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UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR Zelensky has called for “real, lasting peace” this year as European leaders gathered today for a summit in Kyiv on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
Russia said it would only halt the invasion if a deal can be reached that “suits” its interests and accused Europe of wanting to prolong the fighting.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to launch what he called a “special military operation” in February 2022 set off the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II.
Tens of thousands of soldiers from both sides and Ukrainian civilians have been killed. Cities across the country’s south and east have been flattened and millions forced to flee their homes.
“This year should be the year of the beginning of a real, lasting peace,” Zelensky told Ukraine’s backers in Kyiv.
“Putin will not give us peace or give it to us in exchange for something. We have to win peace through strength and wisdom and unity,” he added.
The third anniversary of the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion. Three years of absolute heroism by our people.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 24, 2025
Eternal memory to all who stood up in defense of our state and our people, giving their lives so that Ukraine may live.
Eternal gratitude to the fallen… pic.twitter.com/YthE9Jjskt
EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen also warned that despite opening talks with the United States on how to end the conflict, Putin was not about to back down.
“Putin is trying harder than ever to win this war on the ground. His goal remains Ukraine’s capitulation,” she said.
She also called the war in Ukraine “the most central and consequential crisis for Europe’s future.”
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has offered to help broker a deal, told the summit he strongly supported “Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence” and said both sides must be represented “fairly” in talks.
But as leaders of Ukraine’s backers lined up to proclaim support and hail Kyiv’s resistance, there was one notable absence: the United States.
Donald Trump’s return to the White House has threatened to upend the Western coalition, and has brought vital military and financial aid into question at a critical juncture.
His opening of talks with Putin, the false claim that Ukraine “started” the war and verbal attacks on Zelensky have triggered alarm across Europe.
Kyiv said Monday it was in the “final stages” of a deal with Washington to give the United States preferential access to rare minerals – one of the sources of disagreement that has exploded over the last week.
Russian officials have been buoyed by Trump’s outreach, sensing an opportunity to push their core demands: the roll-back of NATO’s military presence in Europe, territorial concessions from Ukraine and the end of Western military support to Kyiv.
“We will stop hostilities only when these negotiations produce a firm and sustainable result that suits the Russian Federation,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on a visit to Turkey.
Putin’s spokesman meanwhile accused Europe of prolonging the fighting.
“The Europeans continue on the path of a sanctions nosedive, on the path of conviction in the need to continue the war,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, responding to a fresh package of sanctions levelled by Brussels on Monday.
On the streets of Moscow, there was support for a hardline approach.
Europe and Ukraine “needed to be pushed around to show that they aren’t the most important in the world,” pensioner Irina Svetlichnaya, 77, told AFP.
French president Emmanuel Macron has met with Trump at the White House this afternoon, as European leaders look to shore up a transatlantic alliance upended by the US president’s outreach to Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine.
Macron was due to present “proposals for action” to counter the “Russian threat.”
He is hoping to persuade Trump to include European leaders in talks between Russia and the United States.
Trump shocked leaders recently when he declared his readiness to resume diplomacy with Russian President Vladimir Putin and to hold talks without the involvement of European nations or Kyiv.
He has accused Ukraine of being responsible for starting the war, raising concern in Europe that he will side with Moscow to end the conflict.
Macron has tried to coordinate a European response to Washington’s sudden policy shift, saying Russia is “an existential threat to Europeans.”
US and Russian officials are due to meet in Saudi Arabia’s capital tomorrow, a diplomatic source told AFP, a week after foreign ministers from the two nations met there for breakthrough talks.
Delegations from the two sides will “meet in Riyadh on Tuesday”, the source said Monday on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of talks.
The new sit-down will be “a follow-up meeting to last week’s. It is at a lower level than last week, but it is still a sign of progress,” the source added without disclosing the names of the representatives from the two sides.
A week ago, US and Russian delegations led by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met in Riyadh for discussions potentially laying the foundation for a summit between US and Russian presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Chinese President Xi Jinping backed ally Russia’s “positive efforts to defuse” the Ukraine crisis, in a call with Putin, Chinese state media reported today.
Beijing is a crucial political backer of Russia and has never condemned its invasion. Zelensky has repeatedly called for Xi to help convince Putin to halt the war.
The Ukrainian leader also on Monday refreshed his call for security guarantees from Kyiv’s backers to ensure Russia does not use any ceasefire to rearm and attack again at a later date.
With Trump sceptical of continuing to support Ukraine, Europe has been left debating whether it can fill the void.
French President Emmanuel Macron is in Washington for a meeting with Trump where he said he will tell the Republican: “You cannot be weak in the face of President Putin.”
Ukrainian soldiers in the east told AFP they were nervous about Trump’s bid for a swift ceasefire.
“This idiot doesn’t understand what he’s talking about at all. He’s in some kind of bubble and falls for Russian rhetoric,” 41-year-old soldier Mikhailo told AFP.
“I don’t want to give up Ukrainian land … we’ve been fighting for so long,” said Mykola, a 38 year-old commander stationed in the eastern Donetsk region.
“But everyone is tired of the war.”
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