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Agence France-Presse

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky received the backing of the leaders of the UK, France and Germany in calling for direct ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine, according to a joint statement issued following defence talks in London on Sunday.
Zelensky met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at 10 Downing Street for talks as Russia’s war has stretched into its fifth year.
The leaders “supported the proposal for a direct dialogue between Ukraine and Russia – with active US and European participation – to bring about a ceasefire and support further negotiations”, they said in a joint statement with Zelensky.
“The current line of contact should be the starting point for negotiations,” it said.
“International borders must not be changed by force.”
Zelensky proposed a face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in an open letter on Thursday.

Putin ruled out the move, saying he saw “no point” in meeting Zelensky until a possible peace deal had been agreed.
The Ukrainian president told Sky News on Sunday evening he had also met with Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich in Kyiv to pass on a message to Putin.
“You are fighting against us on our territory,” Zelensky said of his message to Abramovich, who is sanctioned by the UK and European Union over his ties to the Kremlin following Russia’s invasion.
“We will not leave and we will not go out from our territory, no we will not give you victory,” he said, adding he had reiterated his request to meet Putin face-to-face.
Kyiv has been asking its Western allies for more ammunition deliveries for its air defences as Ukraine endures daily Russian strikes. Zelensky is seeking ways for the allies to further pressure Russia to end the fighting.
Earlier on Sunday, the Ukrainian president wrote on X that he would be meeting with Britain’s King Charles on Monday.

The push for diplomacy in London failed to produce any immediate impact, as the fighting roared on.
On Monday, a Ukrainian drone strike on a passenger train killed one of its drivers and wounded the other, Sergey Aksyonov, the Moscow-installed head of the Crimea region wrote on Telegram.
The attack came hours after Russia fired waves of drones and other munitions at Ukraine, with one of the attacks damaging a nuclear storage facility near the Chernobyl disaster site, Ukrainian officials said.
Radiation levels at the facility remained within normal limits following the attack, although its fuel reception building was “partially destroyed”, according to Ukraine’s nuclear energy operator, Energoatom.
Moscow and Kyiv have intensified drone strikes on each other in recent months, as US-led diplomatic efforts to end the war remain stalled and sidetracked by the conflict in the Middle East.
Zelensky, in an earlier online post, said Russia had used an Iranian-designed Shahed drone to “hit one of the buildings of the Centralised Spent Fuel Storage Facility” in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

“As of now, there are no readings exceeding normal background radiation levels. But there is certainly an increase in Russia’s brazenness, which long ago went off the charts,” he said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was dispatching a team to inspect the damage, calling the incident “deeply concerning”.
The facility is located in a remote area of forest around a dozen kilometres from the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and is designed to house spent fuel from Ukraine’s three active nuclear plants.
Both sides accused each other of renewed attacks on civilians Sunday.
A Russian bombardment of a public transport stop in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region left at least two people dead, while a nearby drone strike killed a 56-year-old minibus driver, authorities said.
Separate Russian attacks on the central Dnipropetrovsk region killed two men, governor Oleksandr Ganzha posted on Telegram.
In Russia, a Ukrainian drone strike on a car in the Belgorod border region killed a woman and injured her husband, local authorities said.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions forced to flee their homes since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia now occupies around a fifth of its neighbour: the Crimean peninsula, which it annexed in 2014, most of the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk – collectively referred to as the Donbas – and large parts of the southern Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.


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Ukraine war

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Photo: Reuters

Red carpet at the door of No 10 Downing Street. Photo: dpa

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. Photo: Reuters

A Russian drone impact point at a nuclear storage facility in the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Photo: AFP

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan after casting his ballot. Photo: AFP

Officials count votes. Photo: Photolure via Reuters

Billionaire Russian-Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan, the leader of Strong Armenia party. Photo: AFP

UK’s Keir Starmer says Russia could attack Nato within 4 years

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer (left) is shown a Vanta system during a Friday visit to STARK, a leading defence tech company in Swindon, to hear how the defence industry is learning lessons from Ukraine. Photo: dpa

Putin says Trump ideas could bring peace in Ukraine, urges Kyiv to compromise

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin meets with representatives of international news agencies on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum on Thursday. Photo: AFP

A woman carries a baby near a house damaged after a Russian strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Russian missiles, which appear to be the Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile, according to the Ukrainian Air Force, are seen over Kyiv in May. Photo: Reuters

Ukraine drone strikes causing ‘panic’ for Kremlin, EU’s Kallas says

Smoke billows following hits by Ukrainian drones at an oil terminal in St Petersburg, Russia, on Wednesday. Photo: Social media via Reuters

EU Vice-President for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas gives an interview at the EU headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

A participant watches a broadcast of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s speech on a screen during the St Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday. Photo: AP

A Ukrainian serviceman reacts as his colleagues fire a BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket system towards Russian troops on Thursday. Photo: Press Service of the 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanised Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces via Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday. Photo: EPA

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UK, France and Germany endorse face-to-face ceasefire talks, but the Kremlin has so far ruled out a meeting


UK, France and Germany endorse face-to-face ceasefire talks, but the Kremlin has so far ruled out a meeting.


European powers back Zelensky’s call for summit with Putin

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}UK, France and Germany endorse face-to-face ceasefire talks, but the Kremlin has so far ruled out a meeting

UK, France and Germany endorse face-to-face ceasefire talks, but the Kremlin has so far ruled out a meeting