Russia-Ukraine live news: Zelenskyy would meet Putin to end war

Ukrainian fighters holed up in the city’s sprawling, Soviet-era Azovstal steelworks recently surrendered after months of stiff resistance against Russia’s offensive.There was no immediate response to Andryushchenko’s claim from Moscow and Al Jazeera could not independently verify his report.23 mins ago (10:36 GMT)Russia has not yet seen an Italian peace plan for Ukraine, but hopes to receive it through diplomatic channels, the Kremlin’s spokesman says.“We haven’t seen it yet, we hope it will be delivered to us through diplomatic channels and we will familiarise ourselves with it,” Dmitry Peskov said.Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio gave the broad outlines of the plan last week and said that he had discussed it with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during a visit to New York.The plan would involve international groups such as the UN, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) which would act as facilitators to organise localised ceasefires initially, Di Maio told a news conference in Italy last Friday.27 mins ago (10:32 GMT)Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Moscow, says developments in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied southern city of Kherson are “showing what things could look like” in the future in other parts of the country controlled by Moscow’s forces.“According to the deputy head of the Russia-backed administration that has been put in place in Kherson, there is a request to have a Russian military base be permanently stationed in that area,” Jabbari said.“Allegedly they [the Russia-backed administration] want to be able to have their own security, under Russia’s control,” she added.“[And] as of Monday the Russian currency – the rouble – is now being used in Kherson, the Russian language has been recognised as one of the official languages in the region, alongside Ukrainian.”29 mins ago (10:30 GMT)Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency has quoted the country’s defence minister as saying that Moscow is deliberately slowing its offensive in Ukraine in order to allow civilians to evacuate.“Ceasefires are being declared and humanitarian corridors are being created in order to get people out of the surrounded settlements. This will happen tomorrow so the dialogue is continuing,” Pekka Haavisto said during a panel discussion at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.2 hours ago (09:16 GMT)European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says Ukraine must win the war it is fighting against Russia, making President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade a “strategic failure”.Moscow is “treating millions of people not as human beings but as faceless populations to be moved or controlled or set as a buffer between military forces, trying to trample the aspirations of an entire nation with tanks,” von der Leyen told the WEF conference in Davos.“Ukraine must win this war, and Putin’s aggression must be a strategic failure,” she added.2 hours ago (08:57 GMT)Sweden and Finland will attend the NATO summit in Madrid next month, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has told the WEF’s Davos gathering.The NATO summit will be held in Madrid on June 28-30.2 hours ago (08:54 GMT)Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has lambasted Putin in a live court hearing, casting him as a madman who had started a “stupid war” in Ukraine based on lies.“This is a stupid war which your Putin started,” Navalny told an appeal court in Moscow via video link from a corrective penal colony.“This war was built on lies … One madman has got his claws into Ukraine and I do not know what he wants to do with it – this crazy thief,” he added.The Moscow court later rejected Navalny’s appeal against a nine-year prison sentence he is serving for alleged fraud and contempt of court – charges he denies as fabricated to thwart his political ambitions.3 hours ago (08:19 GMT)The United States is confident that Finland and Sweden will be able to resolve Turkish concerns over the Nordic countries’ NATO membership bids, deputy US defence secretary Kathleen Hicks says.“[We are] confident that Finland and Sweden will be able to resolve those [concerns] with the Turks directly,” Hicks said while speaking alongside her Norwegian counterpart in Oslo.3 hours ago (08:17 GMT)The secretary of Russia’s Security Council says the country will achieve its objectives in Ukraine and is not “chasing deadlines” there.“All the goals set by the president will be fulfilled. I urge partners to speed up deliveries of weapons and ammunition, especially MLRS, long-range artillery, APCs.— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) May 24, 20224 hours ago (06:50 GMT)Leaders of the Quad grouping of countries, including India’s Modi, shared concerns over the situation in Ukraine at their meeting in Tokyo, the Japanese prime minister has said.“The four leaders had candid discussion on the impact of the Ukraine situation on the Indo-Pacific region, and we, including India, expressed our concern over the tragic war in Ukraine, and confirmed that principles such as the rule of law, sovereignty and territorial integrity should be observed in any region,” Fumio Kishida said.4 hours ago (06:45 GMT)The United Kingdom is in discussions with Ukraine about how to help get grain out of the country after Russia blocked its main sea ports, its transport secretary says.Grant Shapps said he was very concerned about the issue – which has seen global food prices soar as Ukraine is unable to export nearly 25 million tonnes of grains – and met Ukrainian infrastructure minister Oleksandr Kubrakov last week.“We were discussing details which I can’t go into but about how infrastructure could be in place to ensure the grain leaves,” he told Sky News.“We’re looking at all the different options … there are lots of different potential ways to get grain and other goods out of the country,” Shapps added. “Strong views were expressed in the meeting,” he said.5 hours ago (05:32 GMT)Outgoing Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has sharply criticised Putin for the killings of innocent civilians in Ukraine, saying while the two of them have been tagged as killers, “I kill criminals, I don’t kill children and the elderly.”Duterte, who openly calls Putin an idol and a friend, voiced his rebuke for the first time over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in remarks aired on Tuesday where he blamed the three-month-old war for the spike in global oil prices that has battered many countries, including the Philippines.While stressing he was not condemning the Russian president, Duterte disagreed with Putin’s labelling of the invasion as a “special military operation,” and said it was really a full-scale war waged against “a sovereign nation”.Addressing Putin “as a friend” and the Russian embassy in Manila, Duterte urged them to stop bombing and firing artillery rounds on residential areas and allow innocent civilians to safely evacuate before launching a bombardment.6 hours ago (05:25 GMT)While the capture of Severdonetsk in the Luhansk region may be Russia’s main effort at the moment, it is only one part of its campaign to seize the Donbas, the UK’s defence ministry has said.In its latest intelligence briefing, the ministry said that Russia has intensified efforts to encircle Severodonetsk, Lysychansk and Rubizhne, adding that the “northern and southern axes of this operation are separated by approximately 25 km of Ukrainian-held territory”.“If the Donbas front line moves further west, this will extend Russian lines of communication and likely see its forces face further logistic resupply difficulties,” the ministry said.The illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is continuing.The map below is the latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 24 May 2022Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/jtTcuPCs66🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/fAw6Dj1aPm— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) May 24, 20226 hours ago (05:12 GMT)Some 62 million barrels of Russia’s flagship Urals crude oil are sitting in vessels at sea, data from energy analytics firm Vortexa has shown, as traders struggled to find buyers for the crude.The volume of crude oil on the water is triple the pre-war average, Vortexa said, even as Russian seaborne oil exports fell to 6.7 million barrels per day (bpd) so far in May, down about 15 percent from the 7.9 bpd in February.“The headline numbers, showing Russian exports are still relatively strong, don’t tell the full story,” Houston-based energy strategist Clay Seigle told Reuters.