The official, speaking as US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll held talks with Russian representatives in Abu Dhabi, said, "The Ukrainians have agreed to the peace deal. There are some minor details to be sorted out but they have agreed to a peace deal."
United States President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that his special envoy Steve Witkoff would be visiting Moscow next week to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, with Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner might going with Witkoff too.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a phone call this past week with United States President Donald Trump, demanded that Kyiv surrender full control of Donetsk, a strategically vital region in eastern Ukraine, as a condition for ending the war, said two senior officials familiar with the conversation, the Washington Post reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Kherson on Monday, days after his country's military recaptured the city from Russian control, even as Moscow insisted that Kherson remained part of its territory.
Ukrainians celebrate Russia's retreat from Kherson, the largest city it had occupied since its cruel invasion nearly nine months ago.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday reaffirmed his commitment to the country's territorial integrity, insisting that Kyiv continues to claim all territories now under Russian control, RT reported.
Notably, Ukrainian forces disabling bridges across the Dnipro river and attacking Russian supply lines made it very difficult for Russia to defend the occupied territory.
Russia has returned the remains of 1,212 Ukrainian soldiers in the latest exchange with Kiev, RT reported, citing Kremlin official Vladimir Medinsky.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday visited the newly-retaken Kherson city after the Russian retreat.
The strikes took place in Stepanivka, which is located just outside of Kherson, Tymoshenko said.
He informed that special units of the armed forces are inside Kherson and other Ukrainian troops were also approaching the city from the outskirts.
The fall of Kherson -- a city of 300,000 people, northwest of the Crimean peninsula -- is significant because it would allow the Russians to control more of Ukraine's southern coastline and to push west toward the city of Odessa, the NYT reported.
'Parents are forced to provide their children to Russian re-education camps in occupied territories and in different parts of Russia, for example, in Chechnya, where Ukrainian children wearing military uniform are taught to use weapons.'
In 2024, Russia made only modest territorial gains, controlling about 18% of Ukraine, while suffering massive casualties and equipment losses.
The US move to align with Russia is prompted by fear of a Sino-Russian joint threat. Russia, fully aware of its military vulnerability vis a vis China may cautiously welcome the American move, assesses Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'Putin dreams about his legacy. He wants to forcibly restore the Russian empire.' 'Unfortunately, after three years of large-scale war with massive human losses, Putin will not budge from his goal because human life is the cheapest resource in the Russian State.'
The bodies were found with their hands tied, blindfolded and shot at close range in the back of the head.
According to Kyiv, Russia blew up the dam "in panic" ahead of a planned Ukraine counter-offensive, while Russia accuses Ukraine of launching "mass artillery attacks" on the structure to deprive Crimea of water and provide a distraction from the battlefield.
Ukraine has rejected Putin's demand and termed it a 'complete sham' and 'offensive to common sense'.
Russia loses appeal against IOC ban
Russia says IOC decision to ban Russian athletes from Olympic parade unjust
In the reprisal attacks, several missiles struck the city of Kharkiv with two children among those injured, the Ukrainian military said.
Scenes from Ukraine after Russian drones rained fire on its citizens last week.
On Friday, February 25, it will be a year into Russia's invasion. Fighting now amounts to attritional duels of artillery and infantry assaults, with neither side making significant gains. But Ukrainians daily pay the price with their lives as Russian missiles and rockets levy a toll of death and destruction.
Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine entered its 46th week.
A baby was killed when a Russian missile struck a maternity hospital in Vilniansk, Zaporizhzhia region.
The mother of Tseng Sheng-Kuang, 25, a Taiwanese fighter from the Carpathian Sich Battalion, who was recently killed in a battle against Russian troops, mourns while holding a Ukrainian national flag during a memorial ceremony in Lviv.
How will Russian athletes be cleared to compete at Paris 2024?
US officials say that outreach and public statements from Modi and others helped avert a crisis.
Acting Mayor of Zaporizhzhia Anatoly Kurtev said that in the attack, five houses were destroyed and apartment buildings were damaged, CNN reported.
Thursday's ruling does not affect any decision on Russian and Belarusian athletes' participation at the Paris 2024 Olympics which the IOC will take at a later date.
Glimpses of Kherson, Ukraine, June 6, 2023, after either Russian or Ukranian missiles destroyed the Nova Kakhovka dam, releasing thousands of litres of water.
A number of Russian light military vehicles on the streets of the city, with some footage showing vehicles on fire.
The 19-kilometre (11.8 miles) bridge, which runs across the Kerch Strait and connects Crimea with mainland Russia, consists of a railway and vehicle sections.
The latest from the War in Ukraine.
Charmesh Sharma said he had on March 10 informed the Indian authorities about five students stranded in that country, after which three of them were brought back.
Glimpses of Russian ruthlessness during the New Year...
Scenes from the bitter fighting in trenches in Bakhmut in Ukraine's Donetsk region during a bitter and cold winter have been compared to scenes from trench warfare during World War more than a century ago.
Putin said the residents in the four annexed regions will now be Russia's "citizens forever".
India has abstained on a draft resolution tabled in the United Nations Security Council which condemned Russia's 'illegal referenda' and annexation of four Ukrainian territories and called for an immediate cessation of violence while underlining the need to find pathways for a return to the negotiating table.
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