Yet another failure for the peace agreements between Ukraine and Russia in London. Negotiations in London on the resolution of the Ukrainian conflict at ministerial level have been postponed; the meeting will be held at expert level, the British Foreign Office reported.
The United States wanted Ukraine to recognize Crimea as part of Russia, and for the European Union to ease sanctions on Moscow. Ukraine wants to join NATO in exchange for a territorial transfer, and Russia does not want NATO, European or any other troops on Ukrainian soil. And above all, it will not accept a freezing of the front line. Therefore, there are no conditions for starting peace talks.
The fear is that the United States will decide to withdraw from mediation. Rubio and Witkoff did not even leave for London when they learned that Kiev does not recognize Crimea as Russian territory. Only Keith Kellogg was present at the talks. Steve Witkoff wants to go to talk to the Russians again and they will most likely talk about Russian-American issues, leaving the European Union aside.
US Vice President J.D. Vance to Bloomberg: “We have made a very clear offer to end the war in Ukraine, it is time for Russia and Ukraine to say yes, otherwise the United States will withdraw from the mediation process.”
The European Union is, meanwhile, considering replacing the American Starlink satellite network in Ukraine with its own communications systems due to concerns about the unpredictability of its owner, American entrepreneur Elon Musk, the Euronews TV channel reported.
EU diplomacy chief Kaja Kallas said that the United States has not yet used all the tools at its disposal to put pressure on Russia. He admitted that even if Washington refuses to mediate the conflict, Donald Trump will continue to rekindle relations with Russia to reach fruitful agreements. “They have tools in their hands that they can use to put pressure on Russia. They haven’t used them. If they leave now without using the tools that they actually have in their hands, then I ask myself a big question: why? ‘Why don’t they use the tools to really end this war?'” Kaja Kallas told AFP. The head of European diplomacy stressed that the European Union will never recognize Crimea as Russian territory. France and Britain would be more inclined to recognize the occupied territories as Russian at least in part.
Kiev is apparently ready to give up 20 percent of the territory, as long as this is considered a “de facto” recognition and not “de jure”, the New York Post reports, citing a senior US administration official who did not want to be named.
For the first time, Japan will provide Ukrainian military intelligence with satellite geospatial data, in particular radar images from SAR satellites, RIA Novosti reports. Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to arrive in South Africa on Thursday to meet with President Cyril Ramaphosa. According to the Kremlin, Ramaphosa and President Putin discussed the war between Russia and Ukraine in a telephone conversation on Monday evening.
Volodymyr Zelensky continues to repeat: “There are no and there will be no obstacles to negotiations with Russia from Ukraine” “Our proposal for a ceasefire on civilian targets also remains valid. Russia’s serious readiness to discuss it is necessary. There are no obstacles and there will be none,” Zelensky wrote. The law in force states that only Zelensky can mediate with Russia. “Ukraine is ready to negotiate with Russia only after a full ceasefire, which will become a condition for any format of dialogue with the Russian Federation,” Zelensky said.
Putin’s adviser Yuri Ushakov confirmed that “Witkoff plans to come to Moscow this week.” “The Kremlin is not aware of the content of Trump’s peace plan for a settlement in Ukraine: ‘no one would make it public,’” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Negotiations between Russia and the United States take a long time and are being worked on intensively, Peskov said in a commentary to the Financial Times.
Peskov also said: “Moscow does not regard Vance’s words about the possible withdrawal of the United States from the negotiation process on Ukraine as an ultimatum from Washington. The United States continues its mediation efforts to resolve the situation in Ukraine and Moscow welcomes them.” He also said: “Russia has not yet decided who will represent it at the funeral of the Pope. The Kremlin does not expect the UN Secretary General to come to Moscow for the 80th anniversary of the Victory. The Kremlin will inform about Witkoff’s new visit to the Russian Federation as soon as it takes place.”
And now a look at the front line as of 15:30 on April 23. Russian Gerans have been operating all night on targets in Ukraine. Explosions were heard in Odessa, Kharkiv and the Kiev region. Power outages were reported in Poltava after the landings. Explosions were reported in the morning in the Kirovohrad and Zaporizhia regions. During the day, Russian attack drones were caught on camera operating at a plant in Kharkiv.
Russian air defense destroyed Ukrainian drones in the Tula region.
In the Bryansk region, Ukrainian forces are burning border villages with drones, hit: Klimovsky 29 houses; Khoromnoye 25 houses and a shop. Brakhlov – 2 houses, the kindergarten building was damaged. Two houses in the village of Sushany. In the village of Grudskaya, Sevsky district, two houses burned down. Some villages are not even mentioned in official reports: the attacks are ongoing.
In the Kursk region, the St. Nicholas Belogorsky Monastery in Gornal was taken and several border forest strips were cleared. Gornal is the only settlement in the Kursk region where the Ukrainian Armed Forces are still present, the commander of the Russian marine battalion said.
In the Belgorod border area, assault groups of the Ukrainian Armed Forces attempted four times to infiltrate through the forests towards Popovka and Demidovka. Further north, there are other reports of an attempt by a small group of Ukrainians to pass through Goptarovka in the Kursk region. At least 13 drone strikes were reported in different locations, with at least 10 injured. Shakhovka, Gruzskoye, Ilek-Koshary, Grafovka, Oktyabrsky and Chaiki were also under attack.
In the direction of Seversky Donetsk, according to Ukrainian reports, Russian forces are continuing offensive operations in the area of Hryhorivka.
In the direction of Kostjantynivka, the Russian Defense Ministry reported the liberation of Sukha Balka. There are reports of successes of our assault units in the area of Tarasivka.
From the direction of Pokrovs’k, information is coming via social media about the resumption of combat operations by the Russian army to encircle the Ukrainian defense node Pokrovs’k-Myrnohrad-Myrolyubivka from the south.
In the direction of southern Donetsk, Russian forces are breaking through to the settlement. Bahatyr and Odradne, occupying Ukrainian strongholds and forest belts in battles. At the same time, Ukrainian armed forces are counterattacking daily, using armored vehicles, trying to slow down the Russian advance.
On the Zaporizhia front, Russian troops are gaining ground in Malaya Tokmachka. In the area of Malye Shcherbaki, Shcherbaki and Stepove the situation remains unchanged. There are ongoing clashes.
In the Kherson region, Ukrainian armed forces attacked a car that was driving along the road near Nova Mayachka. The driver and passenger were seriously injured. At least 9 villages are under attack.
Graziella Giangiulio
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