Volodymyr Zelenskyy announces Donald Trump’s backing for ‘free Ukraine’ as Ukrainian troops make gains in Kursk | World News
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Donald Trump has signalled his support for a free Ukraine and said he wants to stop the war with Russia.
Presidential candidate Mr Trump previously said he would let Russia “do whatever the hell they want” to members of NATO that don’t pay enough for defence and has threatened to withdraw the US from the alliance.
Uncertainty over his stance has been amplified after he selected JD Vance – an arch-critic of US aid to Ukraine – as his running mate.
But Mr Zelenskyy has said he only got positive messages from Mr Trump towards Ukraine during his call with him last month.
“I only had messages that he will support Ukraine and he will do everything… to stop the war,” he told Indian reporters after India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Ukraine this week.
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He added Mr Trump assured him he would do everything he could to make Ukraine “independent, European and free”.
“Those are the messages I got from him directly,” he said, adding “we will see in November,” when the election between Republican Mr Trump and Democrat candidate Kamala Harris takes place.
Ukraine claims more ground in offensive as British journalist goes missing
In his evening address on Sunday, Mr Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s forces had advanced up to 3km in Russia’s Kursk region as part of its ongoing incursion, taking control of two settlements.
His statement came after reports five people were killed and 12 other people injured in Ukrainian shelling in Russia’s border region of Belgorod. According to local officials, one of the people injured was a 16-year-old girl who is in a critical condition.
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Russia strikes northern and eastern Ukraine
Meanwhile, Russian forces struck a hotel overnight in the city of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine, injuring two people and leaving one trapped under the rubble, according to regional governor Vadym Filashkin.
He said they were reported to be journalists from the UK, US and Ukraine.
Reuters has confirmed two of its journalists were wounded in the strike on the hotel, where six of its members covering the war were staying, and one is missing.
The agency said it was “urgently seeking more information”, adding the other three colleagues who were staying at the hotel have been found safe.
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It added it was “working with the authorities in Kramatorsk, and supporting our colleagues and their families”.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesman said: “We are aware of reports of a British national missing in Ukraine and are seeking more information from the local authorities”.
Zelenskyy on India hosting second peace summit
In an interview with Indian reporters which was posted to social media on Sunday, Mr Zelenskyy said negotiations were ongoing with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Switzerland regarding a second peace summit.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kyiv on Friday. Pic: Reuters
Zelenskyy and Modi embraced ahead of the meeting. Pic: Reuters
The first peace summit was a two-day event held in Switzerland in June and saw around 100 delegations attend with 80 of them joining a peace communique calling for “just and lasting peace in Ukraine”.
But India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand, Indonesia, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates were among those that did not sign up to the final document, which focused on issues of nuclear safety, food security and the exchange of prisoners.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had told Mr Modi he would support India hosting the summit as Kyiv hopes to find a host among the countries in the Global South.
“But I want to be frank, and this applies not only to India, but to any state that would be positive about hosting a second summit,” he said,
“We will not be able to hold a peace summit in a country that has not yet joined the peace summit communique.”
Mr Modi’s visit was the first by an Indian prime minister to Ukraine since Kyiv gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
The Indian prime minister said he had come with “a message of peace” and that his country was “ready to make proactive contributions towards peace efforts” between Ukraine and Russia.
