The Ukrainian president has accused Vladimir Putin of “mendacity to everybody” in regards to the scenario within the Russian province of Kursk and searching for to extend the conflict. In an X publish on Saturday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned Russia’s president was mendacity “in regards to the scenario on the bottom, particularly about what’s occurring within the Kursk area”. He mentioned Ukrainian troops have been nonetheless keeping off Russian and North Korean forces within the space however face a possible new assault on Sumy in Ukraine’s north-east. He mentioned Kyiv’s troops weren’t encircled in Kursk, as has been claimed by Russia, however that Moscow was accumulating forces close by for a separate strike. “The buildup of Russian forces signifies that Moscow intends to maintain ignoring diplomacy,” he mentioned. “It’s clear that Russia is prolonging the conflict.”
Russian troops recaptured the villages of Rubanshchina and Zaoleshenka within the Kursk area, the Moscow’s defence ministry mentioned on Saturday. On Thursday, Russia introduced it had regained full management of the city of Sudzha as Ukraine’s forces have been pressured to retreat.
Within the X publish, Zelenskyy additionally accused Putin of mendacity “about how a ceasefire is supposedly too sophisticated” and warned Russia’s chief will maintain “dragging” out the conflict. “We talked about who would delay peace and sluggish every little thing down – and now we see it clearly,” Zelenskyy mentioned. “A ceasefire may have already occurred, however Russia is doing every little thing to stop it.”
British prime minister Keir Starmer mentioned army powers will meet subsequent week as plans to safe a peace deal transfer to an “operational section”. The UK prime minister held a digital name with different European leaders and allies, together with Zelenskyy, on Saturday, the place he mentioned a “coalition of the prepared” would assist safe Ukraine “on the land, at sea and within the sky” within the occasion of a peace cope with Russia.
Zelenskyy mentioned Russia wished to attain a “stronger place” militarily earlier than committing to any ceasefire within the conflict in Ukraine. At a press convention in Kyiv, Zelenskyy mentioned the query of territory in Ukraine’s conflict with Russia was “sophisticated” and needs to be mentioned intimately at a later date.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, echoed Zelenskyy, saying Putin is “escalating the combating” and “desires to get every little thing, then negotiate”. Russia “doesn’t give the impression it sincerely desires peace”, Macron mentioned within the assertion offered to AFP on Saturday and urged Europe and the USA to place stress on Russia to just accept a proposed ceasefire.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and Russia’s international minister, Sergei Lavrov, spoke on Saturday to debate the following stage in talks on ending the conflict. In line with the state division spokeswoman Tammy Bruce, the highest diplomats “agreed to proceed working in direction of restoring communication between the USA and Russia”. The assertion gave no particulars on when the following spherical of US-Russia talks, that are being hosted by Saudi Arabia, would start.
Mikhail Kasyanov, Vladimir Putin’s first prime minister and now an opponent of the Russian president, mentioned Moscow was solely in a conditional ceasefire. Kasyanov informed BBC Radio 4’s At the moment programme: “He rejected this proposal for an unconditional ceasefire, he desires conditional, he desires a ceasefire on his phrases.”
Ukraine mentioned on Saturday it had downed 130 Russian-launched drones throughout the nation at evening. Kyiv’s air drive mentioned the Iranian-made Shahed drones have been downed over 14 areas and that Moscow had additionally attacked with two ballistic missiles.
Kyiv additionally mentioned that the quantity injured in a Russian strike a day earlier on Zelenskyy’s residence city, Kryvyi Rih, rose to 14. On Friday, officers mentioned Russia attacked a residential space of the central Ukrainian metropolis. “Fourteen individuals have been wounded, amongst them two kids,” the top of the Dnipropetrovsk area, Sergiy Lysak, mentioned on Telegram.
Russia deployed nearly 200 firefighters to assist put out a fireplace at an oil depot attributable to a Ukraine drone strike within the southern Krasnodar area, authorities mentioned. The governor of the Krasnodar area, Veniamin Kondratyev, mentioned within the early hours of Saturday {that a} petrol reserve station within the Black Sea metropolis of Tuapse was “attacked by the Kyiv regime”. The federal government of the Krasnodar area mentioned 188 individuals have been concerned in placing out the hearth.
Ukraine’s largest non-public vitality supplier mentioned on Saturday that in a single day Russian airstrikes had broken its vitality services within the Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa areas. In an announcement, DTEK mentioned “damages are important” and that some shoppers in each areas have been left with out energy.
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