Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump will ‘force’ Putin and Zelensky to meet, says Vance

One person was killed, and several apartments and an industrial facility were damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack on the south Russian region of Saratov, the governor said on Sunday.

Roman Busargin posted on the Telegram messaging app that residents were evacuated after debris from a destroyed drone damaged three apartments in the overnight attack.

“Several residents required medical assistance,” Busargin said. “Aid was provided onsite, and one person has been hospitalised. Unfortunately, one person has died.”

The fighting comes less than a week before peace talks are set to be held between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on Friday.

Russian air defence units destroyed 121 Ukrainian drones overnight, including eight over the Saratov region, the defence ministry said. It reports only how many drones its defence units down, not how many Ukraine launches.

Busargin did not specify what kind of industrial site was damaged.

Social media footage showed thick black smoke rising over what looked like an industrial zone. Reuters verified the location seen in one of the videos as matching file and satellite imagery of the area. Reuters could not verify when the video was filmed.

Ukrainian media, including the RBK-Ukraine media outlet, reported that the oil refinery in the city of Saratov, the administrative centre of the region, was on fire after a drone attack.

The reports have not been independently verified. There was no official comment from Russia.

Both sides deny targeting civilians in their strikes on each other’s territory in the war that Russia launched with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Kyiv says its attacks inside Russia are aimed at destroying infrastructure that is key to Moscow’s war efforts, including energy and military infrastructure, and are in response to Russia’s continued strikes.

US vice-president has sat down with broadcaster Fox News to discuss a range of topics, including Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Speaking about the European response to the peace talks, Vance criticised the continent’s leaders for not ‘stepping up’ during the war.

“What we said to the Europeans is simply: this is in your neck of the woods, this is in your backdoor. You guys have gotta step up and take a bigger role in this thing,” he said.

“And if you care so much about this conflict, you should be willing to play a more direct and substantial way in funding this war yourself.

“I think the president and I certainly think that America, we’re done with the funding of the Ukraine war business.

“We wanna bring about a peaceful settlement of this thing, we wanna stop the killing.”

US vice president JD Vance says he does not believe it would be “productive” for Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia’s Vladimir Putin to meet before Trump meets Putin alone on Friday.

Speaking to Fox News, he said: “I think fundamentally, the president of the United States has to be the one to bring these two together.”

“We are of course going to talk to the Ukrainians, I actually spoke with the Ukrainians this morning.”

“But fundamentally, this is something where the president needs to force president Putin and president Zelensky really to sit down and figure out their differences.”

“We of course condemn the invasion that happened, we don’t like that this is where things are, but we’ve gotta make peace here, and the only way to make peace is to sit down and talk.”

“You can’t finger point, you can’t wag your finger at somebody and say ‘you’re wrong, we’re right’, the way to peace is to have a decisive leader sit down and force people to come together.”

Discussing how Trump has helped move the conflict towards a conclusion, the vice president said: “One of the most important logjams is that Vladimir Putin said that he would never sit down with Zelensky … the president has now got that to change.

“We’re at a point now where we’re trying to figure out, frankly, scheduling and things like that around when these three leaders could sit down and discuss an end to this conflict.”

US vice president JD Vance says he does not believe it would be “productive” for Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia’s Vladimir Putin to meet before Trump meets Putin alone on Friday.

Speaking to Fox News, he said: “I think fundamentally, the president of the United States has to be the one to bring these two together.”

“We are of course going to talk to the Ukrainians, I actually spoke with the Ukrainians this morning.”

“But fundamentally, this is something where the president needs to force president Putin and president Zelensky really to sit down and figure out their differences.”

“We of course condemn the invasion that happened, we don’t like that this is where things are, but we’ve gotta make peace here, and the only way to make peace is to sit down and talk.”

“You can’t finger point, you can’t wag your finger at somebody and say ‘you’re wrong, we’re right’, the way to peace is to have a decisive leader sit down and force people to come together.”

Discussing how Trump has helped move the conflict towards a conclusion, the vice president said: “One of the most important logjams is that Vladimir Putin said that he would never sit down with Zelensky … the president has now got that to change.

“We’re at a point now where we’re trying to figure out, frankly, scheduling and things like that around when these three leaders could sit down and discuss an end to this conflict.”

While US sources have said Trump is “open” to including Ukraine in peace talks with Putin, Russian authorities have played down the idea.

The Russian president last week ruled out meeting Zelensky, saying the conditions for such an encounter were “unfortunately still far” from being met.

Responding to European criticism of Ukraine’s lack of involvement in the talks, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said: “The Euro-imbeciles are trying to prevent American efforts to help resolve the Ukrainian conflict.”

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement that the relationship between Ukraine and the European Union resembled “necrophilia.”

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas says that any deal struck between the US and Russia on Ukraine’s future must also involve the country and the EU.

Also the European Commission vice-president, Kallas added that European foreign ministers will scramble to meet on Monday ahead of Trump’s meeting with Putin on Friday.

Adding to European voices that have called for no land to be ceded as part of any deal, Kallas said: “as we work towards a sustainable and just peace, international law is clear: all temporarily occupied territories belong to Ukraine”.

“A deal must not provide a springboard for further Russian aggression against Ukraine, the transatlantic alliance and Europe,” she added.

US President Donald Trump has signalled that Ukraine might have to give up territory to end the war with Russia as he prepares to meet Vladimir Putin for peace talks.

Announcing the talks with the Russian president, set to take place in Alaska on Friday, Mr Trump said: “There will be some swapping of territories”.

The White House is reportedly trying to sway European leaders to accept an agreement that would include Russia taking the entire Donbas region in eastern Ukraine and keeping Crimea.

In exchange, it would give up the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, areas which Russia is partially occupying, CBS reported.

But in a statement on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected the idea, saying that “Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier”.

The Independent maps out the situation on the ground:

Donald Trump met with Vladimir Putin several times during his first US presidential term, from 2017 to 2021.

The pair’s relationship is now very different as Trump reaches 200 days into his first term, with Putin ordering a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The two world leaders held their first official in 2018 in Helsinki, Finland, where they fielded questions from press but shared very little details from their private talks.

The meeting on Friday will mark Trump’s first in-person meeting with Putin since he took office for a second time.

The pair did, however, hold a formal phone call in February this year for around 90 minutes, largely focusing on the war in Ukraine.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Sunday that any deal between Washington and Moscow to end the war in Ukraine must include Ukraine and the EU, adding that she will convene a meeting of European foreign ministers on Monday to discuss next steps.

“The U.S. has the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously. Any deal between the U.S. and Russia must have Ukraine and the EU included, for it is a matter of Ukraine’s and the whole of Europe’s security,” Ms Kallas, who is also vice-president of the European Commission, said.

She added: “as we work towards a sustainable and just peace, international law is clear: all temporarily occupied territories belong to Ukraine.

“A deal must not provide a springboard for further Russian aggression against Ukraine, the transatlantic alliance and Europe.”

Ms Kallas also said that ministers will discuss the situation in Gaza.

US president Donald Trump will meet Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Sunday to discuss how to bring the war in Ukraine to an end.

On Friday, Trump has claimed the end of the Ukraine war could come in weeks, despite his latest deadline for Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire.

And earlier in the week, Trump dramatically shortened his previous 50-day ultimatum, giving Russia “10 to 12 days” to make progress toward peace or face tougher sanctions.

Having repeatedly vowed to end the war “within 24 hours” of taking up office, Trump now faces mounting pressure as his deadlines slip and Putin shows no sign of backing down.

Here, The Independent looks at the times Trump has set deadlines for Russia: