logo
Russia strikes Ukraine after Kyiv offers fresh talks

Russia strikes Ukraine after Kyiv offers fresh talks

New Straits Times10 hours ago
KYIV: Russia fired a volley of drones and missiles at Ukraine early on Monday, hitting apartment blocks and a nursery in Kyiv, days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed holding a fresh round of peace talks.
Moscow has not responded to Zelenskyy's call for new negotiations this week or an ultimatum by US President Donald Trump to make progress on a peace deal or face massive sanctions.
Two people were killed across the country, Zelenskyy said. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot arrived in the capital, Kyiv, while rescuers were still sifting through the rubble.
Zelenskyy condemned the strikes as an "assault on humanity" and said at least 15 other people had been wounded in the attacks, including a 12-year-old boy.
Efforts to reach a diplomatic solution to the three-year war have stalled in recent weeks.
The two sides last met for direct negotiations more than a month ago in Istanbul.
They did not make any progress towards a ceasefire, instead agreeing to a series of prisoner exchanges.
Six districts of Kyiv came under attack on Monday, sparking fires at a supermarket, multiple residential buildings and a nursery, authorities said.
An AFP reporter saw damage to multiple buildings, as well as debris and shattered glass on streets.
Russia launched 450 drones and missiles in total, according to Ukraine's air force.
The strikes also caused damage in the western region of Ivano-Frankivsk and the eastern regions of Kharkiv and Sumy, according to Zelenskyy.
Meanwhile, travel chaos that began during the weekend continued in Russia, as Kyiv targeted Moscow with drones;
The attacks forced Vnukovo airport – a transport hub for the Russian government – to briefly suspend flights.
An entryway to the Lukyanivka metro station in Kyiv was also damaged by the overnight strikes. French foreign minister Barrot condemned the attacks during a visit to the station.
"The shelters themselves are no longer entirely safe, as the metro station behind me, which is being used as a shelter for the people of Kyiv, has been targeted," he said.
"This comes even as President Zelenskyy's statement on Saturday morning, that showed Ukraine's willingness to enter into new negotiations with Russia," he added.
The European Union agreed on Friday an 18th package of sanctions on Moscow that targeted Russian banks and lowered a price cap on oil exports.
Barrot said the sanctions were aimed at increasing the cost of war for Russia to pressure President Vladimir Putin into negotiations.
The Kremlin said this month it was ready to continue talks with Ukraine after Trump gave Russia 50 days to strike a peace deal or face sanctions.
At talks last month, Russia outlined a list of demands, including calls for Ukraine to cede more territory and to reject all forms of Western military support.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

UK, 24 allies urge immediate end to Gaza war
UK, 24 allies urge immediate end to Gaza war

New Straits Times

time2 hours ago

  • New Straits Times

UK, 24 allies urge immediate end to Gaza war

LONDON: Britain and 24 Western allies, including Australia, Canada, France and Italy, declared on Monday that the war in Gaza "must end now", arguing that civilians' suffering had "reached new depths." "We urge the parties and the international community to unite in a common effort to bring this terrible conflict to an end, through an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire," the grouping added in a joint statement. "Further bloodshed serves no purpose. We reaffirm our complete support to the efforts of the US, Qatar and Egypt to achieve this." The signatories – which also included Japan, several EU countries, Switzerland and New Zealand – added they were "prepared to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire." The wide-ranging statement branded the controversial Israeli-supported relief effort in Gaza as "dangerous" and said it deprives Gazans of "human dignity." "We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food," the statement said. "The Israeli government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable," it added, urging Israel to "comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law." The statement called for the Israeli government "to immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and to urgently enable the UN and humanitarian NGOs to do their life saving work safely and effectively." The UN said last week that it had recorded 875 people who had been killed in Gaza while trying to get food via the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). It has replaced UN agencies as the main distributor of aid in the territory. The 25-nation statement also condemned the continued detention of hostages in Gaza by Hamas, demanding "their immediate and unconditional release" and noting a negotiated ceasefire "offers the best hope of bringing them home." Meanwhile, the signatories said they "strongly oppose any steps towards territorial or demographic change in the Occupied Palestinian Territories" and said an Israeli plan to shift Palestinians into a so-called "humanitarian city" was unacceptable. "Permanent forced displacement is a violation of international humanitarian law," they warned.

Ukraine conducts widespread searches, arrests of anti-corruption officials
Ukraine conducts widespread searches, arrests of anti-corruption officials

The Star

time2 hours ago

  • The Star

Ukraine conducts widespread searches, arrests of anti-corruption officials

KYIV (Reuters) -Ukrainian security services arrested officials from the country's main anti-corruption agency on Monday and conducted dozens of searches, in a crackdown that the agency said went too far and had effectively shut down its entire mission. The SBU security body said it had arrested one official at the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine as a suspected Russian spy and another over suspected business ties to Russia. Other NABU officials had ties to a fugitive Ukrainian politician's banned party, the SBU said. But NABU, which has embarrassed senior government officials with corruption allegations, said the crackdown went beyond state security issues to cover unrelated allegations such as years-old traffic accidents. Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International said the searches showed that the authorities were exerting "massive pressure" on Ukraine's corruption fighters. NABU said at least 70 searches had been conducted by various Ukrainian law enforcement and security agencies in connection with 15 of its employees, and that these had taken place without the approval of a court. "In the vast majority of cases, the grounds for these actions are the involvement of individuals in road traffic accidents," the statement said, although it also added that some of the cases were about links to Russia. Although the risk of Russian infiltration "remained relevant," this could not be a justification to "halt the work of the entire institution", NABU said in a statement. 'PRESSURE' Anti-corruption campaigners have been alarmed since Vitaliy Shabunin, a top anti-corruption activist, was charged earlier this month with fraud and evading military service. Shabunin and his allies have cast those charges as politically motivated retribution from President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office for exposing corrupt officials. On Monday, Shabunin condemned the searches of NABU personnel. Zelenskiy's office denies that prosecutions in Ukraine are politically motivated. The SBU said it had arrested a mole working for Russian intelligence inside NABU, who had passed information to his handler on at least 60 occasions. Separately, it had detained a senior NABU detective on suspicion of acting as an intermediary in his father's sales of industrial hemp to Russia. A third SBU statement said some senior NABU officials had ties to lawmaker Fedir Khrystenko, believed to have fled Ukraine after the Russian invasion in 2022. A separate law enforcement body, the State Bureau of Investigations, said it had served suspicion notices to three NABU employees for road accidents that had resulted in injuries. NABU said the road traffic accident cases were between two and four years old. Transparency International said conducting the searches without court orders "demonstrates the massive nature of the pressure by the SBU and (Prosecutor General's Office) on anti-corruption law enforcement agencies". It called on Zelenskiy to guarantee the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption bodies. (Reporting by Max HunderEditing by Peter Graff)

Russia and Ukraine edge closer to first talks in seven weeks
Russia and Ukraine edge closer to first talks in seven weeks

The Star

time2 hours ago

  • The Star

Russia and Ukraine edge closer to first talks in seven weeks

FILE PHOTO: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov waits before the talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Interim President of the Republic of Mali Assimi Goita at the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia June 23, 2025. Pavel Bednyakov/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia and Ukraine appear close to agreeing to hold a new round of peace talks in Turkey this week, although the Kremlin said on Monday that the two sides held "diametrically opposed" positions on how to end the war. Two days after Ukraine called for new talks in Istanbul this week, Russian state news agency TASS quoted an unidentified source as saying that negotiators - who have not sat down together for seven weeks - may meet there on Thursday and Friday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told a gathering of his diplomats in Kyiv: "We need greater momentum in negotiations to end the war." He added: "The agenda from our side is clear: the return of prisoners of war, the return of children abducted by Russia, and the preparation of a leaders' meeting." Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is under increasing pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to show progress towards ending the conflict, turned down a previous challenge from Zelenskiy to meet him in person. Putin has repeatedly said he does not see Zelenskiy as a legitimate leader because Ukraine, which is under martial law, did not hold new elections when his five-year mandate expired last year. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that as soon as there was a definitive understanding of the date for the next round of talks, then Moscow would announce it. "There is our draft memorandum, there is a draft memorandum that has been handed over by the Ukrainian side. There is to be an exchange of views and talks on these two drafts, which are diametrically opposed so far," Peskov said. Ukraine and Russia have held two rounds of talks in Istanbul, on May 16 and June 2, that led to the exchange of thousands of prisoners of war and the remains of dead soldiers. But the two sides have made no breakthrough towards a ceasefire or a settlement to end almost three and a half years of war. Trump said last week he would impose new sanctions in 50 days on Russia and countries that buy its exports if there is no deal before then to end the conflict. (Reporting by Dmitry Antonov in Moscow and Yuliia Dysa in Warsaw; writing by Mark Trevelyan; editing by Mark Heinrich)

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store