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Ukraine’s foreign minister said only President Trump has the power to get Kyiv and Moscow’s leaders together for a final peace talk to end the war — as Russia fired its latest mass drone strike on Sunday.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called on Trump to accelerate the current peace efforts to end the war, as Ukraine worries America could become too preoccupied as its mid-term elections approach.
“Only Trump can stop the war,” Sybiha told Reuters, saying only a few key issues remained in the peace negotiations.
Among the issues at hand are Russia’s maximalist demands for Ukraine to completely cede its Donetsk fortress region and the Zaporizhzhia energy facility, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
Sybiha described the conditions among “the most sensitive and most difficult” terms of the peace talks, which the foreign minister said had to be hammered out by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Putin, however, has repeatedly declined to meet with Zelensky, who revealed that Trump had given Ukraine and Russia until June to end the war — which is about to enter its fifth year.
In order to meet the deadline, Sybiha said the US and Ukraine must build on the latest peace talks in Abu Dhabi that resulted in prisoner of war exchanges resuming with Russia.
“My assessment is we have momentum, that’s true,” Sybiha said. “We need consolidation or mobilization of these peace efforts, and we’re ready to speed up.”
The optimistic outlook comes as Russia fired 101 drones into Ukraine overnight, with at least 32 of the explosive UAVs hitting across 13 locations, according to Kyiv’s air force.
The attack was part of Moscow’s continued campaign against Ukraine’s energy grid, with the strikes hitting an industrial facility in Poltava and Odessa, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Services.
The attack also hit residential buildings in Kramatorsk and Kherson, with Zelensky condemning the attack on civilians and critical infrastructure as his country faces a brutal winter.
“The world must not turn a blind eye to Russian attacks,” Zelensky said on Sunday. “When there is no global response, the strikes become more frequent and increasingly brutal.”
Until Russia is willing to accept a cease-fire, Zelensky said Ukraine would continue to target Moscow’s pockets, saying its already struggling oil industry will continue to come under attack by Kyiv’s forces and sanctions.
“The price of this war for them must be so high that the war becomes untenable for the Russian Federation,” Zelensky said.
With Post wires
English (US)