Ukraine has proposed to carry a brand new spherical of peace talks with Russia subsequent week after negotiations stalled final month.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed on Saturday that Defence Council secretary Rustem Umerov made the provide of a gathering with Russian negotiators for subsequent week.
“Every part ought to be achieved to realize a ceasefire,” Zelenskyy mentioned in his night handle to the nation. “The Russian aspect ought to cease hiding from choices.”
Ukraine’s chief additionally reiterated his readiness to have a face-to-face sit-down with Putin. “A gathering on the management degree is required to actually guarantee peace – lasting peace,” he mentioned.
There was no speedy response from Russia.
Secretary of the NSDC proposed a brand new assembly with Russia subsequent week. They have to cease hiding from choices. Ceasefire. Prisoner exchanges. Return of kids. Finish to the killings. And a gathering on the degree of leaders is required to actually guarantee an enduring peace. Ukraine is prepared. pic.twitter.com/ksH7FzxnAE
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 19, 2025
Umerov, a former defence minister, was appointed final week as the pinnacle of the Nationwide Safety and Defence Council and tasked with including extra momentum to the negotiations.
He headed his nation’s delegation in two earlier rounds of talks in Turkiye earlier this yr, which yielded little greater than an agreement to alternate prisoners and troopers’ stays.
In earlier rounds, Russia outlined a listing of hardline calls for that weren’t acceptable to Ukraine, calling on it to cede 4 Ukrainian areas it claims as its personal and reject Western army assist.
Nonetheless, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Friday indicated that Moscow agreed with an announcement by Zelenskyy that peace efforts wanted “extra momentum”.
The shift got here after United States President Donald Trump, who initially appeared to undertake a conciliatory method in the direction of Russia after getting into workplace, upped the pressure on Moscow.
This week, Trump set a 50-day deadline for Moscow to succeed in a ceasefire in Ukraine or face “100% tariffs” and the prospect of secondary sanctions being imposed on international locations that purchase Russian oil.
He additionally promised to ramp up arms shipments to the war-battered nation.
Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the ministry, mentioned on Thursday that Russia wouldn’t settle for the “blackmail” of Washington’s sanctions ultimatum, and the choice to renew weapons deliveries was a sign to Ukraine to “abandon the peace course of”.
Ongoing alternate of fireplace
Kyiv prolonged its invitation for extra talks with Moscow after Russian forces staged an enormous drone assault on the Ukrainian Black Sea port metropolis of Odesa early on Saturday, killing at the very least one resident and injuring six others, based on Zelenskyy.
Posting on X on Saturday, the Ukrainian president mentioned Russia launched greater than 30 missiles and 300 drones throughout its in a single day assault that affected 10 areas of the nation.
Russia, in the meantime, needed to droop trains for about 4 hours in a single day within the southern Rostov area when it got here beneath a Ukrainian drone assault, which injured one railway employee.
On Saturday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin mentioned on Telegram that Russian air defence programs shot down three drones en path to town.
Two Moscow airports – Vnukovo and Domodedovo – suspended arrivals and departures for security causes, however later resumed operations, Russian aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia mentioned.
The Russian Defence Ministry mentioned its air defence programs intercepted and destroyed 27 Ukrainian drones in whole from 3pm to 7pm Moscow time (12:00-16:00 GMT).
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has led to Europe’s bloodiest battle since World Warfare II, with estimates suggesting 1.2 million individuals have been wounded or killed.