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People hold up signs during the ‘America, wake up!’ protest near the US embassy Kyiv (Photo credit: Global Images Ukraine via Getty)
Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed he will not be participating in the planned peace talks between Ukraine and the US in Saudi Arabia next week.
Instead, those negotiating for Ukraine would include Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, and Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Pavlo Palisa.
Zelensky said Ukraine is “fully committed to constructive dialogue” ahead of diplomatic talks with the US in Saudi Arabia next week. The president confirmed he will meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman but will not personally attend talks with the US team.
At least 11 people were killed and 30 wounded, including five children, in overnight attacks from Russia on Ukraine’s eastern city of Dobropillia. Another three civilians were killed and seven injured in a drone attack on the Kharkiv region in the northeast.
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In an apparent jibe at President Trump, Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, said the strikes that took place in Ukraine are the consequences of appeasing “barbarians”.
His comments come after Trump made comments regarding a peace deal on Friday, “I think we’re doing very well with Russia,” but that he was “finding it more difficult to deal with Ukraine”. This in turn followed on from Trump’s joint attack on Zelensky with US vice president JD Vance during a televised conversation from the Oval Office in which Vance repeatedly called the Ukrainian ungrateful and disrespectful.
On Saturday, Sir Keir Starmer welcomed a commitment from Australia to “consider contributing to a coalition of the willing for Ukraine”. The Prime Minister had a call with his Australian counterpart, Anthony Albanese, the latest in a series of conversations held as the UK continues its diplomatic push for a peace deal in Ukraine.
Britain and France have been seeking to build a coalition of nations willing to defend an agreement. Germany’s Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz wants to form a coalition government by Easter and has warned it was “five minutes to midnight” for Europe to fend for itself against a hostile Russia, with the US under President Donald Trump no longer seen as a reliable ally.
A tank at Russia’s Kirishi oil refinery, one of the country’s largest, was damaged by falling debris during a major Ukrainian drone attack, the governor of the north-western Leningrad region said.
KYIV, UKRAINE - MARCH 08: A person wears a mask symbolizing the Statue of Liberty as Ukrainians, holding banners and flags, hold a rally in front of the US embassy to protest the actions of the US President Donald Trump administration considering the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war on March 08, 2025 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo by Danylo Antoniuk/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Ukrainians hold a rally near the US embassy in Kyiv (Photo credit: Danylo Antoniuk/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Ukrainians gathered outside the US embassy in Kyiv in protest against Donald Trump’s policy concerning the Russia-Ukraine war. On Friday, the Trump administration ceased sharing intelligence with Ukraine, which had given them prior warning of enemy engagement. Massive missile attacks from Russia soon followed on Friday. Earlier this week, Trump suspended all aid to Ukraine.
Ben Wallace, who was the British Defence Secretary at the outset of the war in 2022, said that Ukrainians were being suffocated by Trump’s actions. He told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4: “Hope is the most important thing in this type of conflict, and, at the moment, Donald Trump is suffocating the hope that Putin can be either fought to a standstill or indeed brought to the table.”
However, he suggested that Ukraine still had a chance to win the war if it could last for 18 months until Russia’s economy collapsed. This would require a significant investment from its allies to fill the void left by the US pulling out.
Europe will need to “spend more to keep safe”, Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte told German newspaper Welt am Sonntag. “We also need to quickly ramp up our defence production on both sides of the Atlantic,” he said, citing a need for ammunition, ships, tanks, jets, but also satellites and drones. “For far too long, we have produced far too little.”
This was a sentiment echoed by the EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, who said that Putin “has no interest in peace,” as she called for Europe to “step up our military support”.