Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kremlin dismisses new peace plan after Trump’s envoy calls talks constructive

The talks between Ukraine and the US have centred on Kyiv’s insistence that it needs security guarantees to end the war.

Ukraine also says it will not and legally cannot give up territory seized by Russia.

Moscow has shown no signs of backing down from its demands, however.

Russia opposes Europe putting boots on the ground to uphold peace in Ukraine when the war ends. That makes it tricky for Europe to offer tangible security guarantees.

Russia has gone into talks this week publicly refusing to budge on claims to the Donbas, Crimea and land in the south.

The two sides are stuck in gridlock with Trump pressuring Kyiv to give up land for a peace deal, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Ukraine’s leverage comes from Europe, which continues to offer funding and work on ‘security guarantees’.

The Ukrainian army said it was battling an attempted Russian breakthrough in the Sumy region after Moscow claimed to have forcibly removed 50 people from a border village.

“Fighting is currently ongoing in the village of Grabovske,” Ukraine’s joint taskforce said and said their troops were “making efforts to drive the occupiers back into Russian territory”.

Russian forces have crossed the border with Ukraine in the northeastern Sumy region and taken about 50 residents of a Ukrainian border village into Russia, Ukrainian media quoted the military as saying yesterday.

Most of the local residents captured from the village were elderly people, the media said.

Ukraine’s public broadcaster Suspilne and the Ukrainska Pravda news outlet said Russian forces entered Ukrainian territory on Saturday night in the area of the village of Hrabovske.

Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy official has accused Europe and Ukraine of prolonging the conflict with their proposals.

“I am sure that the proposals that the Europeans and Ukrainians have made or are trying to make definitely do not improve the document and do not improve the possibility of achieving long-term peace,” Yuri Ushakov said.

The senior Kremlin official said he had not seen the exact proposals and that his criticism was “not a forecast”.

He also denied that trilateral talks involving Ukraine, Russia and the US were under discussion, after Zelensky said Washington had proposed the idea of three-way discussions.

“At present, no one has seriously discussed this initiative, and to my knowledge it is not being prepared,” he said.

At least two vessels and two piers were damaged as a result of a Ukrainian drone attack in Russia’s Krasnodar region, authorities in the southern Russia region said today.

All crew on the ships at the Volna terminal in the region have been safely evacuated, the Krasnodar region’s operational headquarters said on the Telegram messaging app. The damage led to a fire spreading across up to 1,500 square metres (1,794 square yards), the authorities added.

Aiden Aslin, a British volunteer who joined Ukraine’s marines, was captured and tortured by Putin’s forces in 2022 and is now back fighting the Kremlin. He tells his story to the ‘World of Trouble’ podcast with world affairs editor Sam Kiley in eastern Ukraine:

Swedish authorities boarded a sanctioned Russian freighter that anchored in Swedish waters with engine problems overnight, the country’s customs service said on Sunday.

Sweden carried out an inspection of the cargo aboard the Adler, which is subject to both EU and US sanctions. Authorities declined to say what they found on board the ship.

The owners are also on the EU’s sanctions list, a spokesperson for the customs authority said.

Ukraine’s president Zelensky said that Russia had launched approximately 2,500 aerial attacks against Ukraine in the last week alone.

These included 1,300 attack drones, nearly 1,200 guided aerial bombs, and 9 missiles of various types, he said.

France is contemplating how to restart dialogue with Russia after Putin said he was open to talking to president Emmanuel Macron.

“It is welcome that the Kremlin has given its public approval to this approach. We will decide in the coming days on the best way to proceed,” the Elysée Palace said on Sunday.

The shift in diplomacy comes just two days after Macron suggested Europe would have to step up and talk directly to Putin if US talks fail.

The latest round of talks to end the war have been ongoing since November, but clear sticking points remain around territory and security guarantees.

The talks between Ukraine and the US have centred on Kyiv’s insistence that it needs security guarantees to end the war.

Ukraine also says it will not and legally cannot give up territory seized by Russia.

Moscow has shown no signs of backing down from its demands, however.

Russia opposes Europe putting boots on the ground to uphold peace in Ukraine when the war ends. That makes it tricky for Europe to offer tangible security guarantees.

Russia has gone into talks this week publicly refusing to budge on claims to the Donbas, Crimea and land in the south.

The two sides are stuck in gridlock with Trump pressuring Kyiv to give up land for a peace deal, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Ukraine’s leverage comes from Europe, which continues to offer funding and work on ‘security guarantees’.