Vladimir Putin Russia-Ukraine war

Russian president plays down prospect of a meeting with Ukraine's Zelenskyy during talks with top European official.

During the pair’s talks Putin also accused Kyiv of refusing to allow Ukrainian troops holed up in Mariupol’s sprawling Azovstal steel plant to surrender, the Kremlin said. Michel said he had stressed the EU’s “condemnation” of Russia’s invasion during his talks with Putin and laid out the sanctions the bloc is imposing on Moscow in response. Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Kyiv of being “inconsistent” in talks with Moscow over ending the war in Ukraine and played down the prospect of any immediate meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

A day after Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed his troops were victorious in the battle for Mariupol, a Russian military official laid out wider aims ...

The drones have abilities to the Switchblade kamikaze drones, which are single-use, armed drones that fit in a backpack. The howitzers will outfit five Ukrainian artillery battalions specifically for fighting in the Donbas, Kirby said. Biden said not all the U.S. assistance is being advertised. Russia has ceaselessly bombarded the city for almost two months and appears to control most of the city. Capturing Mariupol is seen as central to the new phase, but thousands of Ukrainian troops and civilians remain in the giant Azovstal steel mill complex. Also included are 121 Phoenix Ghost drones developed by the U.S. Air Force specifically for the Ukrainians, Kirby said. More than 92% of those were recorded in Ukrainian government-controlled territory, it added. The Russian-controlled news source said the Ukrainian service members aimed to "sabotage in the territories liberated by the Russian army." So they continue to fight for that city," Kirby told CNN on Friday. “There’s no evidence yet that Mariupol has completely fallen.” Ukrainian officials also said about 1,000 civilians are also trapped there. NEW PHASE OF WAR: What a new phase of war means for Ukrainians in the east

Zelenskiy warns Russia's invasion of Ukraine just the 'beginning' as the Kremlin will push to capture other countries.

The MoD said it would take Russia some time to change tactics and improve operations and therefore in the interim there is “likely to be continued reliance on bombardment as a means of trying to suppress Ukrainian opposition”. The United Nations chief, António Guterres, will meet Putin in Moscow next week, seeking an end to the bloodshed. Another mass grave has been found outside of Mariupol, the Associated Press has reported, citing the city council and an adviser to the mayor. Fears continue to grow for hundreds of civilians holed up in the Azovstal steel factory in the besieged port city of Mariupol, with the last remaining, outgunned contingent of Ukrainian fighters. But according to Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol’s mayor, Russian forces are continuing to drop bombs on the plant. And who will come next?” Zelenskiy said in a video address late on Friday.

Kyiv has previously warned of Russian expansionism, but there are now signs the Kremlin could cut a path through Ukraine to a Moldovan breakaway region.

The weapons: Ukraine is making use of weapons such as Javelin antitank missiles and Switchblade “kamikaze” drones, provided by the United States and other allies. Ukrainian officials say about 50,000 people a day are going back, despite warnings from Kyiv’s mayor to stay put and continued airstrikes around the city. LVIV, Ukraine — Train 750L was running nearly an hour behind schedule when it rumbled into the western Ukrainian hub of Lviv one recent afternoon. Kyiv region: A majority of cities around the capital — where residents who fled are now returning — suffered massive destruction of civilian infrastructure, the United Nations confirmed Friday with satellite imagery. A small pocket of resistance, about 1,000 Ukrainian fighters and citizens who remain holed up in a steel plant, are surrounded. In a Facebook post, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told residents of the devastated port city to “be patient, please hold on." “The Izyum direction, Donbas, Pryazovia, Mariupol, Kherson region are the places where the fate of this war and the future of our state is being decided,” he said. They drew swift condemnation from Moldova, where residents have worried since the beginning of the war they could be next in the Kremlin’s crosshairs. “He’s not going into this meeting on Tuesday with a preset list of things that we have to drive to,” Kirby said. Talks between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators in Turkey last month — during which Kyiv detailed its peace proposal and Moscow agreed to reduce its military operations near two key Ukrainian cities — allowed for a rare moment of optimism. A flurry of diplomatic endeavors to peacefully resolve the war continues, even as Russia claims that talks with Ukraine have stalled. Ukraine said it was planning a humanitarian corridor to evacuate residents on Saturday, after an attempt to help some of the roughly 100,000 trapped civilians flee failed the previous day.

A senior Russian military officer said Moscow aimed to seize control of eastern and southern Ukraine, including critical Black Sea ports, while German ...