12 h. ago Hundreds of Ukrainian and Russian soldiers and civilians released in biggest prisoner swap of war

Russia and Ukraine had each agreed after two hours of peace talks in Istanbul last week to swap 1,000 prisoners

Events

13 h. ago Hundreds of Ukrainian and Russian soldiers released in biggest prisoner swap of war

Russia and Ukraine had each agreed after two hours of peace talks in Istanbul last week to swap 1,000 prisoners

Events

37 h. ago Trump 'told Zelensky that Ukraine and Russia will need to reach a peace deal themselves' after his bombshell phone call with Putin in clearest sign yet he is ready to walk away from ceasefire talks

US president Donald Trump has reportedly told Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders they would have to find a solution to the invasion of Ukraine themselves. 

Politics

38 h. ago ‘Every day there is shelling’: Ukrainian border town torn between hope and despair

Mayor of Bilopillya, where nine people were killed in strike on bus, says Russia has shown it does not care about talksEven before the Russian strike on a shuttle bus travelling from his frontline town at the weekend, the mayor of Bilopillya, Yuri Zarko, was very sceptical that Vladimir Putin’s agreement to direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul would lead to peace.The strike, which killed nine people including five over 60, only confirmed his conviction that talks to end the war were going nowhere and Ukraine had a challenging time ahead. Continue reading...

Politics

42 h. ago What would Russia’s peace deal demands really mean for Ukraine? – visualised

Trump on Monday again failed to persuade Putin to accept a ceasefire in Ukraine as a first step toward a peace deal. But what might a deal even look like, and what would it mean for the Ukrainian people?One of the few explicit peace proposals is a US outline reportedly seen by Reuters last month. It asks Ukraine to accept de jure recognition of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and de facto recognition of its occupation of large parts of several oblasts in the country’s east. On Monday, Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Russia is demanding Ukrainian troops abandon five oblasts as a precondition not for peace, but for a ceasefire and the opening of negotiations.Before the war, those oblasts were home to about 11 million Ukrainians. To put that into context, we visualised some broadly comparable populated areas in three European countries and one US state, in each case starting from the north-east corner. The shaded areas represent populations of about 11 million French, British, Italian ...

Economics

64 h. ago Russia’s new sanctions explained: Ukraine’s allies target Moscow as peace talks stall

Kyiv’s European allies have slapped new sanctions on Moscow, a day after a phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to produce a breakthrough on ending the 3-year-old war in Ukraine

Events

3 d. ago Zelenskyy urges more pressure on Russia after no ceasefire agreed in Trump

Ukrainian president says ‘pressure on Russia will push it toward real peace’Trump and Putin hold phone call but Kremlin refuses ceasefireEU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Tuesday called for the United States to take “strong action” against Russia if Moscow does not agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine.“America said that if Russia doesn’t agree on an unconditional ceasefire, then there are going to be consequences. So we want to see those consequences, also from the US side,” Kallas said at a meeting of EU ministers in Brussels.Putin is clearly playing for time, unfortunately we have to say Putin is not really interested in peace. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Trump’s calls with Putin are worth nothing – no matter how much the US president enjoys them

Donald Trump claims his two-hour phone call with Vladimir Putin went ‘very well’, but it is the Russian president who calls the shots, writes Sam Kiley, The Independent’s world affairs editor

Politics

3 d. ago 'Humiliated' Trump will let Putin off the hook on Ukraine to get Russia trade deal, says Ben Wallace

The Former Defence Secretary made the prediction after a two-hour phone call between the US president and Russian leader

Politics

4 d. ago Trump says Russia and Ukraine will 'immediately' begin ceasefire talks after two

Putin made no mention of an immediate ceasefire amid growing pressure from the White House

Politics

6 d. ago Kremlin cites past wars as it threatens long conflict in Ukraine

Russian peace negotiator invokes Peter the Great’s 21-year struggle to defeat Sweden, as Putin is fond of doingPeter the Great’s long war against Sweden – a grinding conflict that claimed countless Russian lives – is rarely held up as a model for modern diplomacy. Yet behind closed doors on Friday, during the first direct peace talks with Ukraine in three years, Russia’s lead negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, cited it as an explicit warning: Moscow was prepared to fight for as long as it took.Just like when Russian troops rolled into Ukraine in 2022, the Great Northern War in the early 18th century began with humiliating defeats for Moscow. The tsarist Russian army was ill-prepared, poorly armed and easily outmanoeuvred. But instead of backing down, Tsar Peter I dug in. He conscripted peasants by the tens of thousands, poured resources into rebuilding his army, and waited. Twenty-one years later, he emerged victorious. Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago Zelensky condemns Russia over 'deliberate killing of civilians' in drone strike on Ukrainian bus

The strike comes just hours after Russia and Ukraine held their first direct peace talks

Events

6 d. ago Nine killed in Russian strike on civilian bus in Ukraine's Sumy region, says Kyiv

The strike comes just hours after Russia and Ukraine held their first direct peace talks

Events

7 d. ago Russia and Ukraine agree to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war – but fail to secure peace in Turkey talks

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky reaches out to Donald Trump after talks in Turkey were over in less than two hours

Events

7 d. ago Russia and Ukraine agree prisoner swap but peace talks fail to make progress

Apart from agreeing to swap 1,000 prisoners each, Moscow sticks to maximalist demands in IstanbulRussia and Ukraine have agreed to a large-scale prisoner exchange but failed to reach a breakthrough during their first direct peace talks since 2022, held in Istanbul without either Vladimir Putin or Volodymyr Zelenskyy.Sitting down under pressure from the US president, Donald Trump, Ukraine had pushed for a 30-day ceasefire before the talks. Moscow rejected this, appearing to stick to its maximalist demands, including sweeping restrictions on Ukrainian sovereignty. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago Russia and Ukraine prisoner swap as '1,000 for 1,000' exchange could come soon

Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov, who heads Ukraine's delegation at peace talks with Russia, said on Friday the date of the exchange is known, but it will not be announced yet

Events

7 d. ago A senior Ukrainian official accuses Russia of making unacceptable demands at peace talks in Turkey

A senior Ukrainian official at the peace talks in Istanbul accused Moscow of introducing “unacceptable demands” that had not been previously discussed, including calls for Kyiv’s forces to withdraw from large swaths of territory they control so a complete ceas efire to be implemented

Politics

7 d. ago Zelenskyy calls for immediate, unconditional ceasefire as Russia and Ukraine officials meet for first direct peace talks since 2022 – live

Delegations from Russia and Ukraine meet in Istanbul for the first direct talks between the two nations since 2022Zelenskyy sends team for peace talks but warns Russia ‘not serious enough’Reuters is reporting that several vehicles have arrived at Dolmabahçe palace in Istanbul, where we are anticipating trilateral talks between Turkey, Ukraine and the US and then between Turkey, Russia and Ukraine.An air alert has sounded in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago First pictures of Russia and Ukraine peace talks after not meeting for years

Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed this week that his team would be pushing for an immediate ceasefire, while the Russian delegation has been largely quiet

Politics

7 d. ago 'Killing needs to stop,' says US top diplomat Rubio as Russia

The Russian president earlier proposed direct talks with Ukraine but then rejected speaking to Volodymyr Zelensky face-to-face and stayed away from a meeting in Istanbul

Events