picture of article

Zelenskyy again demands Ukraine is involved in talks after Russia and US agree to create team to explore peace deal – Europe live

It’s just past 9pm in Kyiv, 10pm in Moscow, and 2pm in Washington. Here’s a recap of the latest developments: Top US and Russian officials held talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday where they agreed to continue planning an end to the Ukraine war and to pursue closer cooperation. The talks, which included US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, were the most extensive negotiations between the two countries in three years and marked a tectonic shift in Washington’s approach to Russia, dramatically moving away from the Biden administration’s efforts to isolate Moscow. Rubio said Russia and the US had agreed to create a high-level team to support Ukraine peace talks and to explore “economic and investment opportunities which will emerge from a successful end to the conflict in Ukraine”. The US secretary of state said an end to the Ukraine conflict must be acceptable to all involved, including Ukraine, Europe and Russia. No Ukrainian or even European officials were present at the meeting. A statement from Rubio said the meeting was “the first step of a long and difficult journey”. Lavrov reiterated Russian’s rejection of the dea of western boots in Ukraine. The deployment of Nato member troops in Ukraine, even if they were operating there under a different flag, was unacceptable, the Russian foreign minister said. He also rejected a US proposal that Russia and Ukraine halt strikes on each other’s energy infrastructure. Putin’s chief foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said the talks had “gone well” and that a potential Vladimir Putin-Donald Trump summit was discussed. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv would not accept the results of talks between the US and Russia in Saudi Arabia that were held “behind Ukraine’s back” on Tuesday. “It feels like the US is now discussing the ultimatum that Putin set at the start of the full-scale war,” he said after a meeting with Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Zelenskyy also said he would seek the return of occupied eastern and southern towns and villages via diplomatic means. Zelenskyy also announced that he had postponed a visit to Saudi Arabia, originally expected on Wednesday. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said it was absurd for Russia to talk about peace while killing Ukrainians. Without criticising the Trump administration directly, he said the high-level US-Russia talks had not been properly prepared, adding that they were merely a forum for more Russian “ultimatums”. Podolyak said there was no point in having a “fake peace” that would lead to “an inevitable continuation of the war”. France reportedly plans to a host a second meeting to discuss Ukraine and European security on Wednesday. The meeting comes after Paris convened an emergency meeting of EU nations and the UK on Monday, and will reportedly include European countries who were not present at the time and Canada. The security talks in Paris on Monday yielded no concrete measures, as European leaders struggled to present a united front amid divisions over the deployment of troops to Ukraine. Poland’s president Andrzej Duda said the US has no intention of lowering its troop numbers in “our part” of eastern Europe. Duda, who has long been friendly to Trump, said there are “no concerns” that Washington would “in any way withdraw from its responsibility or co-responsibility for the security of this part of Europe” and urged Poles to “remain calm” in light of shifting priorities under the new US president. Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen warned that the current geopolitical and security situation was “worse than the cold war”. Frederiksen told the Danish parliament that “we are in a far more difficult … and more dangerous security situation than we have been in my lifetime” and called for a radical ramp-up of Danish defence spending. We’ll bring you any further updates on US and global reaction to the talks in the US politics blog here:

picture of article

UN rights body accuses Rwanda-backed militia of killing children in eastern DRC

The UN human rights office accused the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels of killing three children in Bakavu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo city they captured last week, expressing alarm at human rights violations by the militia. “Our office has confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last week. We are also aware that children were in possession of weapons,” Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN’s Office of the high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR), said on Tuesday. Shamdasani said the three children, all boys aged 15 or younger, were in uniform and carrying weapons – all from an abandoned DRC military camp – and were killed when they refused to surrender the weapons. Decades-long fighting among regional armies and rebels in the mineral-rich eastern DRC has killed and displaced millions of people. Fighting escalated last month when M23 fighters captured parts of North Kivu and advanced towards South Kivu. Last week, M23 rebels occupied Bukavu, the second-largest city in eastern DRC, after earlier capturing the city of Goma. M23 is the latest in a string of Tutsi-led insurgent groups to operate in the region since a 2003 deal that was meant to end the wars that had killed 6 million people. It says its objective is to safeguard the interests of the Congolese Tutsi and other minorities. The DRC, the US and others have accused Rwanda of backing the group, which it denies. The UN has in the past accused the Congolese army and opposing militias of recruiting children, and the UN human rights council is investigating rapes, killings and other abuses committed by both sides. A Guardian report in December detailed stories of executions of children and rape of women by M23 rebels. The group’s spokesperson, Lawrence Kanyuka, said the allegations did not “reflect the likeness of the situation”. On Tuesday, M23 reopened a ferry route between Bukavu and Goma on Lake Kivu after weeks of closure, and Ugandan soldiers entered the north-eastern DRC city of Bunia to help Congolese troops fighting the rebels. This year’s conflict has displaced hundreds of thousands of people in eastern DRC and between 10,000 and 15,000 have crossed into neighbouring Burundi in days, the UN says. “The situation in the eastern DRC remains extremely challenging and fluid,” Shamdasani said. In the statement, Shamdasani condemned attacks on hospitals and humanitarian warehouses, and threats against the judiciary, all which were said to be connected to M23’s advance in eastern DRC. On Tuesday, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said it had summoned Rwanda’s envoy to the UK to condemn the group’s advances.

picture of article

Hamas says it will return bodies of four Israelis on Thursday and release six living hostages on Saturday – as it happened

Hello, we are now closing the live blog. Here is a summary of events today. Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya has said the militant group will release six living Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum published the names on Tuesday of six Israelis held in Gaza due to be released on Saturday under a fragile Israel-Hamas truce deal. They are Eliya Cohen, Tal Shoham, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, Hisham Al-Sayed, and Avera Mengistu. Al-Hayya said the “Bibas family” would be included in the handover of four bodies on Thursday, without elaborating. Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar said Israel will begin negotiations on the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal this week. Israel’s army has left southern Lebanese villages but remains in five positions, a Lebanese security source told Agence France-Presse (AFP), as a deadline for their withdrawal agreed to under a peace deal with Hezbollah expired. Oxfam has warned that not enough aid is coming into Gaza, especially in the northern part of the territory and the southern Rafah governate devastated by Israeli bombardments during the war. Lebanon’s new government will negotiate with the International Monetary Fund for a new programme and will work to deal with the country’s financial default and public debt, More than 200 organisations worldwide have called on nations involved in producing F-35 fighter jets to “immediately halt all arms transfers to Israel” amid fears they have failed to prevent the planes from being used to violate international law. Beirut airport will close for four hours on Sunday during the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Lebanon’s civil aviation authority announced. Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday dismissed a proposal by the United States to displace Palestinians from the war-devastated Gaza Strip, saying it “will go nowhere”. More than $50 billion will be required to rebuild Gaza and the West Bank after the 15-month Israel-Gaza conflict, according to an assessment released by the United Nations, the European Union and the World Bank on Tuesday. An Arab League summit planned to discuss Trump’s proposal to take over Gaza has been moved to 4 March. Jordan’s King Abdullah left hospital on Tuesday after undergoing minor surgery, the royal palace said.

picture of article

Ukraine will never accept Russia’s ultimatums, Volodymyr Zelenskyy says

Ukraine reacted with gloom and dismay on Tuesday to the meeting between the US and Russia in Saudi Arabia, with Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying he would never accept Russia’s ultimatums. The high-stakes negotiations between the two delegations got under way in Riyadh just hours after Russia attacked Ukraine with dozens of drones. At least two people were killed and 26 injured in strikes across the country. One drone hit the top floor of a high-rise residential building in the central city of Dolynska, in the Kirovohrad region. A mother and her two children were injured and taken to hospital. “A difficult night,” said the local governor, Andriy Raikovych. Soon after the talks concluded in Riyadh, air raid sirens wailed across the capital, Kyiv. Millions of Ukrainians were told by text message to seek shelter because of a threat from Russian ballistic missiles. Speaking in Ankara after a meeting with Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Zelenskyy said Ukraine would not accept the results of talks on how to end the war with Russia that were held “behind Ukraine’s back”. “It feels like the US is now discussing the ultimatum that Putin set at the start of the full-scale war,” Zelenskyy told reporters. He added: “Once again, decisions about Ukraine are being made without Ukraine. I wonder why they believe Ukraine would accept all these ultimatums now if we refused them at the most difficult moment?” Zelenskyy also said he would seek the return of occupied eastern and southern towns and villages via diplomatic means, emphasising: “They will be Ukrainian. There can be no compromise.” Reuters reported that Zelenskyy has postponed a visit to Saudi Arabia planned for Wednesday to avoid giving the US-Russia talks “legitimacy”. It was absurd for Moscow to talk about peace while killing Ukrainians, said Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of Zelenskyy’s office. The latest salvo of 176 drones fired at Ukraine represented Russia’s actual “negotiating position”, he posted. Without criticising the Trump administration directly, he said the high-level US-Russia talks had not been properly prepared, adding that they were merely a forum for more Russian “ultimatums”. “Encouragement rather than coercion, a voluntary and bizarre renunciation of strength in favour of disheartening and unmotivated appeasement of the aggressor,” Podolyak wrote, summing up Kyiv’s negative reaction. There is widespread scepticism that Russia would abide by any ceasefire deal unless it was underpinned by security guarantees – from the US and other western powers. Podolyak said there was no point in having a “fake peace” that would lead to “an inevitable continuation of the war”. Ukrainians have bitter memories of two deals signed with Russia in the Belarus capital, Minsk, after Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea in 2014 and began a covert invasion of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Russia repeatedly violated both ceasefires. There are fears that a quick deal between Washington and Moscow would amount to Minsk 3 – another agreement that Russia would swiftly break. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference last weekend, Zelenskyy said Russia was ready to expand its invasion and “wage war” against Nato. More immediately, there were concerns that a Trump-Putin deal would demand that Ukraine hold elections immediately after a ceasefire came into force, and before any final agreement was reached. The goal, Ukrainian commentators suggested, would be to replace Zelenskyy with a weaker leader, or even a pro-Russian candidate. Ukraine is not obliged to hold elections under martial law. Few Ukrainians think they are practical at a time when Russia’s invasion has forced millions of citizens to flee abroad and when soldiers are fighting and dying on the frontline. European embassies in Kyiv agree. The White House excluded Kyiv and European nations from its direct talks with Russia, the first bilateral contact between the two sides since before Moscow’s 2022 invasion. Ukraine’s former foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said he did not expect a truce with Russia any time soon, telling the BBC: “Peace is not even visible on the horizon.” Kuleba said it was in Ukraine’s interest to resist US pressure for a speedy solution and to instead engage with Trump over a sustained period. Kuleba said: “Peace isn’t visible for one simple reason: because Putin still believes that he can outwit everyone, that time is on his side, fate is on his side, the west has wavered, America is retreating, Europe is not able to take the field instead of America, or … is not ready to put on the captain’s armband.” He added: “The key question now is, actually, where is Putin in this scheme? In my opinion, he believes that he will win. Victory for him is all of Ukraine. He didn’t come for some piece of land. He came for Ukraine.”

picture of article

Hamas says it will hand over bodies of Bibas family and free six hostages

Hamas has said it will release six hostages from Gaza this week and hand over the bodies of four others, including the remains of two young children from the same family whose deaths had not previously been confirmed. Khalil al-Hayya, a Hamas negotiator, said the four bodies to be handed over on Thursday would include those of 32-year-old Shiri Bibas and her sons, Kfir and Ariel, who were nine months old and four years old when Hamas abducted them from the Nir Oz kibbutz during the 7 October 2023 attack that ignited the Gaza war. The boys’ father, Yarden Bibas, was told by Hamas that his family was dead when he was released earlier this month, but Israeli authorities were not able to confirm their deaths, and family members said that the father had continued to believe they could still be alive. Hamas has claimed the young boys and their mother were killed by Israeli bombing. Hamas has said it will release six surviving hostages on Saturday, which represents a slight acceleration of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement. Under the originally agreed timetable, they were to be released in two groups of three, the last on 1 March, when the second phase is due to begin. A further four bodies are to be handed over on schedule next week. The release of six hostages on Saturday was confirmed by the office of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. In return, all the remaining Palestinians due to be released from Israeli prisons in the first phase will be freed on Saturday. Israeli press reports said that Israel would also allow into Gaza some of the bulldozers and mobile homes that have been waiting on the Egyptian side of the border, to begin the vast task of rebuilding the devastated Palestinian territory. Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, said that Israeli negotiators in Doha would begin discussing the details of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement “this week”, something Netanyahu had previously refused to condone despite the fact that under the agreement second-phase talks were supposed to start in the first week of February. The second phase is supposed to include the release of all remaining hostages with a corresponding number of Palestinian detainees and prisoners, and the completion of the Israel Defense Forces’ withdrawal from Gaza, including the Rafah crossing point into Egypt – in effect putting an end to the war. The right wing of Netanyahu’s governing coalition has adamantly opposed the start of the second phase, threatening to bring down his government, but Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, put his foot down on the issue over the weekend. “Phase two is a little more complicated than phase one. But phase two is absolutely going to begin,” Witkoff told Fox News on Sunday, adding that he just talked to Netanyahu about the issue by telephone that day. Two days later, Sa’ar said: “In the security cabinet meeting last night, we decided to open negotiations on the second phase. It will happen this week.” Asked what would happen if there was no agreement in the next 10 days on how to implement the second phase, Sa’ar said there were two other options: a return to war or an extension to the 1 March deadline for beginning the phase two if there was “constructive dialogue aimed at getting to an agreement”. Gaza’s future beyond the second phase is even more hazy. Israel has insisted that Hamas can play no further role in its governance. Sa’ar argued there had to be a complete “deradicalisation” of Gaza’s society. Trump caused global outrage earlier this month by saying the US would take over ownership of Gaza, its more than 2 million residents should somehow depart to neighbouring countries, and the whole coastal strip would be redeveloped into a “Riviera” resort. Egypt and Jordan, which were expected to take most of the deported Palestinians under this plan, have rejected the proposal. On Friday, leaders of the two countries are due to meet their counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in Riyadh to put together an alternative plan that would ensure Gaza remains Palestinian land. There will then be an Arab League summit on the issue in Cairo on 4 March.

picture of article

A Trump-Putin carve-up of Ukraine is indefensible | Letters

I look with horror and outrage not only at the patronising and hypocritical words of JD Vance in Munich (JD Vance stuns Munich conference with blistering attack on Europe’s leaders, 14 February) but also at the apparent attempt by Donald Trump to effect peace between Ukraine and Russia without including either Ukraine or Europe more generally (Trump says he has spoken to Putin and agreed to negotiate Ukraine ceasefire, 12 February). A peace that prevents any more bloodshed can only be a good thing, but it cannot be a carve-up in which Vladimir Putin achieves the victory that Ukrainians have so gallantly deprived him of on the battlefield. Or in which Ukraine is impoverished and emasculated by a greedy US and irredentist Russia. Moreover, if Europe and, by extension, the UK, are to be excluded from negotiations on the future of Ukraine and the continent, under no circumstances should British or other European troops be used in a peacekeeping role. The idea that Trump thinks he can cut a deal with Putin, rob Ukraine of her mineral wealth and then leave Europe to pick up the pieces is disgraceful beyond belief. We should not fall for it. It is unacceptable that British lives be risked for the knavery of Trump and his acolytes. If the US wants European troops on the ground, we get a place at the negotiating table. No ifs, no buts. No taxation without representation: is that not a founding principle of US democracy? William Seaford Newport • If Donald Trump is determined to upend post-1945 international structures, as seems likely given his vice-president’s speech, then both sides of the Atlantic need to contemplate the full meaning of a transactional approach to security. Maybe British politicians will stop kidding themselves about the so-called special relationship, which has only ever been special to the Americans when it suited them. At the same time, perhaps someone can inform Trump that it is a mistake to evaluate defence alliances like real-estate deals. Should the president pay a visit to the UK, as Keir Starmer seems to hope, I suggest he be taken to visit the Iraq and Afghanistan memorial in Victoria Embankment Gardens, London, where he’ll be reminded of the 626 UK military personnel who died in furtherance of American wars in those countries between 2001 and 2014. Given the popular reverence for veterans in the US, the Maga movement might find our military sacrifice is one of the few aspects of the North Atlantic alliance it can’t easily dismiss. If Trump then still ditches Europe in favour of deals with Putin, it needs to be made clear that self-interest works on both sides. The US won’t be able to expect its former allies to fall in line behind it in the same way it has commanded since the end of the second world war. Mark Cottle Maesygwartha, Monmouthshire • As Simon Tisdall pointed out a year ago in the Observer, the UK cannot maintain its Trident nuclear deterrent without the active support of the United States. There now appears a high risk that the US will want to be able to veto the use of Trident by the UK and/or to extract a high price for any continued support. Isn’t it time to think about mothballing Trident and redirecting that funding to conventional defence capacity in Europe? Simon Rew London • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.