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President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he considered visits by US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Moscow but not Kyiv "disrespectful". The pair visited the Russian capital late last year as ceasefire talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine gained pace, and again in January. Witkoff, who has been to Moscow eight times, met Vladimir Putin on many occasions. Neither he nor Kushner, however, has ever visited Kyiv in an official capacity. "It's disrespectful [for them] to come to Moscow and not Kyiv, it's just disrespectful," Zelensky said in an interview with a Ukrainian outlet. "I understand we...

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted the war in Iran has taken the focus away from Russia’s aggression against his country, telling CNN it was a “big risk” to think that efforts to end the fighting in Ukraine can’t restart until the conflict in Iran ends. Speaking to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour from the presidential office in Kyiv, Zelensky said Wednesday that while technical talks with the United States are still happening, he doesn’t “see the opportunity to meet … until the question, the case of Iran will be closed.” Zelensky pointed out that it was a “challenge” that the same team...

Europe must have its own defense system against ballistic weapons, and Ukraine is already ‌holding talks with several countries on its creation, ‌Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday. Defense against ballistic missiles is one of ​Ukraine's biggest challenges in the war with Russia, since only certain types of missiles used by the American Patriot system are capable of intercepting Russian ballistic missiles. Russia uses ballistic missiles to ‌attack Ukraine's energy ⁠infrastructure, destroying thermal power generation and electricity transmission systems. "I believe, and my idea is that we ⁠should have a European anti-ballistic missile defense system. We are in talks...

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned a US decision to extend the period during which Russia is allowed to sell oil despite Western sanctions. The move means countries can purchase Russian oil and petroleum products already loaded on vessels at sea until 16 May. The US argues that the waiver is meant to ease the energy supply crunch sparked by the US-Israel war with Iran. But in his remarks on Sunday, Zelensky said "every dollar paid for Russian oil is money for the war" in Ukraine. Widespread sanctions have been in place against Russia since President Vladimir Putin launched his...

Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed the UK must rejoin the EU if the US leaves NATO, as US President Donald Trump has threatened to pull away if the pact does not support his Middle East war. Trump, a fierce critic of the defence bloc, has been left unimpressed by fellow members and their refusal to get involved in his war with Iran. The Ukrainian leader said that in order to bolster Europe's defence against Russia, the UK ought to reset relations with the continent. Zelensky said on Friday: 'If the United States truly thinks about withdrawing from NATO, then European security...

U.S.-mediated peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have not reached a dead end, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on March 30 in response to a question from the Kyiv Independent, arguing that negotiations are merely postponed. The comments come as diplomacy appears stalled, with the U.S. now focused on the war in Iran and no new Kyiv-Moscow-Washington talks scheduled. Despite the pause, Zelensky sought to project momentum, even as fundamental disagreements — particularly over territory — remain unresolved. "The trilateral meeting must take place; it is undoubtedly being postponed because the U.S. is currently focused on Iran," Zelensky said about a...

In an interview with NBC News’ Raf Sanchez, President Zelenskyy says that he hopes President Trump cares about the future of Ukraine, but “they care about the United States more.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on March 27 that President Volodymyr Zelensky's claims about Ukraine withdrawing from the Donbas region in exchange for security guarantees are untrue. "That's a lie. And I saw him say that, and it's unfortunate he would say that, because he knows that's not true and that's not what he was told," Rubio told reporters. "What he was told is the obvious: Security guarantees are not going to kick in until there's an end to the war, because otherwise you're in — you're getting yourself involved in the war." In an interview with Reuters...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise visit to Saudi Arabia on Thursday amid a wider effort to lend Ukraine’s drone defense expertise to the U.S. and Gulf States. Zelensky had offered his country’s expertise in defense against kamikaze drone attacks, cultivated in its grinding war against Russia, just days after the war began. These promised personnel arrived in the Middle East recently, with Zelensky saying last week that 201 personnel had been deployed, and another 34 were on their way. Drones were at the top of the agenda of Zelensky’s visit. In a post on X, he stated that...

Ukraine should not hold elections this year, officials from the country’s electoral commission have concluded, setting Kyiv on a collision course with the United States. Members of the official working group on elections were due to present draft legislation to parliament late last month, but told The Times they had yet to resolve key questions on how to secure fair elections free from Russian attacks or interference. They plan to continue deliberating on the issue until at least the end of May. The group has agreed, however, that Ukraine should only enter a campaign period at least six months after...

Volodymyr Zelensky today appeared to tacitly attack Donald Trump for easing sanctions on Russian oil to cut prices hammered by his attack on Iran. The Ukrainian president used a speech in Parliament to thank the UK for keeping up pressure on 'wealthy madman' Vladimir Putin despite fresh fighting in the Middle East. Last week Trump signed a one-month sanction waiver allowing countries to buy Russian oil currently floating around in tankers unable to dock anywhere. It was designed to ease prices that spiked when Iran put a block on shipping transiting the Straits of Hormuz off its south coast. In...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged Donald Trump and Sir Keir Starmer to meet and find common ground, after the US president's repeated criticism of the UK prime minister. In an exclusive interview with the BBC after talks with Sir Keir, the Ukrainian president said that while he would not tell Trump what to do, the pair should meet to "re-load the relationship". A war ignited by US and Israeli strikes on Iran has spilled into a diplomatic row after Trump's reprimanding of the Nato allies and Starmer's supposed lack of military action. Zelensky warned against division among western leaders...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused European allies of seeking to "blackmail" Kyiv into reopening a pipeline transporting Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia. He said restoring the flow of Russian crude oil through Ukraine into the European Union (EU) would be like lifting economic sanctions on Moscow. Ukraine says the Soviet-era Druzhba oil pipeline was damaged by Russian air strikes in January and has yet to be repaired. Hungary depends on Russian energy and is blocking both fresh EU sanctions on Moscow and a vital €90bn ($103bn; £78bn) loan for Kyiv until the pipeline is reopened. The EU has...

Robert Fico 🇸🇰@RobertFicoSVKREACTION OF THE PRIME MINISTER OF THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC, ROBERT FICO, TO THE BLACKMAILING BEHAVIOR OF UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT ZELENSKYYI express full solidarity with the Prime Minister of Hungary, @PM_ViktorOrban. If the Ukrainian president continues like this, it may happen that other EU member states will also block the 90-billion loan for Ukraine.And I officially ask all the highest representatives of the European Union and I will be very specific: 👉🏻 the President of the European Commission, @vonderleyen👉🏻 the President of the European Council, @eucopresident👉🏻 and also the so-called EU foreign affairs chief, @kajakallas☝🏻 to distance themselves from these...

March 1 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that the changes in Iran ‌brought about by U.S. and Israeli strikes ‌should be "used properly" to benefit the country's people who had ​withstood violence from their authorities. Zelenskiy, speaking in his nightly video address, said Iran's authorities had killed "tens of thousands of people in the last couple of ‌months alone," referring ⁠to a crackdown on protests. Iran, he said, had "predetermined the way it is treated" ⁠by supplying attack drones to Russia in Moscow's four-year-old conflict in Ukraine and had also "fomented wars ​in the ​region." "It...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a plea to Donald Trump on Monday, telling CNN he wants the US president “to stay on our side.” Speaking at the Presidential Palace in Kyiv on the eve of the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Zelensky said the United States is far too big and too important to walk away from the conflict. And he hopes that Trump, during his State of the Union address Tuesday, will back Ukraine as it fights back against the Russia of President Vladimir Putin. “They have to stay with … a democratic country which is...

During a Friday appearance before the press on the White House lawn, President Donald Trump warned that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “is gonna have to get moving, otherwise he’s gonna miss a great opportunity” because “Russia wants to make a deal.”Responding to a reporter who questioned whether the president will still “demand” that Zelensky “hold elections before summer,” Trump said, “Well, Zelensky is gonna have to get moving. Russia wants to make a deal, and Zelensky’s gonna have to get moving, otherwise he’s gonna miss a great opportunity. He has to move.”Late on Wednesday, Zelensky told reporters that he has...

Around 55,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday. The first day of US-brokered Ukraine-Russia talks in Abu Dhabi were "substantive and productive", top Ukrainian negotiator ⁠Rustem Umerov said Wednesday, without providing details. Follow our liveblog for the latest updates.

“Zelensky is mentioned in one of the published emails, which dates back to 2024. The identities of both the author and the recipient are concealed. The letter claims that Zelensky is involved in trafficking women and children from Ukraine and suggests that he may have been associated with modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel. The latter was charged in France in 2020 with raping minors and committed suicide in his cell before the court's decision.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has arrived in Kyiv and meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "Maidan Nezalezhnosti. The People’s Memorial of National Remembrance," Zelenskyy wrote Tuesday on X. "A memorial honoring our heroes, warriors, our people who defended Ukraine against the enemy, fought, and made the ultimate sacrifice in this war. Together with @SecGenNATO Mark Rutte, we honored the memory of fallen Ukrainian defenders today. Eternal honor to our warriors. "Eternal gratitude for their sacrifice and for defending the country. It is our duty to preserve the memory of our fallen heroes." Rutte's visit comes after Russia attacked Ukraine...