Ukraine war: Russia fails to produce memorandum as UK, France, Germany join peace talks
America has confirmed the UK, France and Germany will also be in the room in an unprecedented diplomatic effort to help negotiate a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. Follow updates.
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Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg has confirmed the UK, Germany and France will attend the next round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul next week.
It come as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed his fury at Russia for failing to provide a promised list of terms he says are vital for the peace talks, and did not confirm whether Ukraine would send a delegation to Istanbul.
“The Russians have been unable to present the so-called ‘memorandum’ they had promised to prepare,” the Ukrainian president wrote on social media, adding that: “Unfortunately, Russia is doing everything it can to ensure that the next potential meeting brings no results.”
Mr Kellogg told America’s ABC News all dilpomatic stops had been pulled out for the talks proposed by Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday.
“We’ll have what we call the E3. That is the national security advisors from Germany, France, and Great Britain,” Mr Kellogg said.
“When we were in London, they kind of helped us mould a term sheet for Ukraine.”
Mr Kellogg said the intention of the talks was to combine the memorandums for Russia and Ukraine into a single document.
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TRUCE HOPE DWINDLES AFTER RUSSIAN DRONE ATTACK
Hope is “just barely” alive in the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, a senior UN official said, as Donald Trump gave Vladimir Putin a deadline to end the war.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council that the “cautious hope” she expressed a month ago has diminished in the face of recent aggressions.
“According to Ukrainian officials, with 355 drones, Monday’s attack was the largest drone attack on Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion,” DiCarlo said, adding: “This topped the previous record from the night before.”
Despite no declaration of a ceasefire, DiCarlo praised diplomatic efforts in Istanbul on May 16 when Ukrainian and Russian delegations met, saying “it is encouraging that the sides have reportedly agreed to continue the process.” Russia’s deadly invasion began in February 2022.
“The massive wave of attacks over the weekend is a stark warning of how quickly this war can reach new destructive levels. Further escalation would not only aggravate the devastating toll on civilians but also endanger the already challenging peace efforts,” DiCarlo said.
“The hope that the parties will be able to sit down and negotiate is still alive, but just barely,” DiCarlo said.
It comes as Donald Trump has appeared to give Vladimir Putin a hard deadline for ending the war in Ukraine — as the Kremlin revealed on Thursday the Russian leader has no plans to talk with the US President.
“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 bit differently, but it will take about a week and a half to two weeks,” President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
Asked whether Mr Putin wanted to end the war, Mr Trump said, “I can’t tell you that, but I’ll let you know in about two weeks.”
Mr Trump — who earlier warned that Mr Putin was “playing with fire” by refusing to engage in ceasefire talks — added that he was “very disappointed” with Moscow’s recent barrage of missile and drone attacks.
“When I see rockets being shot into cities, that’s no good. We aren’t going to allow it,” he said.
Still, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that Mr Putin has no plans to speak to Mr Trump as Russian forces continued to make gains on the battlefield.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had captured three more villages in eastern Ukraine on Thursday.
PUTIN’S CHECKLIST FOR PEACE
Vladimir Putin’s non-negotiable sticking points have been revealed as Russia and Ukraine grapple with calling a truce.
Russian sources told Reuters Mr Putin wants Western leaders to provide him with a written guarantee they will stop enlarging NATO boundaries eastwards and agree to lift sanctions on Russia.
This means Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova and other former Soviet republics would not be permitted entry to NATO.
“Putin is ready to make peace but not at any price,” the source told Reuters.
Mr Putin also wants the West to unfreeze Russian assets and create an agreement that would protect Russian language speakers who live in Ukraine.
FORMER RUSSIAN PRESIDENT’S WARNING TO TRUMP
Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev has issued a warning to Donald Trump after the US President accused Vladimir Putin of “playing with fire”.
Mr Trump, writing on his Truth Social platform, said: “What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realise is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!”
The remark sparked a response from Mr Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and one of Mr Putin’s most outspoken allies.
Posting on X, he said: “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!”
The Kremlin earlier said Mr Trump’s criticism of Vladimir Putin will not affect plans for a US-Russia prisoner exchange that the two presidents discussed in a call last week.
Mr Trump also called Putin “crazy” over the weekend after Russia pummelled Ukraine with its largest drone attack since the start of its full-scale offensive, launched in February 2022.
The Kremlin downplayed the spat when asked whether the US leader’s comments could disrupt plans for a nine-for-nine prisoner swap between Moscow and Washington.
“It is clear that the Russian and American sides should not and cannot agree on everything. There will always be certain disagreements,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“But there is political will to implement the agreements that have been reached, and the work continues. We highly value this mutual willingness,” he added.
Following a two-hour call between Mr Putin and Mr Trump last week, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said the pair had discussed “swapping nine people for nine people” – without giving any details on which prisoners.
There have been several rounds of prisoner exchanges between Washington and Moscow since Mr Trump returned to the White House in January.
TRUMP SUFFERING FROM ‘EMOTIONAL OVERLOAD’: KREMLIN
Russia has suggested Donald Trump is suffering from “emotional overload” after the US president blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin as “crazy” for his escalating attacks on Ukraine.
“We are really grateful to the Americans and to President Trump personally for their assistance in organising and launching this negotiation process,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked about Mr Trump’s earlier criticism of Mr Putin.
“Of course, at the same time, this is a very crucial moment, which is associated, of course, with the emotional overload of everyone absolutely and with emotional reactions.”
The comments come after Russia launched its largest aerial attack of the three-year war so far on Sunday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Mr Trump declared late Sunday that Mr Putin had “gone absolutely CRAZY” by unleashing its biggest bombing campaign yet, just one week after assuring that peace talks would start “immediately.”
The onslaught included 355 attack drones and nine cruise missiles, Mr Zelensky posted on X.
“I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him,” Mr Trump raged on Truth Social.
“He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever.”
Mr Trump ripped into Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, too.
“Everything out of [Zelensky’s] mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop. This is a War that would never have started if I were President. This is Zelensky’s, Putin’s, and Biden’s War, not ‘Trump’s,’ I am only helping to put out the big and ugly fires, that have been started through Gross Incompetence and Hatred,” he said.
RUSSIA, UKRAINE COMPLETE RECORD PRISONER SWAP
Russia says it has exchanged another 303 Ukrainian prisoners of war for the same number of Russian soldiers held by Kyiv.
The move is the last phase of the largest-ever such swap between the warring countries.
“In accordance with the Russian-Ukrainian agreements reached in Istanbul on May 16, the Russian and Ukrainian sides have (over the weekend) carried out the exchange of 1000 people for 1000 people,” Russia’s defence ministry said, amid international pressure for a ceasefire.
The swap came just hours after Russian strikes killed at least 12 people in Ukraine overnight into Sunday, officials said, as Kyiv and Moscow traded fire.
Ukraine’s emergency services described a night of “terror” as Russia launched a second straight night of major air strikes on Ukraine, including on the capital Kyiv, after pummelling the country with ballistic missiles and drones the previous night.
The death toll from the latest Russian strikes included three children ages eight, 12 and 17, killed in the northwestern region of Zhytomyr, officials said.
Ukraine’s military said early Sunday it had shot down 45 Russian missiles and 266 attack drones overnight.
Four people were also reported dead in the western Khmelnytskyi region, four in the Kyiv region and one in Mykolaiv in the south.
Emergency services said four people were killed and 16 injured in the Kyiv region, including three children, in the “massive night attack”.
Explosions were heard in Kyiv, with Tymur Tkachenko, with the head of the city’s military administration, warning “the night will not be easy”.
The capital was “under attack” but “air defences are operating”, said Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
– with AFP
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Originally published as Ukraine war: Russia fails to produce memorandum as UK, France, Germany join peace talks
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