The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has appointed Andriy Gnatov as chief of the final workers of the armed forces, changing Anatoliy Bargylevych, who has been moved to chief inspector of the defence ministry. “He [Gnatov] is a fight man,” Zelenskyy mentioned. “His process is to deliver extra fight expertise … Every thing that our brigades have discovered from the battle needs to be applied 100% on the planning stage.” Ukraine’s defence minister, Rustem Umerov, posted: “We’re systematically reworking the armed forces of Ukraine to reinforce their fight effectiveness. This entails restructuring the command system and implementing clear requirements.”
Russia launched a drone assault on Kyiv, its mayor, Vitali Klitschko, mentioned early on Monday, including that Ukrainian air defence items had been responding. Reuters mentioned its witnesses heard blasts that appeared like air defences in motion. On Sunday, Kyiv mentioned Moscow had launched 90 Iranian Shahed drones on to 9 Ukrainian areas.
Emmanuel Macron has mentioned France, the UK, and different nations offering safety ensures for Ukraine after any eventual ceasefire wouldn’t be aiming to deploy a “mass” of troopers however as a substitute may ship contingents of a number of thousand troops to key areas in Ukraine without having Russia’s permission. From Paris, Angelique Chrisafis writes that the French president insisted: “In no way can the Ukrainians make territorial concessions with out having any safety ensures.” Macron mentioned Russia “doesn’t give the impression it sincerely desires peace”; quite the opposite, the Russian president was “escalating the preventing” and “desires to get all the pieces, then negotiate”.
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are anticipated this week to debate the ceasefire proposed by the US and Ukraine, write Edward Helmore and Shaun Walker. Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff mentioned he thinks “the 2 presidents are going to have a extremely good and constructive dialogue this week”, and Trump “actually expects there to be some kind of deal within the coming weeks, possibly, and I imagine that’s the case”. Moscow mentioned the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, had known as his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. “Sergei Lavrov and Marco Rubio agreed to stay involved,” the Russian international ministry mentioned, with no point out of the proposed ceasefire. Witkoff claimed Putin accepted the “philosophy” of the ceasefire. Nevertheless, Putin has been obscure about what phrases he would demand or settle for.
Late on Sunday, Zelenskyy mentioned he had spoken with Canada’s new prime minister, Mark Carney. “The prime minister made the proper factors about how we have to step up strain on Moscow,” Zelenskyy mentioned. “The shadow fleet, the banking sector. We should impose all-out sanctions on all the pieces that gives Russia with funding for its battle. Solely then can we drive Putin to a simply and lasting peace.” Carney is due in France on Monday for talks with Emmanuel Macron that may cowl the battle in Ukraine, earlier than travelling to London to fulfill Keir Starmer, the British PM.
Lithuania on Sunday backed an EU proposal to pledge as much as €40bn in army support for Ukraine this yr and mentioned an analogous quantity would even be wanted in future years. Whereas some EU international locations have responded cautiously to the initiative, Lithuania’s international minister, Kestutis Budrys, mentioned long-term army help for Ukraine mustn’t rely upon the end result of any peace talks because it was already clear Kyiv would want to keep up sturdy “deterrence forces for Russians to not return”. Lithuania spent 2.85% of GDP on defence in 2024, in line with Nato estimates, and has dedicated to elevating that determine to five% to six% between 2026 and 2030.
Russia would demand that Nato members exclude Ukraine from membership and that it’ll stay impartial in any peace deal, Alexander Grushko, a Russian deputy international minister, has advised the Russian media outlet Izvestia.
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