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The US and Russian presidents are set to speak at 3pm in a fresh bid to end the conflict started by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago
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Donald Trump is hoping for a “productive Monday” to strive towards a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine when he picks up the phone to Vladimir Putin later today.
The US president’s fresh bid to end the “bloodbath” also includes a separate call Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, after Trump last week vowed to meet Putin “as soon as we can” during a diplomatic fiasco prompted by the Russian president shunning peace talks in Turkey.
The US president’s renewed effort to end the war in Ukraine will also include calls to Nato leaders, but the Trump administration has asserted the Russian and American presidents are the only ones who can bring an end to the conflict. While Trump has been sympathetic to some of Putin’s demands, the relationship between the pair has been strained by Russia’s unrelenting attacks on Ukraine.
“I will be speaking, by telephone, to President Vladimir Putin of Russia on Monday at 10am. The subjects of the call will be stopping the ‘bloodbath’ that is killing, on average, more than 5000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week, and trade,” Trump wrote on TruthSocial.
A flurry of diplomatic activity began when Zelensky met with US vice president JD Vance, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and European leaders in Rome yesterday, as he intensified his efforts ahead of Trump’s call with Putin.
Meanwhile, Kyiv’s military intelligence agency has warned Russia could test-launch its intercontinental ballistic missile in a drill to intimidate Ukraine, the European Union and Nato member state. Russia carried out its largest drone attack on Ukraine since the start of the war on Sunday and fired at least 273 drones, killing one woman.
Dozens of Abrams tanks are set to make their way to Ukraine from Australia despite private objections from US officials, the Australia’s ABC news reported.
Anthony Albanese, the Australian prime minister, confirmed the delivery of 49 retired tanks when meeting Volodymyr Zelensky in Rome on Sunday at Pope Leo XIV’s first formal Sunday mass.
The shipments of the retired tanks have been delayed partly due to resistance from Washington, ABC reported back in April.
This resistance has not subsided, with a US official questioning how useful they are on battlefields in Ukraine. With weak roofs which make them vulnerable to drones, an anonymous Australian defence official even questioned whether Kyiv is interested in the vehicles.
Pope Leo XIV and US vice president JD Vance met on Monday morning ahead of a flurry of US-led diplomatic efforts to make progress on a ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Mr Vance’s motorcade was seen entering Vatican City just after 7:30am, one day after the Catholic convert joined Sunday’s formal Mass opening the pontificate of the first American pope.
Joining Mr Vance at the Vatican was secretary of state Marco Rubio, also a Catholic, the vice president’s spokesperson said.
Having been largely sidelined during the first three years of Russia’s war, the Vatican has offered to host any peace talks while continuing humanitarian efforts to facilitate prisoner swaps and reunite Ukrainian children taken by Russia.
One person was killed and three injured in a Russian attack on the southern city of Kherson late on Sunday.
„A 75-year-old woman sustained fatal injuries after an enemy shell hit her house,“ the city’s military administration reported.
A man and a woman who suffered concussion and blast injuries were taken to hospital after the attack.
A Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region damage buildings overnight on Monday.
„Early reports indicate that there were strikes by six drones in the Shostka hromada. The infrastructure of a business was damaged,” the region’s military administration wrote.
Emergency operations are ongoing with the full extent of damage yet to be confirmed.
Polish customs seized five metric tons of tires for civilian Boeing aircraft which were due to transit through Belarus and Russia, the country’s National Revenue Administration said this morning, adding such goods are covered by European Union sanctions.
„Officers… discovered during the inspection of a truck in Koroszczyn that the driver was transporting tires used in Boeing civil planes instead of the declared car and bus tires,“ the National Revenue Administration said.
„The sender of the goods was a company from Spain, and the recipient was from Azerbaijan. Criminal fiscal proceedings were initiated in connection with customs fraud. The sanctioned goods were detained,” the officials said in a statement.
Western sanctions against Russia have been toughened repeatedly since its full-scale invasion on Ukraine in 2022 without ending the war.
Ukraine’s military has reported another day of heavy fighting along the frontline, with at least 70 clashes between Ukrainian and Russian forces reported so far.
Once again, the heaviest fighting was in the direction of Pokrovsk, according to Ukraine’s military, with Vladimir Putin’s forces making 25 attempts to dislodge Ukrainian troops from their positions in settlements near the Donetsk city, which has been central in Moscow’s sights for months now.
In its daily update, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said Ukrainian troops had already repelled 22 attacks on the Povkrovsk axis, with three more confrontations ongoing.
Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky met with US vice president JD Vance, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and European leaders in Rome yesterday, as he intensified his efforts ahead of Donald Trump’s on call with Vladimir Putin.
The Ukrainian president said on X that during his talks with the American officials, they discussed the negotiations in Turkey and that „the Russians sent a low level delegation of non-decision-makers“.
He also said he stressed that Ukraine is engaged in „real diplomacy“ to have a ceasefire.
„We have also touched upon the need for sanctions against Russia, bilateral trade, defence cooperation, battlefield situation and upcoming prisoners exchange,“ Mr Zelensky said.
„Pressure is needed against Russia until they are eager to stop the war,“ he said.
The push came as the Kremlin launched its largest drone barrage against Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, firing a total of 273 exploding drones and decoys, Ukraine’s air force said yesterday.
The attacks targeted the war-hit nation’s Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions.
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