Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky says Kyiv strikes show Putin’s ‘true attitude’ ahead of Trump peace talks

It comes after months of back-and-forth discussions between Kyiv, Washington, Moscow, and Brussels, as world leaders attempt to broker a deal that would bring the nearly four-year conflict between Ukraine and Russia to an end.

But what are the hurdles standing in the way? James C. Reynolds reports:

European Union support for Ukraine “will not falter”, an EU chief has said ahead of crucial peace talks between the US and Kyiv.

In a post on X, European Council president Antonio Costa wrote: “Together with European leaders I spoke with President @ZelenskyyUa, in order to coordinate ahead of tomorrow’s meeting with President Trump.

“The EU’s support for Ukraine will not falter. In war, in peace, in reconstruction.”

He added: “A strong and prosperous Ukraine in the EU is a core security guarantee.

“We continue to work for a robust and lasting peace for Ukraine, in close cooperation with our US partners.”

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky says he would be willing to withdraw troops from the country’s eastern industrial heartland in an updated plan to end the war with Russia – if Moscow also pulled back from the area, creating a demilitarised zone.

As he prepares for a fresh round of peace talks with the US, Mr Zelensky said the Donbas region could become a “free economic zone”, but it was unclear how the fought-over area would be governed or developed.

The Independent’s Maryam Zakir-Hussain has more:

Power has been restored to 50,000 homes in the Kyiv region after Russian strikes damaged infrastructure and left half a million families in the dark, according to Ukraine’s energy provider.

In a statement on Telegram, DTEK Group said Russia had caused “serious damage” in the region that will “take time” to repair.

It added emergency power outages continue in the Brovary, Boryspil, and Vyshgorod districts of the Kyiv region.

Russian forces have captured one town in the Donetsk region and one in Zaporizhzhia, the Kremlin has said.

In a post on Telegram, Russian forces showed President Vladimir Putin inspecting a commanding post.

It added Russian soldiers had reportedly taken the town of Myrnohrad in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, as well as Huliaipole in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region.

Both are heavily contested areas key to Russia’s territorial ambitions.

The Independent could not independently verify the battlefield reports.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has claimed Ukraine are in “no hurry” to end the ongoing conflict peacefully.

It comes as his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky travels to the US for peace talks with Donald Trump.

Mr Putin said that if Ukraine didn’t want to resolve the conflict peacefully then Russia would resolve all goals of its “special military operation” by force, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Saturday.