Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Vladimir Putin was “afraid” of negotiations on ending the war after the Russian president ruled out direct talks with his Ukrainian counterpart. “Today, Putin once again confirmed that he is afraid of negotiations, afraid of strong leaders, and does everything possible to prolong the war,” Zelenskyy said. Putin on Tuesday ruled out speaking directly with Zelenskyy, whom he called “illegitimate” because elections have not been held since Russia started the war. Because of the war, Ukraine is under martial law, during which the Ukrainian constitution does not allow elections. Ukraine has warned against it being excluded from any peace talks between Russia and the US, accusing Putin of wanting to “manipulate” Donald Trump, the US president.
Ukrainian drones targeted oil and power facilities in western parts of Russia, officials and media outlets reported on Wednesday. Baza, a Russian social media channel close to Russia’s security services, reported that an oil refinery was on fire at Kstovo in Nizhny Novgorod, east of Moscow. In the western region of Smolensk, which borders Belarus, there was a “massive” drone attack and air defence systems destroyed a drone threatening a nuclear power facility, said the governor, Vasily Anokhin. Dozens more drones targeted the Bryansk region that borders Ukraine, and the Tver region that borders the Moscow region to its south, regional governors said. Flights were halted for safety at the Kazan airport in the Republic of Tatarstan, 830km (516 miles) east of Moscow, officials said.
The US transferred about 90 Patriot air defence interceptors from Israel to Poland this week to then deliver them to Ukraine, Axios reported on Tuesday, citing three sources with knowledge of the operation. “We have seen the reports but have nothing to provide at this time,” a Pentagon spokesperson said in response. A spokesperson for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed to Axios that a Patriot system had been returned to US hands, adding: “It is not known to us whether it was delivered to Ukraine.”
Zelenskyy said multiple humanitarian projects in Ukraine had suspended operations due to Donald Trump’ freeze on foreign aid and that Kyiv would replace funding where possible. “Today I instructed government officials to report on those US support programmes that are currently suspended. These are humanitarian programmes. There are many projects. We will determine which of them are critical and need solutions now. We can provide part of this funding through our public finances. We will definitely support the priority items, those that concern Ukrainian children, our veterans, and programmes to protect our infrastructure.”
Donald Trump’s secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and the EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, have discussed the Ukraine war in their first phone call since the Trump administration took office. An EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “They agreed on the necessity of maintaining maximum pressure on Moscow to move towards a just and sustainable peace in Ukraine.”
A row over arms procurement has erupted in Ukraine’s government after the defence minister, Rustem Umerov, criticised the system as having failed to deliver results for frontline troops. Umerov sacked a deputy defence minister, Dmytro Klimenkov, and levelled criticism at the Defence Procurement Agency, which was set up to coordinate weapons purchases and is meant to guard against corruption. Umerov said the agency had “inexplicably transformed into an ‘Amazon’”, its purchases were too publicly visible and he was replacing its chief – which the agency denied. On Tuesday, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine said it had opened a probe into Umerov after a public appeal. In a statement on Monday, G7 diplomats in Ukraine urged officials to quickly resolve the dispute, calling for “consistency with good governance principles and Nato recommendations”.
The European Commission on Tuesday proposed further tariffs on additional farm imports from Russia and its ally Belarus. “Once adopted by the council, all agricultural imports from Russia would be the subject of EU tariffs,” a statement said. Currently, 15% of Russian farm goods are not affected by sweeping EU tariffs that came into force last July. The new tariffs would continue to spare Russian agricultural goods and fertiliser transiting to non-EU countries, to ensure that food supplies for elsewhere, notably Africa and Asia, were not affected. In addition to denting Russia’s war coffers, the commission said the proposal aimed to reduce dependencies on imports from Russia and Belarus, particularly of fertilisers, that “make the EU vulnerable to potential coercive actions by Russia and thus present a risk to EU food security”.