Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in his interview with The Guardian in London, June 2026

EA-Times Radio VideoCast: From St. Petersburg to “Peace”, Zelensky Outmaneuvers Putin

Monday’s Coverage: Zelensky’s Message To Putin’s Envoy Abramovitch — “We Will Not Give You Territory”

UPDATE 1622 GMT:

Escalating pressure on Russian logistics and supply routes to occupied Crimea, Ukrainian drones have closed the Chonhar Bridge in the Russian-occupied Kherson region in southern Ukraine.

The “Novorossiya” highway, built by Russian-installed authorities, connects Rostov-on-Don in southwest Russia with Crimea via occupied parts of the Donetsk and Kherson regions.

UPDATE 1617 GMT:

The new Bulgarian government, led by pro-Kremlin Prime Minister Rumen Radev, does not plan to continue sending arms to Ukraine, says Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov.

Stoyanov told a press conference, “It is time to sit at the negotiating table, it is time to seek a just peace, which will be determined by both sides.”

Radev, a former President and a long-time critic of military aid to Kyiv, prevailed in Parliamentary elections on April 19.

Bulgaria, a Balkan member of NATO and the European, has provided 13 military aid packages to Ukraine since the outbreak of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Sofia has large stocks of Soviet-era weaponry.

UPDATE 1117 GMT:

With rationing of gasoline in some Russian and Russian-occupied areas, Moscow’s Energy Ministry has acknowledged for the first time that Ukrainian drone attacks are to blame.

“Recently, fuel and energy sector enterprises have faced an uptick in enemy aerial attacks, leading to temporary difficulties with fuel supplies in several southern regions,” the Ministry said in a statement released late Monday.

Officials said they have set up an “industry-wide task force” to ensure the “stable and efficient operation of the country’s entire energy sector”.

The BBC’s Steve Rosenberg reports another consequence of the Ukrainian attacks:

UPDATE 1013 GMT:

In separate statements on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov rejected Europe’s involvement in discussions to end Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

European leaders have been considering the despatch of an envoy to meet Vladimir Putin, the first high-level discussion with the Kremlin since 2022.

UPDATE 1003 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky says he had a “very positive conversation” with Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Monday.

We understand how much of the world’s attention is focused on the situation around Iran. But our shared goal of peace in Europe remains on the agenda. We discussed prospects in the context of the G7 Summit and other events in June.

UPDATE 0952 GMT:

Ten civilians have been murdered and 106 injured by Russian attacks across seven Ukrainian regions over the past day.

Air defenses downed 146 of 168 drones, but two missiles and 17 UAVs hit 18 locations.

In and near Zaporizhzhia city in southern Ukraine, two people were killed and 38 injured.

In the Kharkiv region in the northeast, three people were slain, including a 22-year-old pregnant woman. Among 25 injured were three children.

In the Kherson region in the south, one civilian was murdered and 13 wounded, including a child.

In the Donetsk region in the east, two people were killed and 11 injured.

In the Sumy region in the northeast, a 71-year old man was killed. Five people, including a 2-year-old boy, were wounded.

Casualties were also reported in the Dnipropetrovsk and Chernihiv regions.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the tide is turning in Kyiv’s favor over Russia’s 51 1/2-month full-scale invasion.

Zelensky summarized in a 25-minute face-to-face interview with The Guardian, that the position is the most promising since 2023: “We can’t say Russia is losing this war. But we can say they are losing the initiative each day, day by day.”

He noted that while frontlines are stalemated, Russia is losing more than 30,000 soldiers a month, with 23,000 to 24,000 killed and the rest “heavily” wounded. “Totally, this is a very big number. It means that they are not winning the war,” he explained.

Zelensky added that on the political front:

They are losing influence in different countries, including in Azerbaijan. They are isolated inside Europe and from the United States also. So they are alone.

“This Is The Momentum”

Zelensky admitted that the Trump Administration is stepping away from Russia’s invasion because, “from the very beginning of the war with Iran, their focus shifted”. Noting the assistance from the US for the Gulf States and Israel while using up “so many missiles and weapons”, he noted that Ukraine never received “that volume of support”.

“It’s a pity,” he observed.

On Sunday, Zelensky conferred with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and French President Emmanuel Macron in London. Discussions included air defenses and capability for Ukraine’s long-range strikes inside Russia.

Zelensky pointed to cooperation involving Ukraine’s development of drone technology and its experience during the invasion: “This is priceless information. There is a huge volume of it.

The Kremlin is holding out against a ceasefire on current frontlines, but Zelensky referred to his meeting with Vladimir Putin’s envoy, the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, last month:

I think there are different people around Putin. Half of them want to continue this war. Half want to stop. And I think that people who are from business, they understand that the economy is in terrible situation in Russia. It’s very close to collapse.

Referring to Ukraine’s long-range strikes, he reflected, “Victory in this war is when Russian society recognises that the war is awful, that the war is a tragedy not for someone, somewhere, but for themselves. And I think this is the momentum.”