Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky says Putin’s war can be stopped in 2025 as Kyiv destroys 400 Russian drones
Ukrainian president calls on European countries to invest in weapons production in Ukraine
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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky says he believes Kyiv has the opportunity to end the war with Russia by next year, as long as his country receives sufficient support from its allies.
“In October, November and December we have a chance to move things toward peace and lasting stability,” he told the Ukraine-South East Europe summit in Dubrovnik.
“The situation on the battlefield creates an opportunity to make this choice for decisive action to end the war no later than in 2025.”
Zelensky also used the summit to call on southeastern European countries to invest in weapons production in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military said its forces had struck a base in southern Russia’s Krasnodar region storing hundreds of Shahed drones yesterday. “According to available information, nearly 400 strike drones were stored there,” Ukraine’s General Staff said in a statement.
“Based on objective control results, a direct hit was made on the target. Secondary explosions were observed at the site,” it said.
And the Russian military is looking to make significant advances in the Donbas region before muddy ground conditions in the autumn set in, a US-based think-tank has said.
Mapped: Russia claims to have captured two Ukrainian villages as it advances in Donetsk
Ukrainian drone strikes another arms depot inside Russia, officials say
Trump spoke with Putin at least seven times since leaving White House, Bob Woodward reports
North Korea is ‘highly likely’ sending troops to fight for Russia in Ukraine, South Korea says
Zelensky to meet Scholz in Berlin on Friday, sources say
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky will travel to Berlin to meet German chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday, two sources told Reuters on Wednesday.
“Zelensky will visit Berlin on Friday, He is meeting Scholz first and then President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. This is part of his European tour,” one of the sources said.
Zelensky is travelling to meet allies in Europe this week but was dealt a blow as a planned summit meeting in Ramstein, Germany was postponed after US president Joe Biden cancelled his visit.
Zelensky says battlefield situation ‘creates opportunity’ to bring an end to war in 2025
President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the battlefield situation “creates opportunity” to take steps to end the war in Ukraine no later than 2025.
“In October, November and December we have chance to move things toward peace and lasting stability. The situation on the battlefield creates an opportunity to make this choice for decisive action to end the war no later than in 2025,” he told the Ukraine-South East Europe summit in Dubrovnik.
Zelensky signs co-operation agreement with Croatia
Pope Francis to meet Zelensky
Pope Francis will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, the Vatican said on Wednesday.
Jailed leader of a prominent election watchdog is on trial in Russia
Jailed leader of a prominent election watchdog is on trial in Russia
A jailed leader of a prominent independent election monitoring group in Russia appeared in court on Wednesday as his trial continued on charges of organizing the work of an “undesirable” organization
Zelenskyy to seek more war support from a dozen countries in southeast Europe
Zelenskyy to seek more war support from a dozen countries in southeast Europe
Ukraine’s president is again seeking political and other support from a dozen countries in southeast Europe at a summit on Wednesday in Croatia, whose president isn’t attending in a sign of the divided views on the war with Russia
Ramstein meeting on Ukraine postponed after Biden cancels trip
A summit meeting of Ukraine‘s key allies in Ramstein, Germany has been postponed after US president Joe Biden cancelled a scheduled overseas trip, the organisers have revealed.
Biden cancelled trips to Germany and Angola on Tuesday in a blow to plans for the highest level meeting ever of the Ramstein group of Ukraine‘s arms donors that aimed to underscore unwavering support for Kyiv against Russia’s invasion.
“The 12 October, 2024 event is postponed,” the US public affairs office at Ramstein Air Base said in an email to journalists. “Announcements about future Ukraine Defence Contact Group meetings will be forthcoming.”
The Ramstein group had been set to convene on the sidelines of Biden’s 10 - 13 October state visit to Germany, which would have been the first US state visit in nearly 40 years.
But the White House said Biden was postponing his trip to oversee preparations for Hurricane Milton and relief efforts after another hurricane last month killed more than 200 people.
“It was clear that Biden had to send the signal that he was taking care of domestic policy - so close to the (US) elections,” said Stefan Mair, director of German foreign policy think tank SWP said. “I don’t see this (postponement) as downgrading the importance of Ukraine.”
Russian court hands ex-Marine Trevor Reed long sentence in absentia
A Russian court has found Trevor Reed, a former US Marine who was freed by Russia in a 2022 prisoner swap, guilty in absentia of serving as a mercenary for Ukraine and handed him a prison sentence of 14-1/2 years.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which handles serious crimes, said Reed had joined Ukraine‘s army in July 2023 and “directly participated on the side of the Ukrainian security forces in combat operations” against Russian troops in Ukraine.
It said it had placed Reed on the international wanted list.
Reed could not immediately be reached for comment. The US State Department said last July that he had been injured while fighting in Ukraine and had been transferred to Germany for medical care.
Reed, born in 1991, was convicted in Russia in 2019 of endangering the lives of two police officers while drunk on a visit to Moscow. The United States called his trial a “theater of the absurd”.
He was freed in a prisoner swap in April 2022 in exchange for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who had been convicted of conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the US.
Separately, a Russian court on Monday sentenced a 72-year-old American, Stephen James Hubbard, to nearly seven years in prison for serving as a mercenary for Ukraine.
Lithuania fortifies defences over bridges to Russian exclave
Lithuania has fortified a bridge crossing in the direction of the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, the ministry of defence has announced.
Several bridges are also being destroyed, they said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
“Fortifications will be supported by firepower, in case it’s needed, to stop and destroy the enemy,” they said.
Young people sit on destroyed Russian tanks in Kyiv - picture
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