In 2021, when Olga Rudenko and other journalists launched the Kyiv Independent, they were committed to making a publication that wouldn't face political pressure from an owner. A few months later, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the Independent began reporting breaking news from the front lines.
Brussels had some strong sentiments today about what a future peace deal between Russia and Ukraine should look like. EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said she plans to send around a list of ideas to the bloc's 27 member states in the coming days, outlining what demands they believe should be put to Moscow. She stressed that the burden should be on Russia to make concessions.
United States special envoy Steve Witkoff has said he held productive and constructive meetings with Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev in Florida, as President Donald Trump's administration presses to end Russia's nearly four-year war in Ukraine. We are encouraged by this meeting that Russia is working toward securing peace in Ukraine, wrote Witkoff in a post on X following Saturday's talks.
The United States has given Ukraine and Russia a June deadline to reach an agreement to end the nearly four-year war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. The Americans are proposing the parties end the war by the beginning of this summer and will probably put pressure on the parties precisely according to this schedule, Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv on Friday, in comments embargoed until Saturday.
Ukraine's top negotiator Rustem Umerov has given positive signals from the first day of trilateral talks involving his country, Russia and the United States in Abu Dhabi. "The work was substantive and productive, focusing on concrete steps and practical solutions," Umerov said on the Telegram messaging app. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that a breakthrough may not come for a while but the Trump administration has made great progress on negotiations over the past year.
