Vladimir Putin greets Donald Trump’s envoy, real estate developer Steve Witkoff, in the Kremlin, Moscow, Russia, April 25, 2025 (Kristina Kormilitsyna/AFP/Getty)
EA on Times Radio, Australia’s ABC, and France 24 English: Ukraine — Putin on the Defensive
Tuesday’s Coverage: Proposing Immediate Ceasefire, Zelensky Calls Out Putin’s “Manipulation”
Map: Institute for the Study of War
UPDATE 1505 GMT:
At least three civilians were killed and 70 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day.
Air defenses downed 50 of 108 drones launched by Russia overnight, and 22 were lost to electronic counter-measures.
In the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine, 52 people were injured, including 47 in a drone strike on Kharkiv city.
Among the wounded in the city were a 5-year-old girl, a 16-year-old boy, and a 24-year-old pregnant woman. Apartment buildings, a hospital, and a school were damaged.
A widespread suicide drone strike killed one person and injured another in the city of Dnipro in south-central Ukraine.
In the Donetsk region in the east, one person was killed and six wounded.
In Sumy Oblast, one person was killed and one injured as civilian infrastructure was hit and destroyed.
Casualties were also reported in the Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Zaporizhzhia regions.
UPDATE 1449 GMT:
President Voldoymyr Zelensky’s office says Ukraine expects to sign a minerals deal with the Trump Administration.
Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko will be in Washington, awaiting confirmation of final approval by the Ukrainian Parliament.
The agreement provides for a 50/50 joint fund between Kyiv and Washington, a significant amendment from the 100% US control in the initial Trump Administration proposal.
Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal said the reworked agreement has become a “real partnership deal”. He expects signature within the next 24 hours, with two additional agreements to follow.
But a “US source” cautioned that the “negotiations had not concluded because Ukraine had sought to revisit terms agreed at the weekend”.
A “source familiar with the matter” says the Administration wants Ukraine to sign the two additional documents together with the deal, but Kyiv thinks the two supplements need more work.
UPDATE 0820 GMT:
The Guardian profiles Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna and details her final months before she was detained, tortured, and killed by Russian authorities last year.
Roshchyna, 27, disappeared in August 2023 while reporting from Ukraine’s Russian-occupied territories. Moscow admitted her detention the following year and said she died on September 19, 2024.
Her body, labelled as an “unidentified male”, was among those returned to Ukraine in February. It is missing internal organs with fracture of the hyoid bone, a sign of strangulation.
UPDATE 0801 GMT:
Senior Russian officials are amplifying Vladimir Putin’s maximalist demands for Ukraine’s surrender.
Former President Dmitry Medvedev, now Secretary of the State Security Council, said on Tuesday that the Russian invasion must end in “victory” with the “destruction” of the Zelensky Government.
Putin’s advisor Nikolai Patrushev said Ukrainian civilians, particularly those in the south, must “determine their own future.” He said the city of Odesa was the Russian Empire’s and Soviet Union’s outpost on the Black Sea, and claimed that its residents have “nothing in common” with the current government.
In 2023, Putin said Ukrainians in the Black Sea region have nothing “to do with Ukraine” and Odesa is a “Russian city”. Foreign Secretary 5ergey Lavrov claimed on April 14 that the Zelensky Government “does not represent” residents of Odesa and other Ukrainian territories.
UPDATE 0749 GMT:
Amid talks to end Russia’s invasion, US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz has labelled Ukraine “one of the most corrupt countries in the world” and criticized President Volodymyr Zelensky for not completing a minerals agreement with the Trump Administration.
Waltz told Fox TV:
Ukraine was and is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. We must always protect our taxpayers; billions of dollars have been poured in there. I think the previous administration exercised proper oversight over the funds it provided.
The Zelensky Government has pursued anti-corruption initiatives, including the development of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the National Agency on Corruption Prevention; adoption of legislation; and public engagement in reporting corruption.
In Transparency International’s 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, Ukraine ranked 105th out of 180 countries with a score of 35 out of 100.
Russia was 154th with 22 out of 100.
UPDATE 0728 GMT:
At least 45 civilians, including two children and a pregnant woman, were injured by 16 Russian drone attacks on Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv late Tuesday.
A high-rise apartment block, private homes, a medical facility, and civil infrastructure were struck.
In Dnipro in south-central Ukraine, one person was killed by a drone. A series of fires were set, and homes were damaged.
UPDATE 0708 GMT:
The UN is reducing humanitarian programs in Ukraine amid a global shortage in funding.
In January, the UN appealed for $2.63 billion to assist 6 million people.
Citing a “sharp contraction” in funding, the UN and its partners “reprioritised” operations to reach 4.8 million people with $1.75 billion, said Joyce Msuya of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Around 12.7 million people in Ukraine need assistance.
UPDATE 0658 GMT:
About 600 North Korean troops have been killed fighting for Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, says South Korea’s intelligence service.
The service said there were 4,700 casualties out of a total deployment of 15,000.
“After six months of participation in the war, the North Korean military has become less inept, and its combat capability has significantly improved as it becomes accustomed to using new weapons such as drones,” said Lee Seong-kweun, a member of the Parliamentary intelligence committee.
In return for dispatching troops and supplying weapons to Russia, Pyongyang appears to have received technical assistance on spy satellites, as well as drones and anti-air missiles, Seoul assessed.
Last weekend the Kremlin acknowledged the North Korean deployment for the first time. Commander-in-chief Gen. Valery Gerasimov cited their role in Russia regaining its territory in the Kursk region, following last August’s Ukrainian incursion, and Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-in each hailed the relationship.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Vladimir Putin has foiled Donald Trump’s pursuit of a deal over Russia’s 38-month invasion of Ukraine, demanding full control of four Ukrainian regions as well as Crimea.
“Three Moscow-based sources familiar with the talks” said Putin made no change on his maximalist demands in a Kremlin meeting with
Trump’s envoy, real estate developer Steve Witkoff, last Friday.
The Russian leader reiterated his ultimatum for control of the four regions — Donetsk and Luhansk in the east and Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the south — even though his forces do not occupy parts of them.
One source said US-Russia talks have reached an impasse and require “direct contact between Putin and Trump”.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has emphasized Putin’s maximalist demands this week: “International recognition of Russia’s ownership of Crimea, Sevastopol, the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Luhansk People’s Republic, the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions is imperative.”
US: Putin’s “Ceasefire” Ploy Is “Absurd”
The Trump Administration has not commented on Putin’s rebuff of Witkoff. However, Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, jabbed at Putin’s declaration of a three-day “ceasefire” from May 8-11.
Kellogg said of Putin’s announcement, centred around Russia’s Victory Day celebrations on May 9: “A three-day ceasefire is absurd. What the president wants is a permanent, comprehensive ceasefire — sea, air, land, infrastructure — for a minimum of 30 days, and then we can extend that.”
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for the full 30-day ceasefire, repeating this in response to Putin’s declaration.
Speaking about US-Ukraine talks, Kellogg asserted that negotiators have produced a 22-point document to end the Russian invasion. He said Ukrainian officials “didn’t like them all,” but described this as usual during talks.
“When you look at everything the Ukrainians are willing to work with — now, it’s over to the Russians, over to Putin,” he declared. He said the Ukrainian side had “really doubled down on this”.
Nobody is going to win this war militarily. So when Russia says they’re winning – no, they’re not. If they were winning, they would have already won this war….So I think they need to sit back and realize it. I think Ukraine’s in a good position.
