Zelenskiy Hopes Europe, US Will Be Involved in Ukraine Peace Talks

 Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with Moldova's President Maia Sandu (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 25, 2025. (Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with Moldova's President Maia Sandu (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 25, 2025. (Reuters)
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Zelenskiy Hopes Europe, US Will Be Involved in Ukraine Peace Talks

 Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with Moldova's President Maia Sandu (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 25, 2025. (Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with Moldova's President Maia Sandu (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 25, 2025. (Reuters)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hopes Europe and the United States will be involved in any talks about ending his country's war with Russia, he told reporters on Saturday.

At a joint press conference with President Maia Sandu of neighboring Moldova, Zelenskiy said Ukraine also needed to be involved in any discussions on ending the war for such negotiations to have any meaningful impact.

"As for what the set-up of the talks will be: Ukraine, I really hope Ukraine will be there, America, Europe and the Russians," Zelenskiy said, later clarifying that no framework was yet established.

"Yes, I would really want that Europe would take part, because we will be members of the European Union."

Zelenskiy said he believed new US President Donald Trump could end the war, but he could only do so if he involved Ukraine in the talks.

"Otherwise, it will not work. Because Russia does not want to end the war, while Ukraine wants to end it," he said.

Trump promised during his campaign he would end the war within 24 hours of taking office, but his aides have since said a deal could take months.

The US president has expressed willingness to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the war.

On Friday, Putin said he would like to meet Trump to talk about Ukraine. He cited a 2022 decree from Zelenskiy barring talks with Putin as a barrier to negotiations.

At the press conference, Zelenskiy said he introduced this prohibition to stop Putin forming other channels of communication with interlocutors in Ukraine. Zelenskiy said Russia was actively trying to do this before he signed the order.

HELP FOR MOLDOVA

Zelenskiy said Ukraine was ready to offer coal to Moldova, which is in the midst of an energy crisis after flows of Russian gas through Ukraine stopped at the beginning of this year.

Most of Moldova is controlled by authorities in Chisinau, but a sizeable minority of the population live in Transdniestria, a region which broke away in a violent conflict in the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

That region, which has Moldova's only power station, is now facing the brunt of an energy crisis after losing gas supply, warning that its supplies will soon be exhausted.

"Russia’s latest move has been to orchestrate an energy crisis," Sandu told reporters in Kyiv, adding that electricity prices had shot up in territories controlled by her government, but that things were even worse in the breakaway area.

"Those living in the Transdniestrian region of Moldova, held hostage by an unconstitutional regime backed by Russia for the past three decades, are now left in cold and darkness."

Sandu said this was part of a calculated Russian strategy to sow chaos in Moldova and to facilitate the coming to power of a pro-Russian government, an apparent nod to parliamentary elections coming up this year.

Zelenskiy said Ukraine could supply enough coal to Moldova or to Transdniestria to solve their energy problems and to drive electricity prices down by 30%.

"The absence of a crisis in Moldova is also (in the interests of) our Ukrainian security," Zelenskiy said, adding that Ukraine could send a team of specialists to facilitate the use of Ukrainian coal at Transdniestria's power plant.

Sandu said it was up to Transdniestrian authorities in the region's capital of Tiraspol to accept the aid.



Large Russian Drone Attack Injures Civilians in Central Ukraine

Rescuers work at the site of a residential building damaged during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Dolynska, in Kirovohrad region, Ukraine, February 18, 2025. Head of Kirovohrad Regional Military Administration Andrii Raikovych via Telegram/Handout via REUTERS
Rescuers work at the site of a residential building damaged during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Dolynska, in Kirovohrad region, Ukraine, February 18, 2025. Head of Kirovohrad Regional Military Administration Andrii Raikovych via Telegram/Handout via REUTERS
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Large Russian Drone Attack Injures Civilians in Central Ukraine

Rescuers work at the site of a residential building damaged during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Dolynska, in Kirovohrad region, Ukraine, February 18, 2025. Head of Kirovohrad Regional Military Administration Andrii Raikovych via Telegram/Handout via REUTERS
Rescuers work at the site of a residential building damaged during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Dolynska, in Kirovohrad region, Ukraine, February 18, 2025. Head of Kirovohrad Regional Military Administration Andrii Raikovych via Telegram/Handout via REUTERS

A large-scale overnight Russian drone attack hit a residential building in the city of Dolynska in central Ukraine, injuring a mother and her two children and forcing evacuations from 38 apartments, a regional official said on Tuesday.
"A difficult night for the Kirovohrad region," Andriy Raikovych, the region's governor, said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. "An enemy drone hit a high-rise building in Dolynska."
The mother and one of the children were taken to hospital, said Raikovych, who posted photos of flames bursting out of windows of a high-story apartment building.
The Ukrainian military said on Tuesday that Russia launched 176 drones in a large-scale attack.
Ukraine's air force shot down 103 of the drones and 67 did not reach their targets, probably due to electronic countermeasures, the military said.
According to Reuters, it did not specify what happened to the remaining six drones, but said that Kirovohrad, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Cherkasy regions were impacted.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said that drone debris fell in one of the districts of the capital, causing a fire at an industrial enterprise.
Reuters could not independently verify the report. There was no immediate comment from Russia.
Both Moscow and Kyiv deny targeting civilians in the war, which Russia started with its full-scale invasion on Ukraine nearly three years ago. But thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian.
The attack took place as top Russian and US officials are meeting in Saudi Arabia for talks - without the participation of Kyiv or its European allies - on how to end the war in Ukraine.