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Vladimir Putin will expand his war in Ukraine by attacking another European country, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has predicted, and accused Russia of recent drone incursions that he said were an attempt to test Nato’s defences.Speaking in Kyiv after his meeting with Donald Trump at the UN in New York, the Ukrainian president said Russia was preparing for a bigger conflict. “Putin will not wait to finish his war in Ukraine. He will open up some other direction. Nobody knows where. He wants that,” he said. Ukraine’s president said the Kremlin was deliberately checking Europe’s capacity to protect its skies, after drone...

A Russian aerial bombardment that lasted more than 12 hours has killed at least four people and injured at least 70 others in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the deaths all occurred in the capital, Kyiv, where many of the projectiles were aimed, and the victims included a 12-year-old girl. The barrage - involving nearly 600 drones and several dozen missiles aimed at seven regions of Ukraine - is one of the heaviest in recent months. Zelensky warned that Ukraine would retaliate and said the "vile" attack showed Moscow "wants to continue fighting and killing". Russia said it struck military...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed Wednesday that he is “ready” to leave office once Russia’s bloody invasion of his country comes to an end. “If we finish [the] war with [the] Russians, I’m ready not to go for the second term because it’s not my goal — elections,” Zelensky told Axios in a wide-ranging interview. “I wanted very much in a very difficult period of time to be with my country, help my country. My goal is to finish the war.” Zelensky, 47, was elected to a five-year term as president in April 2019. The election scheduled for March 2024...

After three and a half years, President Vladimir Putin is having to lean more and more on ordinary Russians to pay for his war in Ukraine. The Russian Finance Ministry on Wednesday said it intends to raise value added tax by two percentage points to 22 percent, part of a three-year plan that aims to plug a rapidly expanding hole in public finances. VAT accounted for more than 15 percent of total government revenue last year. After raising personal income taxes sharply at the start of the year, Putin had pledged there would be no more big changes to the...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview published on Thursday that he would be ready to step down after the war with Russia is over. “If we finish the war with the Russians, yes, I am ready not to go [for elections] because it’s not my goal, elections,” Zelensky told the Axios website in a video interview. “I wanted very much, in a very difficult period of time, to be with my country, help my country. My goal is to finish the war.” Zelensky said he would ask Ukraine’s parliament to organise elections if a ceasefire was reached. A...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised his "productive meeting" with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, after which Trump appeared to jettison his long-held skepticism of Kyiv's battlefield ambitions. Shortly after the meeting, Trump wrote on social media, "After getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia Military and Economic situation and, after seeing the Economic trouble it is causing Russia, I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form." (snip) But on Tuesday, the...

US President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York after blasting world leaders during his speech. Speaking to reporters before the bilateral talks, Trump hailed Zelenskyy as a courageous leader. "He’s a brave man, and he’s putting up one hell of a fight," Trump said. "We have about 30 meetings scheduled today, but this is an important one -- and we have great respect for the fight that Ukraine is putting up. It is pretty amazing."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Fox News anchor Bret Baier in an exclusive interview with "Special Report" that his relationship with President Donald Trump has grown closer, with more frequent communication and stronger alignment on how to handle the ongoing war with Russia. Asked directly by Baier if his ties with Trump had improved, Zelenskyy said, "I think we have better relations than before. It’s good that we have often [had] phone calls and meetings, and the fact that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin was lying to President Trump so many times also made a difference between us." Zelenskyy also said...

U.S. President Donald Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky are scheduled to meet face-to-face on Sept. 23 in New York, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced during a press briefing. The meeting will take place on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly, which is expected to bring together leaders from nearly 150 countries. In addition to his meeting with Zelensky, Trump will hold bilateral talks with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Argentine President Javier Milei, and senior European Union officials. The U.S. president is also set to convene a multilateral summit with leaders from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia,...

Polish defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz has rejected a suggestion by Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky that Poland would not be able to protect its population from a mass Russian drone attack. He called the remarks “unnecessary and untrue”. During an interview this week with British broadcaster Sky, Zelensky was asked about drone defences in his own country and in Poland, which last week saw its airspace violated by around 20 Russian drones. He noted that, during one recent attack, Ukraine had faced 810 Russian drones and had shot down over 700 of them. By contrast, Poland “had I think 19 drones...

He finally accepts the impossibility of restoring Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders. Zelensky recently told ABC News that “Victory, to my mind, Putin's goal is to occupy Ukraine, this is to destroy us, occupy, and did he occupy it?...He didn't occupy us, we win, and I think so, because we have our country.” This is a far cry from the mantra that he’s chanted almost daily for the past 3,5 years since the special operation began about restoring his country’s pre-2014 borders. Quite clearly, he’s hinting that he’ll accept an end to the conflict that doesn’t achieve that aim, thus going with...

Russian leader says Trump asked him to meet with Zelenskyy at August meeting in Alaska…..

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected proposals for a buffer zone between Ukrainian and Russian forces as part of a peace deal, arguing it does not reflect the realities of modern warfare. "Only those who do not understand the technological state of today's war propose a buffer zone," he told reporters on Friday. His comments followed a report suggesting European leaders were considering a 40km (25-mile) buffer zone as part of either a ceasefire or longer-term agreement. The war in Ukraine has evolved into a conflict driven by drone technology, and Zelensky suggested a buffer zone of sorts already existed...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on 25 August that Kiev plans to secure at least $1 billion monthly from European nations to purchase US weapons to continue his war against Russia. Zelensky made the comment while speaking alongside Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store during a press conference in Kiev on Monday…

On Sunday, August 24th, Ukraine’s Independence Day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that the existence of the Druzhba (Friendship) oil pipeline, just like the political friendship between Ukraine and Hungary, is now directly tied to Budapest’s position.During a press conference, a journalist asked if after the strikes on the Druzhba oil pipeline and appeals to U.S. President Donald Trump Ukraine had gained additional leverage over Hungary, especially in terms of the lifting of Budapest’s veto on opening EU accession negotiation clusters.Zelenskyy responded by saying that Ukraine has always supported friendship between the two countries, but its further existence now depends...

Russian leader Vladimir Putin cannot not sign a peace deal with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky because Moscow views him as “illegitimate,” Moscow’s top diplomat said Sunday. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made the declaration in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” suggesting that Putin will not be able to make an agreement with him. Lavrov also threw up yet another roadblock to direct talks between Putin and Zelensky, saying that Russia has an “agenda” in mind that must to be agreed before the two sides can sit down together. “There is no meeting planned,” Lavrov told NBC’s “Meet the...

Kyiv will not give up land that Moscow troops aren’t occupying as part of any peace deal, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demands. Speaking ahead of his meeting with President Trump on Monday, Zelensky told reporters in Brussels that while Kyiv would be open to “land swaps” in exchange for peace, Putin’s demands to cede the entirety of the Donetsk region — including parts under Ukrainian control — is off the table. “We need real negotiations, which means they can start where the front line is now,” Zelensky said. “The contact line is...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for his "heartfelt congratulations" on the country's independence day, as Washington presses on with its efforts to broker a deal to end three and a half years of war in Ukraine.

US President Donald Trump joined other world leaders in sending messages of support to Ukraine on Sunday as it celebrates Independence Day at a time when there is little hope for peace despite intense diplomatic efforts. Trump sent a letter to Ukraine on the country’s 34th Independence Day – which marks the anniversary of declaring itself free of Soviet rule – praising its courage and saying the United States believes in its future as an independent state. -snip- In the letter, Trump wrote: “The people of Ukraine have an unbreakable spirit, and your county’s courage inspires many. As you mark...

Ukraine's President Volodymr Zelensky has accused Russia of "doing everything it can" to prevent a meeting with Vladimir Putin to try to end the war.US President Donald Trump has sought to bring the two leaders together, but he said on Friday "that's like oil and vinegar... they don't get along too well".Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Putin was ready to meet Ukraine's leader "when the agenda is ready for a summit, and this agenda is not ready at all", accusing Zelensky of saying "no to everything". After an intensive week of diplomacy, in which Trump first met Putin in...