Stop in Kiev for Trump's envoys after the meeting in the Kremlin with Putin, but peace remains a mirage. 'Everyone will need to make compromises,' says Witkoff after the talks with Zelensky and some European national security advisers defined as 'substantial and important'. The US envoys left last night. The Ukrainian leader aims for 'a dignified peace' but also talks about Patriot and the package that Kiev will need to survive the winter if the war continues, 'and so far it certainly seems so'. Among the reasons for the stalemate is the territorial question, which according to Zelensky can be resolved 'only at the level of presidents'. Meanwhile, Moscow threatens Berlin: 'The German accusations for the drones in Leipzig represent the beginning of a real war', thunders Lavrov.
Volodymyr Zelensky says that Ukrainian drones have struck in the Russian region of Perm over a thousand kilometers from the border with Russia, reaching oil refining plants. Zelensky said on Telegram that oil processing plants in Tatarstan were also hit, along with an oil refinery in the Ryazan region. The Ukrainian leader added that a site used to store and launch attack drones in the Kursk region was hit.
Legal tug-of-war in Ukraine for the control of Ids Ukraine: the Kiev government aims to nationalize the bottled water giant, but the holding company firmly opposes legal challenges. The Guardian reports it. Since it is a water company, the government considers it a strategic asset for the country in times of war and wants to entrust it to an independent manager or nationalize it completely. The dispute centers on the 34% stake held by the Patarkatsishvili family, including Liana Patarkatsishvili, makers of major bottled water brands in Ukraine. The Ukrainian government agency that deals with these assets (called Arma) fears that the current management may hide irregularities, such as money laundering. The Ukrainian government's attempt is blocked by legal and bureaucratic obstacles. In 2022, Ukrainian authorities had frozen Ids Ukraine's corporate holdings due to the 49% stake held by Russian investors, including Mikhail Fridman, founder of the Russian Alfa Group, subject to Western sanctions for its support for Vladimir Putin's regime. The Patarkatsishvili family, through its lawyers, states "an asset should not be taken from unsanctioned shareholders against whom there are no charges or concerns, and defends this position in all relevant proceedings before the Ukrainian courts and authorities".
Odessa, Ukraine's third largest city, will decide this week whether to approve a controversial bill to ban the Russian language in music and literature, in streets, parks, public institutions and state-run entertainment and art venues. The BBC reports it. The proposal, currently being examined by Odessa city councilors, aims to add further restrictions on the use of Russian, already imposed by national legislation. The issue is particularly relevant because Odessa is a city with an overwhelming Russian-speaking majority, although the ban would only concern public spaces, leaving the daily use of the Russian language unchanged. “The Russian language is a weapon of Russia and we must try to remedy it,” says Odessa lawyer Artem Kartashov, who has advised local authorities on an official program to “decolonize” the city from its historical Russian heritage. “With Russian-language music and other things, Russians try to deconstruct the Ukrainian identity and influence especially young people, because they grow up in a Russian-speaking environment.”
White House envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner left Kiev aboard a special train late yesterday evening. "We greeted the convoy of Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. We thanked them for the visit and, on behalf of all of us, we wished them a quick return and a more extensive geography of missions, so that other cities can also enjoy quiet weekends", wrote the Ukrainian railways in a statement, in which reference is made to the truce of attacks on the capitals agreed by Kiev and Moscow to coincide with the mission of the US envoys.
Vladimir Putin opens up the possibility of accepting injured veterans or people with serious and irreversible pathologies such as blindness, deafness in both ears, or schizophrenia as volunteers in regional units for the protection of sensitive sites from Ukrainian drone raids. In response to a proposal from Vgtrk correspondent Evgeny Poddubny, who is also the frontrunner of United Russia in this month's 18-20 legislative elections, the Russian president welcomed the extension of the recruitment pool. “People in category D have serious pathologies but there are cases when they are able to carry out some tasks, for example to serve in units for air defense and destruction of drones. Not everyone can do this, of course. But there are volunteers who after assessing their capabilities beg for an exception that would also allow them to serve in units protecting sites from drone attacks. So, not on the front line, but in their cities, settlements, in their workplace,” Poddubny said. “Yes, it is a proposal that I support,” replied the President, as reported by Meduza.
Donald Trump's envoys in Moscow and then Kiev on Sunday presented new "more effective" proposals aimed at ending the war with Russia, the Ukrainian presidency said. President Volodymyr Zelensky, however, has expressed concern that the war could continue this winter, given his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin's reluctance to negotiate directly with him. US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the American president's son-in-law, have presented new "more effective" proposals to Kiev aimed at ending the war with Russia, a senior official of the Ukrainian presidency told AFP on Sunday evening. The two men left Kiev by train on Sunday evening, the Ukrainian railway company announced, without specifying their destination. Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived from Poland on Sunday, after meeting Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday evening. Volodymyr Zelensky had his first talks with Donald Trump's envoys on Sunday, in which he did not appear optimistic. “We count on the support of our European partners if the war drags on into the winter, as it seems at the moment,” he told a news conference on Sunday evening, after the talks ended. For his part, Steve Witkoff, who had previously welcomed the "very significant" talks, said that Moscow and Kiev will have to compromise to find a way out of the war that has pitted them against each other since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Meanwhile, attacks continue: one person was killed and four others injured in the Russian region of Perm after a Ukrainian drone attack damaged a residential building, regional governor Dmitry said in a statement Makhonin.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed attacks on "port infrastructure and naval vessels used to support the Ukrainian armed forces". Last night, "attack drones hit the Mavka, a cargo ship carrying military equipment, in the port of Chornomorsk" in Odessa Oblast, the ministry said. "This morning, attack drones hit a production and cargo complex used for unloading military equipment supplied to the Ukrainian Armed Forces by Western countries in the port of Izmail. In the Black Sea, a patrol boat used to escort ships carrying military equipment was hit."
"The territorial issue remains relevant. I think such complex issues can be resolved only at the level of leaders. But the main thing is that today we have the opportunity to discuss everything: security guarantees, the future of Ukraine and the prosperity plan. We are talking not only about security guarantees, but also about economic guarantees for Ukraine - to rebuild and recover." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote this on third part of our negotiations. We have agreed that Ukraine, Europe and the United States will meet soon."
