Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin vows to keep on fighting if Kyiv doesn’t agree on peace deal

President Donald Trump said he remains committed to pursuing a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine despite uncertainty over face-to-face talks between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, CBS News said in a report.

“I’ve been watching it, I’ve been seeing it, and I’ve been talking about it with President Putin and President Zelensky,” Trump said in a phone interview with the broadcaster.

“Something is going to happen, but they are not ready yet. But something is going to happen. We are going to get it done.”

Donald Trump warned “you’ll see things happen” if the US is unhappy with Vladimir Putin’s decisions over the war in Ukraine.

Speaking alongside Polish president Karol Nawrocki on Wednesday, the US president said he was awaiting a decision from Putin, as he spoke of the ongoing loss of lives in the region due to the conflict.

Putin had earlier said he would be prepared to meet Volodymyr Zelensky in Moscow following weeks of apparent stalling on peace talks since the summit in Alaska.

“I have no message to President Putin,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

“He knows where I stand and he’ll make a decision one way or another. Whatever his decision is, we’ll either be happy about it or unhappy about it and if we’re unhappy about it, you’ll see things happen,” he said.

Putin said on Wednesday he believed “that if common sense prevails, it is possible to agree on an acceptable option for ending the conflict,” adding that Trump has “a sincere desire” to find a settlement.

“It seems to me that there is a certain light at the end of the tunnel,” Putin said at a news conference in Beijing, wrapping up a four-day visit to China. “Let’s see how the situation develops. If not, then we will have to achieve our goal by military means.”

Volodymyr Zelensky has extended his condolences to the Lisbon president after an electric streetcar that is one of Lisbon’s big tourist attractions derailed and crashed, killing 15 people and injuring 18 others.

“Deeply saddened by the tragic accident with Glória elevator in Lisbon, which caused dozens of fatalities and left more than 25 people injured. On behalf of the Ukrainian people, I extend heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims, to President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, @LMontenegro_PT, and we wish a speedy recovery to those injured. In this time of grief, we remain in prayer and solidarity with Portuguese people mourning the loss,” Zelensky said on X.

Authorities called it an accident, the worst in the city’s recent history, and it cast a pall over Lisbon’s charm for the millions of foreign tourists who arrive every year. Officials did not immediately provide a cause of the crash.

“Today, humanity is once again faced with critical choices: peace or war? Dialogue or confrontation? Win-win co-operation or zero-sum rivalry?” Xi said.

“The Chinese people firmly stand on the right side of history and on the side of human civilisation and progress,” he added – flanked by Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s ruler who beamed at the sight of China’s biggest ever military parade in Tiananmen Square.

Russia will continue with its goals in Ukraine invasion by military means if Moscow’s peace deal is not agreed upon, Vladimir Putin said in fresh signs of wanting to continue his military operations in Ukraine despite peace talks.

Putin said there was a chance to end the war in Ukraine via negotiations “if common sense prevails”, an option he said he preferred, but that he was ready to end it by force if that was the only way.

Speaking in Beijing at the end of a visit that resulted in an agreement on a new gas pipeline to China, Putin said he perceived “a certain light at the end of the tunnel”, given what he said were sincere efforts by the United States to find a settlement to Europe’s biggest land war since the Second World War.

“It seems to me that if common sense prevails, it will be possible to agree on an acceptable solution to end this conflict,” Putin said in Beijing yesterday. “If not, then we will have to resolve all our tasks militarily.”

“Especially since we can see the mood of the current US administration under president (Donald) Trump, and we see not just their statements, but their sincere desire to find this solution… And I think there is a certain light at the end of the tunnel. Let’s see how the situation develops,” he said.

“If not, then we will have to resolve all the tasks before us by force of arms,” he warned.

US president Donald Trump said that he remains committed to pursuing a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine despite mounting uncertainty over the prospect of face-to-face talks between Russian president Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

“I’ve been watching it, I’ve been seeing it, and I’ve been talking about it with president Putin and president Zelensky,” Trump said in a phone interview with CBS News on Wednesday.

“Something is going to happen, but they are not ready yet. But something is going to happen. We are going to get it done,” he said.

Trump told CBS News he is unhappy with the carnage between Russia and Ukraine but will keep pushing for a peace agreement.

“I think we’re going to get it all straightened out. Frankly, the Russia one, I thought, would have been on the easier side of the ones I’ve stopped, but it seems to be something that’s a little bit more difficult than some of the others,” he said.

Trump yesterday said he plans to hold talks about the war in Ukraine in coming days after his Alaska summit with Putin in August failed to achieve a breakthrough. A White House official said Trump is expected to speak on the phone today with Zelensky.

Ukraine’s military has denied Russian claims of advancing in the country’s northeastern Kharkiv region’s Kupiansk city.

Russia’s defence ministry said that its troops had captured “about half” of the city of Kupiansk in a military update yesterday.

The Russian defence ministry released a drone video showing a soldier holding a Russian flag while standing on a road in the town. Much of the city has been destroyed as Moscow tries to seize it back as part of a slow advance westward along parts of the 1,000-km (620-mile) long frontline.

Ukraine’s 10th army corps, in a post on the Telegram messaging app, described the Russian report as staged propaganda.

“All such attempts are pointless,” it said alongside a video of its own, which it said showed a Russian unit being destroyed. “All such attempts by the Russian occupiers to use localities as a decoration for propaganda videos are doomed to fail.”

Ukraine’s official Centre Against Disinformation said any notion that Russian forces had advanced into Kupiansk was untrue and a propaganda exercise.

Kupiansk has been the focus of months of increased Russian military activity and heavy fighting. Russian troops captured the city in the early weeks of their February 2022 invasion and Ukrainian forces took it back later that same year.

German foreign minister Johann Wadephul urged India to press its close ally Russia to return to peace talks over the war in Ukraine, days after Indian prime minister Narendra Modi met Russian president Vladimir Putin at a regional summit in China.

Wadephul told a news conference yesterday that despite enormous efforts by Europe and the United States, Russia hasn’t been willing to enter negotiations, a challenge New Delhi could possibly address.

“The only demand is that weapons fall silent,” the German minister said during his two-day visit to India, adding that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has shown an intention to make peace.