The source said they did not understand why Washington was hurrying towards a deal, but that \u201ceveryone\u201d was for an end to the war if there was a real opportunity to do so.<\/p>\n
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.<\/p>\n
Kyiv and its European allies say the war, the largest and deadliest on European soil since World War II, is an unprovoked and illegal land grab that has resulted in a tidal wave of violence and destruction.<\/p>\n
Tens of thousands of civilians and military personnel have been killed since the invasion began, while millions of Ukrainians have been forced to leave their homes.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasises the need for compromises that strengthen Ukraine without weakening it. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u2018Critical moment\u2019<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump initially gave Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy until Thursday to respond to the first version of the plan.<\/p>\n
But German Chancellor Friedrich Merz threw doubt on Trump\u2019s deadline, saying at an EU-Africa summit in Angola that discussions would be a \u201clengthy, long-lasting process\u201d.<\/p>\n
A new version of a draft worked on in Geneva has not been published but all sides agreed that any deal must \u201cuphold Ukraine\u2019s sovereignty\u201d.<\/p>\n
Several apartments are destroyed by a Russian drone in a tower block in the Dniprovskyi district in Kyiv. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Countries supporting Kyiv \u2013 part of the \u201ccoalition of the willing\u201d \u2013 are due to hold a video call Tuesday following the Geneva talks.<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy said Monday his country was at a \u201ccritical moment\u201d, after last week warning Ukraine risked losing either its \u201cdignity\u201d or Washington as an ally.<\/p>\n
Russian President Vladimir Putin had welcomed the original US plan, saying it could be a basis for a deal.<\/p>\n
But in Ukraine\u2019s southern city of Zaporizhzhia, residents baulked at the idea of ceding land to Russia.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot give up any territory. What did our soldiers give their lives for? How will we look their families in the eye?\u201d asked Tetiana, a worker at a local metal firm.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand that it is very difficult for our boys, but give them an inch and they will take a mile.\u201d<\/p>\n
As talks continued, the war ground on.<\/p>\n
A Russian strike on the northeastern city of Kharkiv late Sunday killed four people, local officials said.<\/p>\n
Trump optimistic<\/p>\n
In Washington, Trump appeared hopeful of a breakthrough.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t believe it until you see it, but something good just may be happening,\u201d Trump said on social media.<\/p>\n
In Geneva on Sunday, the Ukrainian delegation said a new draft of the plan \u201calready reflects most of Ukraine\u2019s key priorities\u201d.<\/p>\n
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said \u201ctremendous\u201d progress had been made at the talks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly believe we\u2019ll get there,\u201d Rubio said, adding: \u201cObviously, the Russians get a vote.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moscow has captured and occupies large swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine, since it invaded claiming to have annexed five Ukrainian regions, including Crimea which it seized in 2014.<\/p>\n
The Kremlin is seeking recognition of the territories it occupies and wants Kyiv to pull out of the part of the Donetsk region that remains under its control \u2013 demands deemed unacceptable by Ukraine.<\/p>\n
– Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The source said they did not understand why Washington was hurrying towards a deal, but that \u201ceveryone\u201d was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[30687,5474,56606,3468,84587,127,2837,2024,2082,1768,42,98669,130,3963,5969,43,5908,90,2170,102041,23471,13316,8105,64794,5843,9939,301,1361,6859,40,38,41,39,3461,9938,3040,6149,102,4576],"class_list":["post-153257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-accept","tag-afp","tag-conceded","tag-deal","tag-demands","tag-despite","tag-during","tag-europe","tag-for","tag-geneva","tag-headlines","tag-kyiv","tag-more","tag-moscow","tag-much","tag-news","tag-official","tag-on","tag-plan","tag-pressed","tag-proposals","tag-protests","tag-russia","tag-russiaukraine","tag-senior","tag-states","tag-talks","tag-that","tag-told","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-ukraine","tag-united","tag-us","tag-war","tag-with","tag-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}