Zelenskyy called on Saturday for stronger sanctions on Moscow after a Russian drone killed nine bus passengers in the Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine. “This was a deliberate killing of civilians,” he said.
“Pressure must be exerted on Russia to stop the killings. Without tougher sanctions, without stronger pressure, Russia will not seek real diplomacy.”
Russia, which denies targeting civilians, said it struck a military target in Sumy. Its defence ministry said Russian troops had captured another settlement in eastern Ukraine.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by telephone with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and said he welcomed the “positive role” of the United States in helping to secure a resumption of talks between Russia and Ukraine. A Russian foreign ministry statement quoted Lavrov as saying contacts would continue.
PRESSING FOR IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE
Ukraine and Western governments, including the US, have demanded that Russia agree to an immediate, unconditional ceasefire lasting at least 30 days.
But a Ukrainian source said Moscow’s negotiators had demanded the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, with a ceasefire to take place only after that.
The source said that and other demands went beyond the terms of a draft peace deal that the United States proposed last month after consultations with Moscow.
Peskov declined to comment on the Ukrainian account, saying talks should be conducted “absolutely behind closed doors”.
He said the next steps would be to carry out the prisoner exchange and conduct further work between the two sides. Peskov said it was possible that President Putin could meet Zelenskyy, but only if “certain agreements” were reached, which he did not specify.
UKRAINE RALLIES SUPPORT
After Friday’s meeting, Ukraine began rallying support from its allies to take tougher action against Moscow.
“Once again, Russia is not serious,” British Foreign Secretary David Lammy told Reuters during a visit to Pakistan. “At what point do we say to Puti,n enough is enough?”
French President Emmanuel Macron also said the talks in Istanbul had been fruitless.
“Today, what do we have? Nothing. And so I tell you, faced with President Putin’s cynicism, I am sure that President Trump, mindful of the credibility of the United States, will react.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU was working on a new package of sanctions against Moscow, which France said this week should aim to “suffocate” the Russian economy.
But after intensifying sanctions for more than three years already, it is unclear how much more they can achieve.
In their efforts to forge a united front and make Putin accept a ceasefire, Ukraine and its European leaders have been repeatedly thrown off balance by interventions from Trump.
Having told Zelenskyy to accept Russia’s offer of direct talks in Turkey, Trump said on the eve of the meeting that there could be no movement on peace until he had met with Putin.
The Kremlin says Putin is ready to meet Trump, but such a summit must be carefully prepared. It said there had been no contact between Russia and the US since Friday’s talks.
