Ukraine war: Putin’s soldiers surrender after counter attack as G7 agrees Kyiv loan

Turkey’s foreign minister will tell this weekend’s summit aimed at discussing ways to end the war in Ukraine that a meeting with both Kyiv and Moscow present would yield more results, a Turkish diplomatic source said on Friday.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will join world leaders at the summit in Switzerland, to which Russia is not invited. NATO ally and Black Sea littoral state Turkey has sought to maintain good ties with both Kyiv and Moscow during the war, offering to host peace talks or mediate.

“(Fidan) will point out that a summit that all sides attend has a higher probability of yielding results,” the source said, adding he would also warn against the growing risk of the usage of weapons of mass destruction.

The source said Fidan would also reiterate Turkey’s call for peace talks between Ukraine and Russia to reach a negotiated end to the war.

Turkey supports Ukraine‘s territorial integrity and provides it with military support, but also opposes Western sanctions on Moscow.

The war in Ukraine has produced more emissions than the country of Netherlands does in a year, a new report has claimed.

The report, published on Thursday by Ukraine’s environment ministry in collaboration with climate NGOs, claims the war, now in its third year, has led to the emission of about 175 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, equivalent to annual emissions produced by 90 million cars or the whole of the Netherlands.

The number includes emissions already released and future emission from work to repair the destruction caused by the war.

A Ukrainian presidential aide dismissed a “peace proposal” put forward by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, saying it was not a serious attempt to agree on peace and had no relevance to any negotiations.

Speaking via Zoom, Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters there was “no possibility to find compromise” between Putin’s statement and Ukraine‘s conditions for ending the war launched by Russia.

Switzerland will host scores of world leaders this weekend to try to map out first steps toward peace in Ukraine even though Russia, which launched and is continuing the war, won’t take part.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government didn’t want Russia involved, and the Swiss — aware of Moscow’s reservations about the talks — didn’t invite Russia. The Swiss insist Russia must be involved at some point, and hope it will join the process one day.

Ukrainians too are considering that possibility, Zelensky’s top adviser says.

Stating Russia’s terms for peace with Ukraine, Vladimir Putin said: “The conditions are very simple.”

He demanded the full withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the entire territory of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in eastern and southern Ukraine.

“As soon as they declare in Kyiv that they are ready for such a decision and begin a real withdrawal of troops from these regions, and also officially announce the abandonment of their plans to join NATO – on our side, immediately, literally at the same minute, an order will follow to cease fire and begin negotiations,” he said.

“I repeat, we will do this immediately. Naturally, we will simultaneously guarantee the unhindered and safe withdrawal of Ukrainian units and formations.”

Vladimir Putin on Friday set out what he said were Russia‘s preconditions for starting peace talks with Ukraine.

He said Russia would be ready for such talks “tomorrow” if Ukrainian troops withdraw from the Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk regions and if Ukraine gave up its plans to join NATO.

If Ukraine agreed to those conditions, Putin said Russia would cease fire and start negotiations.

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the West’s seizure of Russian sovereign assets was theft and would not go unpunished.

Speaking at a meeting with Foreign Ministry officials, Putin said the way the West had treated Moscow showed that any country could fall victim to a similar Western asset freeze.

“Despite all the chicanery, theft will certainly remain theft. And it will not go unpunished”, Putin said.

“Now it is becoming obvious to all countries, companies (and) sovereign funds that their assets and reserves are far from safe in both the legal and economic sense of the word.

“Anyone could be next in line for expropriation by the U.S. and the West.”

Putin was speaking a day after the leaders of the Group of Seven major democracies agreed on an outline deal to provide $50 billion of loans for Ukraine using interest from Russian sovereign assets frozen after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022 in what it called a special military operation.

The Ukrainian military said on Friday its forces downed seven of 14 missiles and all 17 drones launched by Russia in overnight attacks in the west of the country.

Russian forces targeted critical infrastructure and military objects during the raid, air force spokesperson Illia Yevlash said on national television.

The Ukrainian military destroyed 11 aerial targets over the western region of Khmelnytskyi, according to the governor. One attack started a fire on infrastructure but no casualties were reported.

Air defence shot down seven of 10 Kh-101/Kh-555 cruise missiles, the Ukrainian military said.

Russia also launched three Iskander-M ballistic missiles, targeting Zaporizhzhia region, and one Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missile in its attack, according to Yevlash.

“(Kinzhal) headed for Khmelnytskyi region where it did not reach its target,” he said.

Zaporizhzhia’s governor said a missile struck an open area with no damage nor casualties immediately reported.

The air force also destroyed five drones over the Dnipropetrovsk region, its governor said, with no reports of damage or casualties.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage suggested Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky should enter negotiations with Russia, although he acknowledged Kyiv’s Western allies will continue support to support them.

Mr Farage, challenged about his previous remarks praising Russian president Mr Putin as an operator, told BBC Radio 5 Live: “Yeah, but not as a human being.”

Asked why, Mr Farage replied: “How many years has he been in power? He’s gone from prime minister, to president, he’s a clever political operator. He kills journalists, I don’t like him as a human being in any way at all.

“You can recognise the fact that some people are good at what they do even if they have evil intent.”