Summary
We are now closing the live blog. Here is a summary of events:
Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov has that all of President Vladimir Putin’s conditions for ending the conflict in Ukraine must be met before any settlement is possible.
Keith Kellogg, the US special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, told allies in recent meetings he was preparing options to end the war in Ukraine, news website Semafor reported on Monday.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to attend the Munich Security Conference (MSC), where the war with Russia and how to end it will be high on the agenda, organisers said on Monday. AFP reported that senior representatives from the new US administration will also be at the gathering which takes place from Friday to Sunday.
Zelenskyy has said Donald Trump’s plan for a quick settlement in Ukraine must include security guarantees. In an interview with the UK broadcaster ITV, Zelenskyy said: “If I had an understanding that America and Europe will not abandon us and they will support us and provide security guarantees, I would be ready for any format for talks.”
President Trump indicated he had been in contact with Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, and that progress was being made in talks to end the war. Asked by reporters onboard Air Force One on Sunday whether he had had his conversation with Putin since becoming president on 20 January or before, Trump said: “I’ve had it. Let’s just say I’ve had it ... And I expect to have many more conversations. We have to get that war ended.”
Russia’s deputy foreign minister said Moscow had yet to receive a good offer to start talks on Ukraine, in remarks published on Monday.
Russia has lost 850,490 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported today. This number includes 1,170 casualties Russian forces suffered over the past day.
Chinese president Xi Jinping has accepted Russia’s invitation to Moscow to attend second world war commemorations, Tass state news agency reported on Monday.
Russia launched an overnight drone attack on Kyiv, injuring a woman and damaging several houses in the northeastern city of Sumy, Ukrainian officials said on Monday. The Ukrainian military said on Monday that it had shot down 61 out of 83 drones with 22 more likely downed by electronic warfare.
Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz said on Sunday that senior US diplomats would be in Europe this week “talking through the details of how to end this war and that will mean getting both sides to the table”. In an interview on NBC Waltz said the Russian economy was not doing well and that Trump “is prepared to tax, to tariff, to sanction” Moscow to get Putin to the negotiating table. He added the Trump administration is looking to use this week’s engagements to begin talks on clawing back some of the United States’ assistance to Ukraine and said European allies would need to take a greater role in supporting Ukraine.
Here are some photos coming to us over the wires.
