Ukraine-Russia war latest: US to host Kyiv team for minerals deal talks while Trump demands Putin stop bombing
Trump doesn’t ‘like the bombing’ and has called on Moscow to stop, after 20 were killed in a devastating strike on Kryvyi Rih
A Ukrainian team will visit Washington this week for crunch talks on a minerals deal, the first visit since the deal collapsed in dramatic fashion five weeks ago.
Volodymyr Zelensky was set to sign a framework agreement in late February before he was booted out of the White House, when a furious Donald Trump berated the Ukrainian president for not being thankful enough for US war assistance.
Since then, teams from Kyiv and Washington have been working to hash out a revised agreement - and to rebuild a broken relationship.
Washington has proposed a more expansive minerals deal which could give it access to valuable mineral resources, including titanium, lithium, and uranium, according to economy minister Yuliia Svyrydenko.
But the deal has not yet been agreed by Ukraine and it is unclear exactly how close the two sides are to reaching an agreement.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump has urged Russia to stop bombing Ukraine, after a ballistic missile strike in Kryvyi Rih killed 20, including nine children.,
“We are talking to Russia. We would like them to stop,” Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One. “I don’t like the bombing, the bombing goes on and on, and every week thousands of young people being killed.”
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Why did Russia escape Trump’s tariffs?
Thousands of Ukrainian civilians are still held by Russia with uncertain hope of release
Russian railway tracks damaged in Ukrainian strike
A Ukrainian drone damaged Russian railway tracks in the southwest Krasnodar region, local authorities said on Monday.
"There were no casualties, and no fire occurred," the administration of the region said on Telegram.
Russia's defence ministry earlier reported that its air defences shot down19 Ukrainian drones overnight, four of which were over the Krasnodar region.
Ukraine labels Russian claims of capturing village in Sumy 'disinformation’
Russia claimed it had captured the village of Basivka in Ukraine’s Sumy oblast in March this year, but Ukrainian officials have now denied the report, calling it part of a “disinformation campaign”.
While Moscow said the move could disrupt Ukrainian supply lines, Kyiv confirmed ongoing border clashes but insisted its forces were repelling Russian assault groups.
“Russia continues its disinformation campaign regarding the seizure of settlements in Sumy Oblast or the breakthrough of the border,” border guard spokesperson Andrii Demchenko told Ukrainian Pravda.
Ukraine will send a team to the US next week for talks on a new draft mineral deal
Ukraine will send a team to Washington next week to begin negotiations on a new draft of a deal that would give the U.S. access to Ukraine’s valuable mineral resources, Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko told The Associated Press.
“The new draft agreement from the U.S. shows that the intention to create a fund or jointly invest remains,” Svyrydenko said Saturday, during a trip to northern Ukraine.
The delegation from Kyiv will include representatives from the Ministries of Economy, Foreign Affairs, Justice and Finance.
Full report here:
Ukraine will send a team to the US next week for talks on a new draft mineral deal
Why did Russia escape Trump’s tariffs?
Almost no countries were spared from President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs; even small, uninhabited islands in the Indian Ocean were included in the exhaustive list. But one country was notably missing: Russia.
One of the United States’ largest adversaries was omitted from the list of countries slapped with even the 10 percent baseline tariff – a move that raised some eyebrows given Trump’s previously friendly relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But other countries, including the uninhabited Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, which have a population of 59 and Svalbard and Jan Mayen, islands in the Arctic Circle with approximately 2,000 people, were hit with tariffs.
Ariana Baio writes:
Why did Russia escape Trump’s tariffs?
Russia showing 'complete disrespect' towards peace talks, says EU
Russia is showing “complete disrespect” for the peace talks regarding Ukraine, a European Commission spokesperson has said.
After Moscow’s forces continue to launch attacks on Ukraine - killing dozens of civilians in the past few days - spokesperson Anitta Hipper condemned Russia’s apparent lack of interest in peace.
"Now, when it comes to the actions that Russia is showing every day, including with the recent attacks that have killed at least 20 civilians, and as you said, 9 children included, Russia is showing a total disrespect for the talks. And it shows every day that it has zero interest to pursue this," Mr Hipper said according to European Pravda.
She said it is important "to ensure that we have a ceasefire, that we have just a long-lasting and comprehensive peace".
"But we cannot be naïve when we deal with Putin and when we see his murderous attacks on a daily basis," she added.
Russia must 'dance the tango' with Ukraine to reach peace - Rutte
Moscow must “dance the tango” with Ukraine if peace is to be achieved in the war-torn country, Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte has said.
In an interview with CBS News, Mr Rutte acknowledged that the US is "trying, step-by-step, to get to a situation where this war can end".
He added: "But of course, the Russians also have to dance the tango, and at this moment they don't seem to do so, and then it will be difficult.
The ball is “clearly” in the Russians’ court he said, adding: “They are not moving fast enough, is my impression, including the impression I'm getting from my American interlocutors, that Russia really has to do more to bring this war to an end.”
At least seven injured in Russian attacks over past day
At least seven people were injured by Russian attacks on Ukraine over the past day, according to regional authorities.
Russia’s missile and drone attacks have continued across Ukraine, drawing criticism from the Kyiv and its allies - including US president Donald Trump who has demanded Moscow end the violence.
A pregnant womtn and child were wounded by Russian shelling in Kherson and two pensioners were injured by a Russian attack in Kharkiv, the governors of both regions reported.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, a Russian attack wounded three civilians including a man, 62, and two women aged 23 and 57, governor Serhii Lysak said.
On the ground | The illegal party drug helping Ukraine’s traumatised soldiers live again
Katya’s brain was swollen. She had been blown up so many times she had hernias on her spine. Her whole skeleton was twisted and distorted after being thrown about like a doll.
She often stuttered. She had an explosive temper after years as a special forces medic. But things got better when she went to “Valhalla”.
She didn’t take the usual route to the Viking Hall of Heroes, where she undoubtedly belongs, by being killed on a Ukrainian battlefield. Instead she hitched a hallucinogenic ride.
On ketamine.
World affairs editor Sam Kiley writes:
The illegal party drug helping Ukraine’s traumatised soldiers live again
Kremlin says Russia needs answers before a ceasefire. What are Moscow's questions?
The Kremlin said earlier on Monday that there can be no ceasefire until Russia’s questions have been answered.
Kyiv and its allies have accused Moscow of deliberately delaying a ceasefire without any genuinely reason, as it looks to seize more territory before sitting around the negotiation table.
"President Putin does support the idea of the need for a ceasefire, but before that a number of questions must be answered," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters earlier today.
"These questions are still hanging in the air; so far no one has given an answer to them."
Exactly what the questions consist of is not entirely clear, but Vladimir Putin has previously said that any peace agreement must address what Moscow sees as the root causes of the conflict: essentially a tug of war between Russia and the West over Ukraine's future and the post-Soviet enlargement of NATO towards Russia's borders.
He also said the ceasefire would have to ensure that Ukraine did not simply use it to regroup, and that key questions about verification of a truce would need to be clarified.
The Kremlin on Monday laid the blame for the lack of answers on Kyiv which it said was unable to control a number of its "extremist and nationalist units".
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