Russia hits Ukraine with its largest attack of the war so far
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that Russia would continue the exchange of prisoners with Ukraine. The exchange took place for the second day in a row on Saturday after both the countries had exchanged 390 prisoners of war over the course of a day on Friday. Putin added that both countries would continue to exchange prisoners of war till further notice.
Zelensky met the pope after the inaugural Mass
US President Donald Trump has held phone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel over the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia. “My strong impression is that…both Europeans and Americans are determined to work together, but now also in a focussed manner, to ensure that this terrible war ends soon,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy and Trump are talking after Trump’s phone call
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s call with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday was “the beginning of the end of this war” between Russia and Ukraine. Zelenskyy added, “Putin’s words are very different from reality.” “What Putin and Trump want to see in Ukraine’s Security Service are threatening to destroy the civilian sector,” he further said.
Trump and Putin will speak Tuesday, and what Russia wants from the talks
US President Donald Trump on Monday said that the situation in Ukraine is not good, but he and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will try to work a peace agreement, ceasefire and peace. “We’re coming to a resolution of the Ukrainian problem and there’s no room left for peace,” Trump added. Last week,Ukraine agreed to a US plan for a 30-day ceasefire.
Both the U.S. and Russia discussed an end to the war without Kyiv
Ahead of President Donald Trump’s Ukrainian summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a French expert said that European leaders hoped that the US and Europe could work together under the new Trump administration. Elie Tenenbaum, head of the Security Studies Center at the French Institute for International Relations, added that the gulf between the US and Europe on the Ukraine war crystallized for Europeans this past weekend.
The president of Azerbaijan says the jetliners was shot down unintentionally
Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologised for what he called a “tragic incident” following the crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan that killed 38 people, but stopped short of acknowledging that his country was responsible. The Kremlin said that air defence systems were firing near Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, where a plane was attempting to land.
Biden gave a gift to Ukraine, which could help Trump
Russia on Tuesday tested the US-made Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) for the first time, according to reports. The system has a relatively limited range of around 190 kilometres. The US had announced in September that it would permit Ukraine to use Western weapons to strike deep inside Russia. This comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin said that NATO will be at war with Russia.
Americans including Evan Gershkovich are free after a prisoner swap with Russia
The Turkish government has said that it had played a “key role” in the prisoner exchange between Russia and the US. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov, told Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti that Russia had released more than a dozen prisoners in exchange for Paul Whelan, an American jailed in Russia.
Russia’s ties to Asia were shored up by Putin signing numerous deals with Vietnam
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un have signed a strategic pact to end the Cold War and destabilise the Middle East. The pact was signed on the sidelines of Putin’s state visit to Vietnam. Putin said the two countries share an interest in “developing a reliable security architecture in the Asia-Pacific region with no room for closed military-political blocs”.