Vladimir Putin breaks silence on Ukraine peace talks and Donald Trump phone call

Reports of 4,000 North Korean casualties in the past three months have not hampered Pyongyang's determination to fight. North Korean troops pulled back from the front lines in January, but they are now back after additional training. Combat units are becoming smaller to minimize exposure to Ukrainian drones. North Korean missiles used in the war are also becoming more accurate. North Korea is learning, and it is learning fast."

Khang Vu, visiting scholar in the Political Science Department at Boston College, wrote in an article for the Lowy Institute think tank Wednesday

I think people are going to be surprised at how many people, not only soldiers, have been killed in Ukraine."

He further

Vladimir Putinpresident

Without increasing the level of trust between Russia and the United States, it is impossible to resolve many issues, including the Ukrainian crisis,

Putin said in his first comments on Tuesday's meeting in Riyadh

We are not imposing anything on anyone. We are ready, I have already said this a hundred times - if they want, please, let these negotiations take place. And we will be ready to return to the table for negotiations,

he said

It's a very, very negative trend, but I have no influence over it,

said Havrylov, the former village head in Novopavlivka

It's painful to look at this, and painful to realise the front is now nearby,

said school director Yurii Bilyk, gesturing to the rubble at his badly damaged school building

I wonder – if we didn’t accept such ultimatums in our most difficult moment, why does anyone think we would now?”

The leader

This whole negotiation from the start seems very tilted in Russia’s favord it’s even a question whether it should be termed a negotiation or in some sense, a series of American capitulations,

said Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow for Eurasia and Russia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London and a former British ambassador to Belarus

A half-baked negotiator could have settled this years ago without the loss of much land, very little land, without the loss of any lives,

Trump said, echoing his frequent claim that he could have prevented the Russian invasion

No one is being sidelined here,

said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio

I think I have the power to end this war. And I think it's going very well,

Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago after the meeting between U.S. and Russian officials

Oleksiy Goncharenkoukrainian lawmaker

Europe should be at the table. It's about European security. The United States did a lot in support of us, we're very thankful—but Europe also did a lot, and they deserve this place."

Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksiy Goncharenko told Newsweek

I think they have to make peace. Their people are being killed, and I think they have to make peace. I said that was not a good war to go into, and I think they have to make peace. That's what I think."

Trump told reporters last week, when asked if Ukraine should be an equal member of the peace negotiations

Keith Kelloggretired Lieutenant General

I think that's not going to happen ... There was a lot of people at the table that really had no ability to execute some kind of peace process and failed miserably. We're not going to go down that path."

Retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, said Saturday, when asked if European countries would have a seat at the negotiating table

Volodymyr Zelenskyypresident

Europe and the world must be better protected from such evil and prepared to confront it. This requires a strong, united foreign policy and pressure on Putin, who started this war and is now expanding it globally. Together with Europe, the U.S., and all our partners, we can end this war with a just and lasting peace."

Zelensky said on X, formerly Twitter

Volodymyr Zelenskyypresident

Decisions on how to end the war in Ukraine cannot be made without Ukraine, nor can any conditions be imposed,

Zelensky said during a visit to Turkey on Tuesday

Tammy Bruceu.S. State Department spokesperson

President Trump wants to stop the killing; the United States wants peace and is using its strength in the world to bring countries together. President Trump is the only leader in the world who can get Ukraine and Russia to agree to that."

U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Tuesday

The participants discussed a broad range of issues, including prospects for normalising bilateral relations. The sides agreed to appoint respective ambassadors as soon as possible, and to start consultations at the level of deputy foreign ministers to remove restrictions on activities of the diplomatic missions of the two countries."

The Russian Foreign Ministry in a press release on Russia-US consultations said

FM Sergey #Lavrov and Presidential Aide Yury #Ushakov held talks with Secretary of State @SecRubio, National Security Adviser @michaelgwaltz, and US Special Envoy to the Middle East @SteveWitkoff. The Sides agreed to establish #RussiaUS dialogue."

In a post on X, the Russian Foreign Ministry wrote

We want to end it. It's a senseless war. It should have never happened; it would have never happened if I were President."

Trump added