial cooperation between our countries that has great potential”.
Zelenskyy also said on Wednesday that Ukraine’s defence minister, who was the leader of Ukraine’s Istanbul negotiating team, had a call with the head of Russia’s team to those talks.
He is speaking at a joint news conference in Berlin with German chancellor Merz.
Zelenskyy said that Ukraine not being invited to the upcoming Nato summit would mean a victory for Russian president Vladimir Putin over the alliance.
Zelenskyy had said on Tuesday that Nato chief Mark Rutte wanted Ukraine to attend the summit.
However, it was still not clear whether Kyiv would be invited.
Updated
Zelenskyy says Ukraine reaches defence sector accords with Germany
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that Ukraine and Germany had reached new agreements on defence sector investments.
Zelenskyy, who was speaking in Berlin alongside German chancellor Friedrich Merz, did not give further details.
Kyiv has increasingly sought money from its allies to fund its own burgeoning defence industry.
Updated
Ukrainian president Volydymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine and Germany have new agreements on defence sector investments.
More details soon …
“We Europeans are ready to support technical talks between Ukraine and Russia,” German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has said at a joint press conference in Berlin with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
More details to follow …
Ukraine protests to IAEA over Russia building power lines to Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
Ukraine has protested to the international atomic energy watchdog about reports that Russia is building power lines to connect the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to its own grid, a Ukrainian official said on Wednesday.
Yuriy Vitrenko, Ukraine’s representative to international bodies in Vienna, told Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform that Kyiv sees any attempt by Russia to connect the occupied plant to its grid as a gross violation of international law and Ukrainian sovereignty.
There is now a live feed embedded at the top of this page which will stream Zelenskyy and Merz’s press conference in Berlin. You may have to refresh the page to access it.
Here are some images coming in via the newswires of Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelenskyy in Berlin today:
Updated
Belarus scales back planned military drills with Russia
Belarus will scale back military drills with Russia planned for September, cutting the number of soldiers taking part and moving them away from the western border, Minsk said on Wednesday, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Belarus is a key Russian ally and allowed its territory to be used as a staging post for Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Kyiv, as well as Poland and the Baltic states, have repeatedly expressed alarm about possible military buildups in the country.
“We have decided to reduce the parameters of the ‘Zapad-2025’ exercise and to move its main manoeuvres deep into the territory of the Republic of Belarus, away from the western borders,” defence minister Viktor Khrenin said in a statement posted on Wednesday on the ministry’s Telegram channel.
“The number of troops participating in the drills will be cut almost by half,” Gen Valery Revenko, the head of the ministry’s department for international cooperation said at a security forum in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek.
Russian state media reported about 13,000 soldiers were originally to take part in the drills.
Khrenin said the move was “to demonstrate to our allies and partners around the world the truly peace-loving position of the Republic of Belarus”.
The Zapad military drills usually involve tens of thousands of troops in a show of force close to Belarus’s western border with EU and Nato members.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy last month warned Russia was “preparing something” in Belarus “using military drills as cover”. “That’s usually how they start a new attack,” he said.
About 200,000 troops participated in the 2021 edition of Zapad, staged just months before Moscow invaded Ukraine.
The Kremlin believes that US president Donald Trump was not fully informed about the Russia-Ukraine conflict, foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
He was commenting on remarks by Trump that Vladimir Putin was “playing with fire” by refusing to engage in ceasefire talks with Kyiv.
Pope Leo XIV appealed on Wednesday for an end to the war in Ukraine, reports Reuters.
During his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square, the pontiff decried new attacks against civilians and infrastructure in Ukraine in the days since Russia launched the biggest aerial attack of the three-year war.
“I renew with vigour my appeal to stop the war and to support every initiative of dialogue and peace,” said the pope.
The pope’s appeal, made in Italian, came at the end of his audience, when he added some brief comments to his prepared text, reports Reuters.
Russia masses more than 50,000 troops for offensive on north-eastern Ukraine, Zelenskyy says
Russia has massed more than 50,000 troops, including some of its best forces, near Ukraine’s north-eastern Sumy region, but Kyiv has taken steps to prevent them from conducting a large-scale offensive, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, according to Reuters.
The buildup comes as Russia appears to be gearing up for a summer offensive in Ukraine while Kyiv waits for Moscow to present a memorandum laying out its conditions to proceed with ceasefire talks.
Sumy lies across the border from Russia’s Kursk region where Ukraine previously seized and held a pocket of land for months, before being almost fully pushed out last month, although it says it still holds some small areas there.
“Their largest, strongest forces are currently on the Kursk front,” Zelenskyy told reporters on Tuesday. “To push our troops out of the Kursk region and to prepare offensive actions against the Sumy region.”
Vladimir Putin has said he wants a “buffer zone” along Russia’s border with Ukraine. Zelenskyy said he believed Russia wants to carve out an area of Ukrainian territory about 10km (6 miles) deep.
Russia has captured at least four border villages in the region recently, and has been creeping slowly forwards over the past several weeks on parts of the frontline in eastern Ukraine near the city of Kostiantynivka. However, the Ukrainian leader said that the Russians had been pushed back in that area by 4km (2.5 miles) over two days, reports Reuters.
Zelenskyy told reporters in a briefing that his government was ready for further peace talks in any format. He said he expected the next round to be at a technical level, but said he would be ready for a three-way meeting with US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin.
He said he did not want the United States to leave the Ukraine peace process, as Washington has threatened to do if progress is not made.
Updated
Turkey’s foreign minister will travel to Kyiv on Thursday for a two-day visit after discussing peace efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine in Moscow earlier this week, a Turkish foreign ministry source told Reuters on Wednesday.
Foreign minister Hakan Fidan held talks in Moscow on Monday and Tuesday, meeting Russian president Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials, including Moscow’s top negotiator at talks in Istanbul earlier this month aimed at ending the three-year war.
In Kyiv, Fidan is expected to meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, prime minister Denys Shmyhal, his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha, and defence minister Rustem Umerov, who is also Kyiv’s top negotiator with Russia, the source said.
During the talks, Fidan will repeat an offer to host further peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, the source added.
He will “point to the increasingly heavier negative effects of the Russia-Ukraine war, emphasising the need for the war to end through diplomacy, and for a fair and lasting peace to be achieved,” the source told Reuters.
Fidan will also discuss bilateral ties, in relation to trade, energy, defence and security, while conveying Turkey’s readiness to take part in Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction.
Russia is under increasing pressure to agree a ceasefire, and Ankara has repeatedly said the sides need to continue talks after the first direct contact between the sides since March 2022 – also in Istanbul – took place earlier this month.
Delegates from Moscow and Kyiv did not agree on a ceasefire in Istanbul this month, but agreed to trade 1,000 prisoners of war and deliver, in writing, their conditions for a possible ceasefire.
Russian sources have said that Nato member Turkey, which has maintained good ties with both sides since the start of the war, could be a venue for future talks.
A meeting between Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US president Donald Trump would be possible only after Kyiv and Moscow reach “concrete agreements”, the Kremlin said on Wednesday in response to Zelenskyy’s call for a three-way summit (see 8.43am BST).
“Such a meeting should be the result of concrete agreements between the [Ukrainian and Russian] delegations,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
Russian troops took control of the settlement of Kostyantynivka in Ukraine’s Sumy region and Zelene Pole in the Donetsk region, the Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday.
Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield report.
After a joint press conference with chancellor Friedrich Merz and talks with German business leaders, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to meet German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier at Bellevue Palace.
Putin, for Ukraine peace, wants a pledge to halt Nato enlargement, sources tell Reuters
President Vladimir Putin’s conditions for ending the war in Ukraine include a demand that western leaders pledge in writing to stop enlarging Nato eastwards and lift a chunk of sanctions on Russia, reports Reuters citing three Russian sources with knowledge of the negotiations.
“Putin is ready to make peace but not at any price,” said one senior Russian source with knowledge of top-level Kremlin thinking, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The three Russian sources told Reuters that Putin wants a “written” pledge by major western powers not to enlarge the US-led Nato alliance eastwards – shorthand for formally ruling out membership to Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova and other former Soviet republics.
Kyiv has repeatedly said that Russia should not be granted veto power over its aspirations to join the Nato alliance. Ukraine says it needs the west to give it a strong security guarantee with teeth to deter any future Russian attack.
Nato has also in the past said that it will not change its “open door” policy just because Moscow demands it. A spokesperson for the 32-member alliance did not respond to Reuters’ questions.
Russia also wants Ukraine to be neutral, some western sanctions lifted, a resolution of the issue of frozen Russian sovereign assets in the west, and protection for Russian speakers in Ukraine, the three sources said.
The first source told Reuters that, if Putin realises he is unable to reach a peace deal on his own terms, he will seek to show the Ukrainians and the Europeans by military victories that “peace tomorrow will be even more painful”.
The Kremlin did not respond to a request for comment on Reuters’ reporting.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s administration also did not respond to a request by Reuters for comment.
Reuters reported in January that Putin was growing concerned by the economic distortions in Russia’s wartime economy, amid labour shortages and high interest rates imposed to curb inflation.
The first source told Reuters that if Putin saw a tactical opportunity on the battlefield, he would push further into Ukraine – and that the Kremlin believed Russia could fight on for years no matter what sanctions and economic pain were imposed by the west. A second source said that Putin was now less inclined to compromise on territory and was sticking to his public stance that he wanted the entirety of four regions in eastern Ukraine claimed by Russia.
“Putin has toughened his position,” the second source told Reuters of the question of territory.
Zelenskyy arrives in Berlin for talks with Germany's Merz
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived in Berlin for talks with the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, a Ukraine delegation member told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Russian air defences destroyed or intercepted more than 100 Ukrainian drones over various Russian regions, including a swarm of drones heading for Moscow, officials said early on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
Russia in the past week also sent waves of drones to attack Ukrainian cities, including what Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as the launch of more than 900 drones over a three-day period ending early on Monday morning.
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin, writing in a series of posts on the Telegram messaging app, said defence ministry units had repelled 27 drones while they were travelling towards the Russian capital.
Reuters reports that Sobyanin made no mention of casualties or damage, saying only that recovery teams were examining drone fragments at the sites where they hit the ground.
Russia’s defence ministry had earlier said its units had downed 112 drones between 9pm and midnight Moscow time. Fifty-nine of those drones were intercepted over the Bryansk region on the Ukrainian border, with other incidents occurring in five different regions, it said. The governor of Bryansk region reported no casualties, but said a house and six cars had been damaged in the attack.
In Smolensk region, near the Polish border, the regional governor said 11 drones had been downed, with no casualties, reports Reuters.
The three-night Russian drone barrage against Ukraine struck a series of cities and represented one of the biggest such assaults since Moscow launched the full-scale war in early 2022. The strikes on Saturday night killed at least 12 people, Ukrainian officials said, including three children in the region of Zhytomyr, west of Kyiv.
Updated
Hours after Zelenskyy spoke, Ukraine unleashed one of its largest ever drone barrages on Russia, firing almost 300 drones at the country, according to the defence ministry in Moscow.
Russian officials reported only minimal damage from the attacks.
On the battlefield, Zelenskyy said that Russia was “amassing” more than 50,000 troops on the frontline around the north-eastern Sumy border region, where Moscow’s army has captured a number of settlements as it seeks to establish what Putin has called a “buffer zone” inside Ukrainian territory.
Russia to announce next talks with Ukraine soon, as Zelenskyy calls for three-way meeting with Trump and Putin
Russia will announce the next round of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine soon Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.
The neutral status of Ukraine remains one of Russia’s key demands in the peace negotiations, Lavrov added, according to Reuters.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for a three-way summit with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Russian president Putin rejected calls to meet Zelenskyy in Turkey earlier this month and the Kremlin has said a meeting between the two leaders would only happen after some kind of “agreement” is reached.
The US president, meanwhile, has expressed frustration at both Putin and Zelenskyy for not yet striking a deal to end the war.
“If Putin is not comfortable with a bilateral meeting, or if everyone wants it to be a trilateral meeting, I don’t mind. I am ready for any format,” Zelenskyy said in comments to journalists on Tuesday that were published on Wednesday, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The Ukrainian leader said he was “ready” for a “Trump-Putin-me” meeting, and also urged Washington to hit Moscow with a package of hard-hitting sanctions on its banking and energy sector.
“We are waiting for sanctions from the United States of America,” Zelenskyy said, adding:
Trump confirmed that if Russia does not stop, sanctions will be imposed. We discussed two main aspects with him – energy and the banking system. Will the US be able to impose sanctions on these two sectors? I would very much like that.
The Ukrainian leader had previously appeared to express frustration at Washington for not having announced fresh sanctions on Moscow after Russia rejected a coordinated western appeal for an immediate ceasefire.
Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine is yet to receive a promised “memorandum” from Russia on its demands for a peace deal.
Opening summary
Today Volodymyr Zelenskyy will travel to Berlin to meet Friedrich Merz with speculation that the German chancellor could give the go-ahead to send long-awaited Taurus missiles to Ukraine.
However, Merz is facing criticism over such a move from his centre-left coalition partners, the Social Democrats. You can read our report here:
It also comes amid an escalating US-Russian war of words amid no progress towards any meaningful ceasefire.
Last night, top Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev, responding to Donald Trump’s warning that Vladimir Putin is “playing with fire”, said that the only truly bad thing to worry about was “WWIII”. Medvedev wrote on X:
Regarding Trump’s words about Putin “playing with fire” and “really bad things” happening to Russia. I only know of one REALLY BAD thing – WWIII. I hope Trump understands this!
On Wednesday, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine is yet to receive a promised “memorandum” from Russia on its demands for a peace deal. In comments to reporters released on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said Russia had pledged to “convey what they see as the next steps and whether Russia is capable of supporting a ceasefire”, adding that Ukraine would “read their proposals and definitely respond” once it receives them.
More on this story in a moment, but first, here are some other key updates:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for a three-way summit with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. “If Putin is not comfortable with a bilateral meeting, or if everyone wants it to be a trilateral meeting, I don’t mind. I am ready for any format,” Zelenskyy said in comments published on Wednesday.
Russian defence minister Andrei Belousov said on Wednesday that the US-led Nato military alliance was using the Ukrainian crisis to build up its presence across eastern Europe and the Baltic, Russian news agencies reported.
Trump’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, called Medvedev’s third world war comment “reckless” and called on Russia to “cease fire immediately” and provide a promised but undelivered peace process memorandum.
Zelenskyy said Russia is amassing “more than 50,000” troops on the frontline around the north-eastern Sumy border region, where Moscow’s army has captured a number of settlements as it seeks to establish a “buffer zone” inside Ukrainian territory. “Now they are also amassing troops in the Sumy direction. More than 50,000,” Zelensky told reporters on Tuesday, in remarks published on Wednesday.
A major Ukrainian drone attack late over Tuesday night into Wednesday led to at least two Moscow airports, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky, suspending flights, Russian authorities said. The defence ministry said 112 Ukrainian drones targeted six different regions in the three hours up to midnight.
Russian drones hit the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, injuring eight people including a child, the regional military governor said on Wednesday morning. Ukraine’s air force issued an air raid alert due to drones across regions including Kharkiv, Sumy, Odesa, Kyiv and others.
