Two days after a Russian ballistic missile killed 20 people in Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky’s home town, Emmanuel Macron has called for strong action if Russia continues to “refuse peace”.
The French president wrote on X on Sunday: “My thoughts are with the children and all civilian victims of the bloody attacks carried out by Russia, including on 4 April in Kryvyi Rih.
“A ceasefire is needed as soon as possible. And strong action if Russia continues to try to buy time and refuse peace.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the West to amp up pressure on Russia after it launched its latest deadly air raid on Kyiv.
As one person died in Kyiv, and three were injured, Ukraine’s leader said that “pressure on Russia is still insufficient, and the daily Russian strikes on Ukraine prove it”.
He said Kyiv wasn’t the only region which suffered strikes, as the Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi and Cherkasy regions were also hit.
“The number of air attacks is increasing. This is how Russia reveals its true intentions – to continue the terror for as long as the world allows it” he said.
Ukraine sending a team to Washington next week to discuss new draft of minerals deal
Ukraine will send a delegation to Washington next week to negotiate a new draft agreement that could give the US access to Ukraine’s valuable mineral resources, including titanium, lithium, and uranium, economy minister Yuliia Svyrydenko told the Associated Press.
The draft, submitted by the US after weeks of silence, is more expansive than an earlier framework and could require approval by Ukraine’s parliament, she said.
The talks follow earlier tensions, including a contentious Oval Office meeting between Donald Trump, US vice president JD Vance, and president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Critics argue the deal risks undermining Ukraine’s sovereignty and EU membership prospects.
Ms Svyrydenko stressed that the US draft reflects only one side’s position and is not final. “What we have now is a document that reflects the position of the US Treasury legal team. This is not a final version, it’s not a joint position.”
She said that Ukraine is preparing to define its red lines, especially over control of a proposed joint fund to manage revenues from natural resources.
“It’s clear that the full parameters of this agreement can’t be discussed online,” Ms Svyrydenko said. “We need to sit down with the teams and continue the conversation in person.”
Restarting Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant would be ‘unsafe’, Ukraine’s nuclear energy chief warns
Restarting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant — currently occupied by Russia — would be unsafe and extremely difficult under wartime conditions, according to Ukraine’s nuclear energy chief, Petro Kotin.
He warned that restarting even one reactor during the war is “impossible” due to a lack of cooling water, personnel, and power.
If Ukraine regains control, it could take two months to two years to safely bring the plant back online after full demilitarisation and safety checks, the chief executive of Energoatom said, according to The Guardian.
Russia has said it intends to restart the plant when conditions allow, but experts have raised serious safety concerns, especially given the degraded infrastructure, risk of mines, and untrained staff.
In February this year, Alexey Likhachev, head of Russian nuclear operator Rosatom, said it would be restarted when “military and political conditions allow”.
Macron urges ‘strong action’ against Russia if it continues to ‘refuse peace’
Days after a Russian ballistic missile killed 20 people in Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky’s home town, French president Emmanuel Macron called for “strong action” if Russia continued to “refuse peace”.
He wrote on X on Sunday: “My thoughts are with the children and all civilian victims of the bloody attacks carried out by Russia, including on 4 April in Kryvyi Rih.
“A ceasefire is needed as soon as possible. And strong action if Russia continues to try to buy time and refuse peace.”
Mr Macron said that although Ukraine accepted US president Donald Trump’s proposal for a full ceasefire, and European nations were also working to broker peace, “Russia is continuing the war with renewed intensity, with no regard for civilians”.
Russian court reduces sentence of US soldier
A Russian court in Vladivostok has slightly reduced the prison sentence of US soldier Gordon Black, who was jailed last year for stealing $113 (10,000 rubles) from his girlfriend and threatening to kill her, Russian state news agencies reported on Monday.
According to RIA and TASS, which cited court proceedings, the court lowered Mr Black’s sentence from three years and nine months to three years and two months.
In pictures: An ilmenite open pit mine in a canyon in the central region of Kirovohrad, Ukraine,
Thousands of Ukrainian civilians are still held by Russia with uncertain hope of release
When she heard her front door open almost two years ago, Kostiantyn Zinovkin’s mother thought her son had returned home because he forgot something. Instead, men in balaclavas burst into the apartment in Melitopol, a southern Ukrainian city occupied by Russian forces.
They said Zinovkin was detained for a minor infraction and would be released soon. They used his key to enter, said his wife, Liusiena, and searched the flat so thoroughly that they tore it apart “into molecules.”
How Ukraine’s 2.5-bn-year-old rock deposit became central to helping stop Russia
But what are these minerals exactly and why are they so sought after?
‘We can’t sit back and watch’: Former MI6 boss says Britain must get ready for war as Putin threatens Europe
Sir Alex Younger said people in the UK must realise that the threat from Russia – and its closeness to the US – is real, adding: “Putin and Trump together have done their best to persuade us that the rules have changed.”
Sam Kiley reports:
Poland scrambles aircraft after Russian strikes on Ukraine
Polish and allied aircraft were activated early on Sunday morning to ensure the safety of Polish airspace after Russia launched air strikes targeting western Ukraine, the Operational Command of the Polish armed forces said.
“The steps taken are aimed at ensuring security in the regions bordering the areas at risk,” the Command said on X.
All of Ukraine was under air raid alerts as of 2am GMT today after the Ukrainian Air Force warned of Russian missile attacks.
Source: independent.co.uk