KYIV: Ukraine&#39;s Volodymyr Zelensky proposed a face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin in a rare open letter to the Russian leader Thursday, shortly after the Kremlin chief had conceded Moscow needed to strengthen its air defences following a spate of Ukrainian attacks. US President Donald Trump, who has pushed both sides to end the conflict and boasted he could end the war within a day of taking office, said a face-to-face Putin-Zelensky meeting would be &quot;great&quot; -- but pushed both sides to compromise. The Kremlin said Putin had not yet been shown the letter, but that Zelensky could meet Putin in Moscow &quot;any time&quot; -- a proposal that the Ukrainian leader preemptively ruled out in his letter. &quot;Ukraine proposes ending this war through direct engagement between us -- and you. I am proposing a meeting,&quot; Zelensky said in the letter. &quot;I propose to set a clear date for such a meeting,&quot; he said. &quot;Ukraine is ready for a full ceasefire for the duration of the negotiations,&quot; he added. Zelensky published the letter a day after Ukrainian drones hit Saint Petersburg, as Putin&#39;s home city hosted a major international economic forum this week. The Ukrainian leader has repeatedly called for a meeting with the ex-KGB spy, saying only face-to-face talks will yield an agreement on territory. Direct addresses from Zelensky to the Russian leader are rare. &#39;I suggested those compromises&#39;Trump, who has faced criticism for berating Zelensky in the White House last year on the one hand while inviting Putin to a summit in Alaska with the other, said he was &quot;glad that they&#39;re maybe talking about meeting&quot;. &quot;I think we had a lot to do with it,&quot; he told reporters in the Oval Office -- the scene of his clash with the Ukrainian leader. &quot;I think it would be great if they met. They should -- get it done.&quot; Months of US-led negotiations have failed to bring the sides close to an agreement, with Trump&#39;s attention largely absorbed by the Iran war that the United States and Israel launched more than three months ago. &quot;They&#39;re going to both make compromises, I suggested those compromises, and you know, we&#39;ve had a lot to do with it,&quot; Trump said of Ukraine and Russia, without specifying. Russia, which invaded in 2022, has demanded Ukraine pull out of its eastern Donbas region -- large parts of which Kyiv&#39;s army still controls -- as a precondition to peace talks. Speaking to foreign journalists, including from AFP, in Saint Petersburg just before Zelensky&#39;s appeal was published, Putin had repeated his frequent questioning of the Ukrainian leader&#39;s legitimacy. He said the question of whether Zelensky was Ukraine&#39;s legitimate leader needed &quot;analysis&quot;, after his initial five-year term expired in 2024. Martial law prohibits elections during wartime in Ukraine, and Zelensky has offered to stage a vote or referendum on a final peace deal if a full ceasefire is in place. Putin has said he would only meet Zelensky to finalise an already agreed deal, rejecting calls to meet before then. &quot;Zelensky can come at any time to Moscow,&quot; state media quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying after the letter was published. &#39;Strengthen&#39; air defencesUkraine has intensified its long-range retaliatory strikes on Russian energy and military targets in recent months -- attacks it calls a fair response to nightly barrages by Russia&#39;s army. &quot;If you do not personally come to the conclusion that it is time to end this war, Ukraine will continue fighting for its existence,&quot; Zelensky said in the letter. Putin on Thursday hailed his forces&#39; achievements on the battlefield in the face of growing confidence in Ukraine. When asked about whether Russia&#39;s offensive against Ukraine had become a &quot;strategic disaster&quot;, Putin said that Russia was &quot;advancing along the entire line of contact&quot;. &quot;We are absolutely ready and willing to reach an agreement with Ukraine through peaceful means,&quot; he added. The pace of Russia&#39;s advance has slowed since late 2025, and recent data shows Ukraine has regained ground against Russia. Ukraine recaptured more territory than it lost to Russian forces in May for the second straight month, according to an AFP analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Putin also accepted that Russia needs to improve its air defence systems, speaking a day after Ukrainian drones struck an oil terminal and naval base in Saint Petersburg, just as the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) -- dubbed Russian Davos -- opened. &quot;Russia has an air defence system. Yes, we must improve it. Yes, we must strengthen it. And we will do so,&quot; the Russian leader said.

Europe

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky propose a face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin in a rare open letter to the Russian leader 

Zelensky, in open letter to Putin, proposes face-to-face meeting

Web Desk

SAINT PETERSBURG: Ukraine launched a large-scale drone attack on Russia early Wednesday, targeting energy and military facilities in and around Saint Petersburg as the city prepared to host the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, according to AFP. St. Petersburg Governor Aleksandr Beglov told the media that several infrastructure facilities were damaged in overnight strikes across three districts of the city.&nbsp; While no fatalities were reported, several people were injured.&nbsp; According to CNN, Russian authorities said air defense systems intercepted and destroyed more than 350 Ukrainian drones across the country, including around 60 over the Leningrad region. In western Russia&rsquo;s Smolensk region, Governor Vasiliy Anokhin said Ukrainian drones struck critical infrastructure facilities. Two firefighters were killed while responding to a blaze caused by falling drone debris, while two other firefighters and a civilian suffered minor injuries. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the operation targeted key military and energy assets, including the St. Petersburg oil terminal and military facilities at the Kronstadt naval base. He also claimed a weapons-production site in the Tambov region was hit. The attacks coincided with the opening of SPIEF, Russia&rsquo;s flagship economic gathering often compared to the World Economic Forum in Davos. Flight operations at St. Petersburg&rsquo;s airport were briefly disrupted due to airspace restrictions. The escalation follows a deadly Russian missile and drone assault on Ukraine that killed at least 23 people earlier this week.

Russian authorities confirmed that the drones struck energy and military targets in St. Petersburg and western Russia as a major economic forum opened; Moscow claimed to have intercepted hundreds of drones across the country.

Ukrainian drones hit St. Petersburg as Russia hosts major economic forum

BEIJING:&nbsp;Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed in Beijing on Wednesday a joint statement on further enhancing the comprehensive strategic coordination and deepening good-neighbourliness and friendly cooperation between the two countries, said the Chinese state news agency Xinhua. The news agency quoted President Xi as saying that the China-Russia relationship has entered a new stage of greater achievements and faster development. Xi made the remarks when holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is on a state visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The Chinese President pointed out that in recent years, faced with a fluid and turbulent international situation, China and Russia have developed a comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era based on equality, mutual respect, good faith, and win-win cooperation. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Wednesday in Beijing&#39;s Great Hall of the People, Russian media reported. Putin is in Beijing seeking to underscore their unshakeable alliance, days after US President Donald Trump visited the Chinese capital. Russian President Vladimir Putin had arrived in Beijing late on Tuesday for talks with his Chinese counterpart and &quot;long-time good friend&quot; Xi Jinping, intending to show their ties are unshakeable days after a visit by Donald Trump. The confirmation of Putin&#39;s trip came just hours after Trump wrapped up his visit on Friday, the first by a US president to China in nearly a decade and one aimed at stabilizing their turbulent relations. Putin arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport around 11:15 p.m. (1515 GMT) on Tuesday, where he was greeted by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and a military band. It was a near-mirror image of Trump&#39;s arrival days earlier, with both leaders stepping out of their planes onto a red carpet as Chinese youths chanted &quot;welcome, welcome&quot; - &nbsp;this time, waving Russian flags instead of American. Putin and Xi are set to discuss how to strengthen Russia and China&#39;s strategic partnership and &quot;exchange views on key international and regional issues&quot;, according to a Kremlin statement. Their ties have deepened since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, with Putin visiting Beijing every year since as his country is cut off diplomatically on the world stage. However, their relationship is far from equal, with Moscow heavily dependent economically on Beijing, the main buyer of sanctioned Russian oil. Among topics Xi and Putin could discuss is the construction of the major &quot;Power of Siberia 2&quot; natural gas pipeline from Russia to China through Mongolia - a land alternative to crude imported by sea from the Middle East - which Moscow is keen to get underway. Setting a warm tone for the visit, Xi and Putin exchanged &quot;congratulatory letters&quot; on Sunday to mark 30 years of their countries&#39; strategic partnership. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun lauded &quot;the enduring friendship between China and Russia&quot; on Tuesday. And in a video message to the Chinese people released on Tuesday, Putin said relations have reached &quot;a truly unprecedented level&quot;, and that &quot;trade between Russia and China continues to grow&quot;. &quot;The close strategic relationship between Russia and China plays a major, stabilizing role globally. Without allying against anyone, we seek peace and universal prosperity,&quot; Putin said, without mentioning any third country. The two leaders are also expected to sign a joint declaration after their talks. &#39;Dear, old friends&#39;Xi welcomed Putin with open arms as an &quot;old friend&quot; when he last visited Beijing in September 2025 - language the Chinese leader did not extend to Trump last week. Putin, who in turn called Xi his &quot;dear friend&quot;, will be keen to show the world that their relations are unaffected by Trump&#39;s visit. While Putin&#39;s visit is not expected to receive the same pomp as Trump&#39;s, &quot;the Xi-Putin relationship does not require that kind of performative reassurance&quot;, said Patricia Kim from the Brookings Institution in Washington. Both sides view ties as &quot;structurally stronger and more stable&quot; than those between China and the United States, she said. Beijing has regularly called for talks to end the war in Ukraine but has never condemned Russia for sending in troops, presenting itself instead as a neutral party. Trump and Xi discussed Ukraine last week, but the US president left China without a breakthrough. &quot;Xi will almost certainly brief Putin on his summit with Trump,&quot; Kim said. The lack of clear outcomes from the Xi-Trump meeting, though, &quot;likely reassures Moscow that Xi did not strike any understanding with Trump that would materially undercut Russian interests&quot;. Appetite for oilPutin will be hoping that China deepens its commitment to Moscow, after Trump told Fox News during his visit that Beijing had agreed to buy US oil to feed its &quot;insatiable&quot; appetite for energy. With Russia reliant on sales to China to sustain its war effort, &quot;Putin does not want to lose that support&quot;, Asia Society&#39;s Lyle Morris told AFP. &quot;Putin will likely be keen to hear from Xi about China&#39;s next step in the Middle East,&quot; Morris said, after &quot;Trump signaled clearly that he hopes Beijing will play a leading role&quot;. When it comes to the US-Israeli war on Iran, though, China and Russia may have different priorities. &quot;(China) relies on the freedom of the world&#39;s major waterways to sustain its economic activities, and would prefer that the standoff in the Strait of Hormuz end sooner rather than later,&quot; James Char of Singapore&#39;s Nanyang Technological University told AFP. On the other hand, Moscow has &quot;been benefitting economically from the fighting in Iran due to the relaxation of sanctions against Russian energy supplies, so may have a different view&quot;, he said. Russia&#39;s top diplomat, Sergei Lavrov, said after meeting Xi in April that Russia could &quot;compensate&quot; for China&#39;s energy shortages as the Middle East war hits global supplies. &quot;Expanded energy ties may feature prominently at the meeting (as) Beijing seeks more Russian energy,&quot; said Joseph Webster from the Atlantic Council. &quot;From Moscow&#39;s perspective, shipping more oil east may be more attractive in the wake of Ukraine&#39;s relentless campaign targeting Russian energy infrastructure.&quot;

Asia

China

Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin signed a joint statement in Beijing aimed at strengthening the partnership between China and Russia.

China, Russia double down on strategic coordination, energy cooperation

MOSCOW: Russia on Tuesday tested a new long-range missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads, months after the last treaty with the United States limiting their atomic arsenals lapsed.&nbsp;The ending of the New START agreement in February formally released the world&#39;s two largest nuclear powers from a raft of restrictions.&nbsp;&quot;This is the most powerful missile system in the world,&quot; claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin after receiving a report of a successful launch of Sarmat, an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).&nbsp;He said the missile could carry a warhead more than four times more powerful than anything Western militaries possessed, adding that Sarmat would be on &quot;combat duty&quot; by the end of this year.&nbsp;Even though Moscow and Washington agreed to reestablish high-level military dialogue shortly after New START expired, there were no immediate signs of renewing or prolonging it.&nbsp;US President Donald Trump has repeatedly pressed for a new treaty to include China, whose arsenal is growing but still significantly smaller than those of Russia or the US, but Beijing has publicly rejected the pressure.&nbsp;Trump had been mostly silent on Russian calls to extend New START, which was signed in 2010 and imposed the last restrictions on Moscow and Washington after decades of agreements dating from the Cold War.&nbsp;Both countries have repeatedly accused each other of failing to adhere to the agreement.&nbsp;Sarmat, referred to as &quot;Satan II&quot; in NATO designation, is the first ICBM produced in post-Soviet Russia to be classed as &quot;super heavy&quot;.&nbsp;Put said it was capable of travelling 35,000 kilometers (22,000 miles).

Russia tested a new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads after the New START treaty with the US expired. Putin said it is the world’s most powerful missile, entering combat duty soon.

Russia tests long-range missile after US nuclear treaty expires

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday said the war in Ukraine was winding down, slamming Western support for Kyiv, as the first day of a US-brokered ceasefire was marked by mutual accusations of violations.&nbsp;The Russian leader has made the memory of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II a central narrative of his 25-year rule and repeatedly invoked it to justify his Ukraine offensive.&nbsp;Russian authorities typically mark the Victory Day parade with pomp and grandeur. But a spate of Ukrainian long-range attacks in recent weeks prompted the Kremlin to ramp up security measures and downsize this year&#39;s celebrations.&nbsp;When asked after the parade whether the Western military aid to Ukraine had gone too far, Putin said: &quot;They started ratcheting up the confrontation with Russia, which continues to this day.&nbsp;&quot;I think it (the conflict) is heading to an end but it&#39;s still a serious matter.&quot;&nbsp;&quot;They spent months waiting for Russia to suffer a crushing defeat, for its statehood to collapse. It didn&#39;t work out.&nbsp;&quot;And then they got stuck in that groove and now they can&#39;t get out of it,&quot; Putin said, referring to the Western countries.&nbsp;Putin added he was ready to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a third country only once all conditions for a potential peace agreement were settled.&nbsp;&quot;This should be the final point, not the negotiations themselves,&quot; he said.&nbsp;Ceasefire violationsAfter two failed attempts at truces this week by both Russia and Ukraine, US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a three-day ceasefire between both sides would come into effect from Saturday.&nbsp;Moscow and Kyiv traded accusations of violations, but no major strikes were reported, despite continued drone activity and civilian casualties on both sides.&nbsp;&quot;Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought War,&quot; Trump posted on his Truth Social network, adding the ceasefire would be accompanied by a prisoner exchange.&nbsp;The Kremlin said that as of now there were no plans to prolong the truce.&nbsp;The warring sides also agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners each during the truce. But Putin said Saturday that Russia had not yet received any proposals from Ukraine on the exchange.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Ukraine war was nearing an end while criticizing Western support for Kyiv, as Russia and Ukraine exchanged ceasefire violation accusations despite a US-brokered three-day truce and planned prisoner swap.

Putin says Ukraine war is 'heading to an end'

JAKARTA: Indonesia&#39;s President Prabowo Subianto will depart for Russia on Sunday for talks with counterpart Vladimir Putin on oil, Prabowo&#39;s office said.&nbsp;The presidency in Jakarta confirmed to AFP that Prabowo would leave Sunday evening.&nbsp;Foreign Minister Sugiono said Saturday that oil, which is &quot;of strategic importance for the Indonesian nation&quot;, would be on the agenda.&nbsp;&quot;He will meet with President Putin and will also discuss global geopolitics and, certainly, the energy situation,&quot; said Sugiono, who like many Indonesians has only one name.&nbsp;Prabowo, who recently travelled to South Korea and Japan, has defended his foreign travels.&nbsp;&quot;Brothers and sisters, it&#39;s to secure oil, I have to go everywhere,&quot; he said in an address to his cabinet last week.&nbsp;Like many nations, Indonesia has come under pressure from soaring global oil prices over the war in the Middle East.&nbsp;Southeast Asia&#39;s largest economy, where fuel is heavily subsidised, is an oil producer but nevertheless a net importer.&nbsp;Last month, Prabowo&#39;s government announced fuel rationing and mandated a day-per-week work-from-home policy for civil servants to conserve energy stocks.&nbsp;It has vowed not to increase the price of fuel in the near future.&nbsp;Russia&#39;s ambassador to Indonesia Sergei Tolchenov told reporters in March that his country was open to selling oil to Indonesia.&nbsp;&quot;If Indonesia needs it, so please tell us and you will have it,&quot; Tolchenov said as the countries prepared for joint military exercises at a Jakarta port.&nbsp;Last year, Jakarta joined the BRICS bloc of emerging economies that includes Russia and China.&nbsp;But Prabowo has also signed a trade deal with US President Donald Trump and joined his so-called &quot;Board of Peace&quot;.&nbsp;

Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto will visit Russia to meet Vladimir Putin, focusing on oil supply, energy security, and geopolitics, as Jakarta faces rising prices, fuel subsidies pressure, and seeks stable imports amid Middle East tensions.

Indonesian president to meet Putin in Russia for oil talks

MOSCOW:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/russian-says-no-deadlines-to-end-ukraine-war" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Moscow</a>&nbsp;and Kyiv will each release a total of 500 prisoners of war over Thursday and Friday, Russia&#39;s top negotiator said, with the Russian defense ministry saying the first 200 on each side had already been swapped. &quot;There will be an exchange of prisoners of war with Ukraine. 500 for 500,&quot; Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky wrote on Telegram. He added that the swap was part of agreements reached at trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States in Geneva searching for an end to the conflict. The Russian defense ministry said the UAE and the United States helped mediate Thursday&#39;s exchange of 200 captured Russian soldiers for 200 captured Ukrainians. It added that the Russian servicemen were in <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/ski-body-blocks-russian-belarusian-athletes-from-2026-winter-olympics" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Belarus</a>, a close ally of Russia that neighbors Ukraine. Moscow and Kyiv have held several rounds of prisoner exchanges throughout the war, one of the rare areas of cooperation between the warring countries. The swaps are among the very few tangible results of the talks, being pushed and mediated by Washington, trying to broker a deal to end the war. Negotiations appeared to have stalled amid a lack of progress and since the eruption of war in the Middle East. Kyiv had said there had been a tentative plan to hold talks in Abu Dhabi this week - one of the places being hit by Iranian missiles and drones. <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-zelensky-speak-before-ukraineus-talks-in-geneva" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky</a> on Monday suggested holding the next meeting in Switzerland or Turkey, which both have hosted previous rounds talks, instead.

This handout photograph taken and released by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine on March 5, 2026 shows buildings on fire following a Russian attack in the coast of Bilgorod-Dnistrovskyi district in Odesa region. (AFP)

The swap was part of agreements reached at trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States in Geneva searching for an end to the conflict.

Russia, Ukraine to exchange 500 POWs on March 5-6: negotiator

KYIV: Vladimir Putin has not broken Ukraine, its leader Volodymyr&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/zelensky-says-europe-fragmented-looks-lost-facing-trump" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Zelensky</a>&nbsp;said Tuesday, as the Kremlin marked the fourth year of its invasion by vowing that it will keep fighting Europe&#39;s bloodiest conflict since World War II until it achieves its goals. Moscow had hoped to take Kyiv in days when it launched its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/ukraine-marks-four-years-since-russian-invasion" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">invasion</a>&nbsp;on February 24, 2022. Four years later &mdash; with hundreds of thousands dead, millions forced to flee, much of eastern Ukraine destroyed and US-led peace talks still deadlocked over territory &mdash; it conceded that it has not achieved all it wants in the country. &quot;The goals haven&#39;t been fully achieved yet, which is why the military operation continues,&quot; Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in response to an AFP question. Ukraine, meanwhile, was ready to do &quot;everything&quot; it could to secure peace, Zelensky said in a video address that featured images of Ukrainians carrying out acts of resistance against Russian soldiers in the opening days of the conflict. But any settlement must not &quot;betray&quot; the price paid by Ukrainians throughout the conflict, he said. &quot;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/putin-says-developing-russias-nuclear-forces-absolute-priority" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Putin</a>&nbsp;has not achieved his goals. He did not break the Ukrainians. He did not win this war. We have preserved Ukraine, and we will do everything to achieve peace -- and to ensure there is justice,&quot; Zelensky said. &quot;We want peace. Strong, dignified, and lasting peace,&quot; he said, adding that any agreement &quot;must not simply be signed, it must be accepted by Ukrainians&quot;. &quot;Everything Ukraine has gone through. It must not be surrendered, forgotten, or betrayed,&quot; he added. In a later video address to the European Parliament, Zelensky urged Brussels to set out a clear timeline for his country&#39;s accession to the <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/pakistan-urges-diplomacy-warns-of-disinformation-risks-at-un-meeting-on-ukraine" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">bloc</a>. Several European leaders including Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson visited Kyiv on Tuesday to mark the anniversary. European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen was also there, reaffirming that Europe stood &quot;unwaveringly with Ukraine, financially, militarily, and through this harsh winter.&quot; Zelensky was also hosting a video-conference with Kyiv&#39;s top allies, including Britain, France and Germany, to push for more support to deter the Russian invasion. In the suburb of Irpin -- where the bodies of hundreds of civilians were discovered in 2022 after it and the neighbouring suburb of Bucha were occupied by Russian forces -- kindergarten manager Olena Ponomariova said Ukrainians had become united and more resilient. But she &quot;can&#39;t say&quot; what victory would look like, she told AFP, adding: &quot;I don&#39;t know if that will happen, but let&#39;s hope it will.&quot; Territory dispute The United States has been pushing to end the conflict, mediating talks between the two sides this year in Geneva and Abu Dhabi, but they remain at odds over the issue of territory. Russia, which occupies around 20 percent of Ukraine, is fighting to gain full control of Ukraine&#39;s eastern Donetsk region as part of any deal. It has threatened to take it by force if Kyiv does not cave at the negotiating table. Ukraine has rejected the demand and said it would not sign a deal without security guarantees from allies &mdash; including the US &mdash; to deter Russia from invading again. Despite heavy losses, Russian troops have in recent months advanced on the front line, particularly in the eastern Donbas region, which Moscow wants to annex. The <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/russian-missile-barrage-hits-energy-railways-across-ukraine" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Russian army</a> seized more territory during the fourth year of the Ukraine war than in the preceding two years combined, according to an AFP analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Since February 24, 2025 &mdash; the third anniversary of Russia&#39;s invasion &mdash; Moscow&#39;s troops have taken 4,524 square kilometres, an area slightly larger than the US state of Rhode Island. That is according to data from the ISW, which works with the Critical Threats Project (part of the American Enterprise Institute, or AEI), another US think-tank specializing in conflict. The grinding four-year war has devastated Ukraine, which even before the fighting was one of the poorest countries in Europe. The cost of post-war reconstruction is estimated at around $588 billion over the next decade, according to a joint World Bank, EU and UN report with Kyiv, published on Monday. Russia cast its decision to send troops into Ukraine as a defensive move to halt Ukraine&#39;s ambition to join NATO. Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, considers the war to be a resurgence of Russian imperialism aimed at subjugating the Ukrainian people.

A woman holding flowers pays her respect at the Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen for Ukraine in Kyiv on February 24, 2026, as Ukraine marks the fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion. (AFP)

Ukraine marks four years of war as Zelensky vows peace, Russia presses territorial gains, while European leaders visit Kyiv and reconstruction costs are estimated at $588 billion, according to ISW and UN reports.

Zelensky says Ukraine unbroken after 4 years, but Russia vows to fight on

BEIJING/MOSCOW: Russian leader Vladimir Putin hailed Moscow&#39;s economic, political, and security ties with Beijing as a &quot;stabilizing&quot; factor in turbulent times globally, in a video call with China&#39;s Xi Jinping on Wednesday. &quot;Amid growing turbulence, the foreign policy alliance between Moscow and Beijing remains an important stabilising factor,&quot; Putin told Xi in a video broadcast on Russian state TV.&nbsp; Xi was holding the call with Putin via a video link from the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday afternoon, state broadcaster CCTV reported. The call comes days after top diplomats from both countries agreed bilateral relations could &ldquo;break new ground&rdquo; this year as <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/britains-starmer-hails-good-progress-after-meeting-chinas-xi" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Beijing</a>&nbsp;and Moscow seek to ramp up economic cooperation. &lsquo;Close exchanges&rsquo;Their strategic partnership has grown closer since Russia&#39;s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. The two leaders, who are regularly in contact, exchanged New Year greetings on Dec. 31, in which Xi expressed &quot;readiness to continue maintaining close exchanges&quot; with Putin, according to China&#39;s foreign ministry. They last met in person in September when the Russian leader attended Beijing&#39;s massive military parade. &lsquo;Unprecedented level&rsquo;During the visit, Putin told Xi during talks that their countries&#39; ties were at an &ldquo;unprecedented level&rdquo;. Putin and a slew of world leaders had visited the port city of Tianjin before that to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit - a forum that China sees as an alternative to Western-dominated international cooperation. Xi also visited Moscow last year, in May, for Russia&#39;s celebrations of the World War II defeat of the Nazis. The two chatted while they watched tanks and missiles roll across Red Square during Russia&rsquo;s flagship Victory Day Parade.

'Amid growing turbulence, the foreign policy alliance between Moscow and Beijing remains an important stabilising factor,' Putin told Xi in a video broadcast on Russian state TV. 

Putin tells Xi Moscow-Beijing alliance 'stabilizing' for world

MOSCOW: Russia has confirmed that a new round of talks with Ukraine and the United States in Abu Dhabi on ending the four-year-war will start Wednesday, after they were postponed from this weekend. Moscow blamed a scheduling issue for the delay, a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also said the negotiations would take place in the UAE capital on Wednesday and Thursday. &quot;They were indeed originally planned for this past Sunday. But additional coordination of the schedules of the three parties was needed,&quot; Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters &quot;Now, on Wednesday-Thursday, the second round will indeed take place. It will be held in Abu Dhabi. We can confirm that,&quot; he added. The talks will take place less than two weeks before the fourth anniversary of Moscow launching its full-scale offensive against Ukraine. They are expected to focus on the crucial issue of territory, with neither side so far showing any sign of a breakthrough. Washington is pushing for an end to the war between the neighbours, which has killed tens of thousands, forced millions to flee their homes and destroyed much of eastern and southern Ukraine.

A Palestinian delegation convoy drives inside the Kremlin grounds during talks between Russian President and Palestinian President in central Moscow on January 22, 2026. (AFP)

Moscow blamed a scheduling issue for the delay, a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also said the negotiations would take place in the UAE capital.

Articles tagged with "Russian President Vladimir Putin"