London to host US and European negotiators for ceasefire talks
Dan Sabbagh and Luke Harding report from Kyiv
David Lammy, the British foreign secretary, will host US and European negotiators for fresh talks about Ukraine on Wednesday amid speculation that Russia has told Washington it might be willing to drop its claim to parts of Ukraine it does not occupy.
The price would include the US making concessions to Moscow such as recognising the 2014 annexation of Crimea, though Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said no such proposal had been shared with him by the White House and that his country could not endorse it.
The emerging US-Russia plan would envisage a ceasefire along roughly the existing frontlines once Moscow’s territorial demand has been dropped, leaks suggest – something that Ukraine has indicated it could accept, as long it did not have to recognise Russian occupation as permanent or legal.
Ukraine would be prevented by a US veto from joining Nato, a point largely accepted by a reluctant Kyiv. The only future security guarantees for Ukraine would be provided by a UK/French-led 30-country “coalition of the willing” to provide a “reassurance force”, but this would not include the US.
It had been hoped that Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, would attend the talks, but the state department said on Tuesday that would no longer be possible and that Keith Kellogg, the White House’s Ukraine envoy, would be present instead.
Key events
The press service of Ukraine’s emergency services has issued these photographs of first responders at the scenes of Russian attacks overnight in Kharkiv and Poltova.
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that an energry facility in Kherson has been destroyed by a Russian attack. Citing regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin, it reported that “Energy workers are trying to stabilize the energy situation in the city. Forced outages are possible in the near future.”
At least nine killed by Russian drone attack on bus in Marhanets
A Russian drone hit a bus carrying workers in the Ukrainian city of Marhanets early on Wednesday, killing nine people in a wave of attacks that targeted civilian infrastructure in east, south and central Ukraine, officials said.
“The Russians attacked a bus with employees of the enterprise who were on their way to work in Marhanets,” Mykola Lukashuk, head of the Dnipropetrovsk region council, said on Telegram.
Serhiy Lysak, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, which includes Marhanets, in central-southern Ukraine, said nine people were killed in the attack, with at least 30 injured.
Reuters reports Ukraine’s emergency service said that there was also an attack on the Synelnykivskyi district in the Dnipropetrovsk region that injured two people and sparked a fire at an agricultural enterprise.
Russia also launched “a massive” drone attack on the central Ukrainian region of Poltava, injuring at least six people, the emergency service said in a post on Telegram messaging app. “Solely the city’s civilian infrastructure was under enemy attacks,” the emergency service said.
London to host US and European negotiators for ceasefire talks
Dan Sabbagh and Luke Harding report from Kyiv
David Lammy, the British foreign secretary, will host US and European negotiators for fresh talks about Ukraine on Wednesday amid speculation that Russia has told Washington it might be willing to drop its claim to parts of Ukraine it does not occupy.
The price would include the US making concessions to Moscow such as recognising the 2014 annexation of Crimea, though Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said no such proposal had been shared with him by the White House and that his country could not endorse it.
The emerging US-Russia plan would envisage a ceasefire along roughly the existing frontlines once Moscow’s territorial demand has been dropped, leaks suggest – something that Ukraine has indicated it could accept, as long it did not have to recognise Russian occupation as permanent or legal.
Ukraine would be prevented by a US veto from joining Nato, a point largely accepted by a reluctant Kyiv. The only future security guarantees for Ukraine would be provided by a UK/French-led 30-country “coalition of the willing” to provide a “reassurance force”, but this would not include the US.
It had been hoped that Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, would attend the talks, but the state department said on Tuesday that would no longer be possible and that Keith Kellogg, the White House’s Ukraine envoy, would be present instead.
Welcome and opening summary …
Good morning, welcome to our rolling coverage of the war in Ukraine. Here are the headlines …
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US and European allies will join their UK and Ukraine counterparts in London for the latest round of peace talks
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Leaks have suggested an emerging US-Russia plan would envisage a ceasefire along roughly the existing frontlines, with Moscow dropping further territorial demands, and the US recognising Russia’s occupation of Crimea
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Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said no such proposal about Crimea had been shared with him, by the White House and that his country could not endorse it
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Ukraine would be prevented by a US veto from ever joining Nato, a point now largely accepted by a reluctant Kyiv
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A Russian drone hit a bus carrying workers in the Ukrainian city of Marhanets early on Wednesday, killing nine people in a wave of attacks that targeted civilian infrastructure in east, south and central Ukraine, officials said
