Ukraine seeks new round of peace talks with Russia

Ukraine has proposed a new round of peace talks with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, in a move aimed at restarting negotiations that halted last month.

Senior security official Rustem Umerov has offered to meet the Russian side next week, Zelensky said in his evening address, adding that everything had to be done to get a ceasefire.

Zelenksy also repeated his readiness to meet Russia’s Vladimir Putin face-to-face. “A meeting at the leadership level is needed to truly ensure peace,” he said.

The proposal came hours after Ukraine was hit with another widespread air bombardment by Russia, which killed three people.

Ten regions of Ukraine, including several cities, were hit in the night between Friday and Saturday, Zelensky said earlier on Saturday.

Ukraine’s military said more than 340 explosive and dummy drones and 35 cruise and ballistic missiles had been used, but many were downed.

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump said the US would send “top-of-the-line weapons” to Ukraine via Nato countries, while also threatening Russia with severe tariffs if a deal to end the war is not reached within 50 days.

Trump also warned that the US would impose 100% secondary tariffs targeting Russia’s remaining trade partners if a peace deal with Ukraine was not reached by his deadline.

Two rounds of talks in Istanbul between Moscow and Kyiv have so far failed to result in any progress towards a ceasefire, but large-scale prisoner exchanges and deals to return the bodies of killed soldiers were agreed.

After the last round, which ended in early June, Ukrainian negotiators said Russia had again rejected an “unconditional ceasefire” – a key demand by Kyiv and its allies in Europe and the US .

Russia also outlined a list of demands, including calls for Ukraine to cede more territory and to reject all forms of Western military support.

At the time, Zelensky accused Moscow of “doing everything it can to ensure the next possible meeting is fruitless”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia currently controls about 20% of Ukraine’s territory, including the southern Crimea peninsula Moscow annexed in 2014.