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- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is meeting leaders of European allies – the UK, France and Germany – to seek backing on defence and security, and to convene on the revised US peace plan.
- Zelenskyy told the media that negotiators remain divided over territorial concessions in the US plan, specifically in eastern Ukraine.
- The Russian Defence Ministry says its army has taken control of the villages of Chervone in Ukraine’s Donetsk region and Novodanilivka in the neighbouring Zaporizhia region.
- Meanwhile, the US continues to put pressure on Ukraine to accept a settlement with Russia and end the war.
Zelenskyy looking to assess Ukraine’s position as he meets European leaders.
Zelenskyy is weighing his options and trying to decide how strong or how weak Ukraine’s situation actually is.
In London, he will be looking at how steadfast European leaders are to militarily face off Russia should it launch another war – and do so without US help.
He goes later to Brussels, where he’ll want to know how close they are to reaching a financing deal to meet Ukraine’s wartime requirements if the war goes on.
And from NATO, he will want to know how willing they are to keep funding the purchase of US weapons to keep Ukraine in the game.
Important for Moscow to know outcome of US-Ukraine talks: Kremlin
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was important for Moscow to learn about the results of the US’s meeting with Ukraine, state news agency TASS reported.
“As you know, detailed work was carried out in Moscow during the meeting between [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and [US Special Envoy Steve] Witkoff and [Jared] Kushner. Then, based on the results achieved in Moscow, Witkoff and Kushner worked with a delegation of Ukrainian negotiators led by [Rustam] Umerov. Now it is important for us to understand the results of this work,” the spokesman told reporters.
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“We hope to receive such information. Then it will be clear,” he said.
Three days of talks between US and Ukrainian representatives concluded in the US state of Florida on Saturday.
Following the talks, Witkoff and Kushner held a telephone conversation with Zelenskyy.
Ukraine looks for united front as European backers react to Trump’s moves
European leaders want to show Zelenskyy that they’ve got his back at a time when US President Donald Trump seems to be losing interest in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy is saying that there needs to be unity between Ukraine, Europe and the United States, but that unity is lacking at the moment.
The US administration seems to be willing to acquiesce to a lot of Russian demands. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has tried to use his relationship with Trump to get a better deal for Ukraine, but the problem with Starmer and the rest of the European leaders is that they are not officially part of these peace talks.
In addition, even though they’ve been footing the bill for a lot of the US military aid, that aid is still being manufactured in the US and a lot of the intelligence also comes from there, so Europeans does not have that much leverage.
German FM appeals to China to exert influence on Russia to end war
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul says he pressed Chinese officials to use their influence on Russia to help end the war in Ukraine.
“If there is one country in the world that has a strong influence on Russia, it is China,” Wadephul told a press conference in Beijing, during his first visit to China as Germany’s top diplomat.
“My clear appeal to the Chinese side was – as it has been before – to advocate that Russia also realises that it can now come to the negotiating table,” he said.
While Beijing regularly calls for peace talks and respect for the territorial integrity of all countries, it has taken a neutral stance on the war.
However, Western governments have accused Beijing of providing Moscow with crucial economic support in its war efforts, particularly by supplying military components for its defence industry.
Photos: Ukraine, E3 leaders meet in London
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy and French President Macron [Toby Melville/Pool via AFP] 
Germany’s Merz and UK PM Starmer [Toby Melville/Pool via AFP] 
Starmer and Zelenskyy [Toby Melville/Pool via AFP] 
(L-R) Germany’s Merz, UK’s Starmer, Ukraine’s Zelenskyy and France’s Macron in London [Toby Melville/Pool via AFP] European security guarantees for Ukraine remain a red line for Russia
When it comes to the possibility of European countries providing security guarantees to Ukraine, the Russian side has many times said Ukraine’s NATO membership or peacekeepers on the ground are a red line for Moscow.
Russia considers European and US military assistance to Ukraine as direct involvement, and we constantly hear quite aggressive rhetoric directed towards Europe on social media and Russian TV.
Recently, Putin said Russia wasn’t going to fight with Europe, but that if Europe attacked Russia, then it would fight back immediately. He said this war would finish very quickly for Europe, hinting at the fact that Russia has nuclear weapons.
The territorial issue remains the most pressing one as the Russian side insists that it won’t leave the territories it captured in Ukraine. The US, Russia and Ukraine have not reached an agreement over the control of Donetsk and Luhansk, known collectively as Donbas, but according to the Russian side, the negotiations are ongoing.
India will buy oil wherever it is ‘beneficial’, says Kremlin
The Kremlin says India will continue buying oil wherever it is profitable to do so to ensure its own economic interests.
“India, as a sovereign state, conducts foreign trade operations and purchases energy resources where it is beneficial for India, and as far as we understand, our Indian partners will continue this policy to ensure their economic interests,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a call with reporters.
In August, US President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50 percent in a move to punish New Delhi for buying Russian oil. Washington has said buying the oil was helping to fund Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Last week, during a visit to New Delhi, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered India uninterrupted fuel supplies.
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What are Russia and Ukraine’s demands in the peace talks?
Russian and Ukrainian leaders have laid out conflicting demands.
Russia has refused to halt the fighting until a comprehensive peace deal is reached. Putin wants all the areas in four key regions that his forces have seized, and Crimea, which was illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognised as Russian.
He has also demanded that Ukraine withdraw from some areas in the east that have not been captured. Moscow has also insisted that Ukraine abandon its bid to join NATO, limit the size of its army, grant official status to the Russian language, and recognise the Russian Orthodox Church.
Ukraine has said it is ready to halt the fighting along the existing front line, though it would not officially cede territory currently under Russian control. It has also rejected Moscow’s demand that it surrender other land Russia has not been able to take by force and drop its bid for NATO membership.
As part of a prospective peace agreement, Ukraine has demanded solid security guarantees both from Europe and the US to deter Russia from attacking again.
Unity with Europe, US, Ukraine ‘important’, says Zelenskyy
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says unity between Europe, Ukraine and the US is important during negotiations to end Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president is in London, where he made the comments as he meets with allies from France, Germany and the UK to rally support.
