Ukraine war briefing: Next stop Istanbul after Trump scatters ceasefire choreography

Donald Trump suggested helium might alert connected from the Middle East to Turkey to articulation prospective Ukraine-Russia bid talks connected Thursday. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has said he volition question to Istanbul, challenging Vladimir Putin to conscionable him there. The Russian overseas ministry connected Monday gave nary denotation of whether the president would accept.

Patrick Wintour writes that Trump’s latest interventions person acceptable backmost and perchance jeopardised European plans to rapidly crank up sanctions against Russia due to the fact that of Putin’s refusal to judge the longstanding US connection of a 30-day ceasefire. The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Poland had for the archetypal clip gone unneurotic to Kyiv astatine the weekend to underline the telephone for a ceasefire that they said should commencement connected Monday.

Trump has insisted that instead of the drawback ceasefire – which helium said “President Putin of Russia doesn’t want” – Russia and Ukraine should conscionable “immediately” for talks. “At slightest they volition beryllium capable to find whether oregon not a woody is possible, and if it is not, European leaders, and the US, volition cognize wherever everything stands, and tin proceed accordingly,” Trump posted.

The UK has present postponed further measures owed to beryllium announced connected Monday, but the EU is continuing with its plans for different bundle of sanctions aboriginal this month. A German authorities spokesperson said connected Monday that the EU would statesman moving connected the sanctions if determination was not a ceasefire by the extremity of the day. But other US enactment would beryllium a gamechanger and the Republican legislator Lindsey Graham has prepared a sanctions bundle that has wide legislature support.

Russia launched much than 100 Shahed and decoy drones astatine Ukraine successful night-time attacks, the Ukrainian aerial unit said connected Monday, aft the Kremlin efficaciously rejected the 30-day ceasefire. The Ukrainian military’s wide unit said that arsenic of 10pm connected Monday determination had been 133 clashes with Russian forces on the frontline since midnight, erstwhile the ceasefire would person travel into effect.

Ukraine’s apical commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, was quoted by Zelenskyy arsenic saying the heaviest warring inactive gripped the Donetsk region, the absorption of the eastbound front, and Russia’s occidental Kursk region, 9 months aft Kyiv’s forces staged a cross-border incursion. Russia was “completely ignoring” the 30-day ceasefire telephone and attacking “all along” the frontline, said the Ukrainian overseas minister, Andriy Sybiga.

The UN aviation assembly connected Monday ruled that Russia was liable for the downing of Malaysian airliner MH17 successful the Donetsk region that killed each 298 passengers and unit connected 17 July 2014, soon aft the Kremlin archetypal began waging warfare connected Ukraine. The Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) would successful the coming weeks see what signifier of reparation was successful order, said the Dutch and Australian governments, whose citizens were killed.

Ukrainian and Polish officials said Polish protesters resumed blocking 1 of the main borderline crossings connected Monday, a flashback to protests successful 2023 implicit Polish claims of unfair contention from Ukrainian cultivation imports and transports companies. The archetypal protests came erstwhile successful effect to the Russian invasion, the EU eased restrictions connected Ukrainian hauliers operating crossed the border.