Attacks show Moscow not moving towards ‘real peace’ despite ceasefire talks, says Zelenskyy – Europe live | World news
Russian strikes show Moscow not moving towards 'real peace,' Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has responded to the Russian attacks on Ukraine overnight, saying they revealed that Moscow was not moving towards “real peace.”
In a post on Telegram, he called out attacks just hours after ceasefire negotiations as “a clear signal to the whole world that Moscow is not going to pursue real peace,” and called for more pressure to be put on Russia, including further US sanctions.
He stressed that the US proposal for a complete ceasefire has been on the table since 11 March, but “literally every night” Russia continues to reject the offer.
Key events
Russian neo-imperialism, radical US policy change push Europe to 'step up and be brave,' Spanish PM says
Sam Jones
Pedro Sánchez during session of the Congress of Deputies in Madrid, Spain. Photograph: Sergio R Moreno/GTRES/REX/Shutterstock
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has said the push for increased EU defence spending could make the country both safer and more prosperous, but has vowed not to increase defence investment at the cost of social or environmental programmes.
Speaking in congress on Wednesday morning, the socialist leader said it was time to be brave and to recognise the huge threats the world now faces.
“Russian neo-imperialism and the radical change in US economic and military policy compel Europe to step up and be brave,” he said. “As Europeans, we continue to believe in diplomacy and prosperity. But neither Russia nor the US sees things that way … Others will no longer protect our skies and our borders, so we will have to do that ourselves. As long as this government is in office, this push will not come at the expense of the welfare state. We will support Ukraine without touching a penny of our social or environmental budgets.”
The prime minister – whose push for an increase in defence spending has not gone down well with many in the more leftwing Sumar platform that is the junior partner in his socialist-led coalition – said the new investment could be used to bring a “technological and industrial” advance that would benefit Spain.
Despite announcing that the new defence spending plan would be in place before the summer, Sánchez gave no further details.
Spain, which currently spends 1.3% of its GDP on defence, has committed to reaching the Nato member target of 2% before 2029.
Moratorium on energy targets in place, but Black Sea security deal needs conditions to be met, Russia says
We have just heard from the Kremlin with Russia’s take on overnight developments, as Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov insisted that Putin’s order for a moratorium on attacking energy infrastructure remained in force.
But in further lines reported by agencies, the Kremlin also said that the Black Sea initiative agreed yesterday will be activated after a number of conditions are met, drawing attention to its demands on sanctions relief (9:09).
The Kremlin also said that Russia was satisfied with how its dialogue with the US was developing and the progress made so far, Reuters reported.
Russian strikes show Moscow not moving towards 'real peace,' Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has responded to the Russian attacks on Ukraine overnight, saying they revealed that Moscow was not moving towards “real peace.”
In a post on Telegram, he called out attacks just hours after ceasefire negotiations as “a clear signal to the whole world that Moscow is not going to pursue real peace,” and called for more pressure to be put on Russia, including further US sanctions.
He stressed that the US proposal for a complete ceasefire has been on the table since 11 March, but “literally every night” Russia continues to reject the offer.
Ukraine ceasefire deal looks like a Russian wishlist tied with a US bow - analysis
Andrew Roth
A security officer stands next to a ship full of grain as it waits to sail from Odesa, Ukraine on 29 July 2022. Photograph: David Goldman/AP
The Kremlin is pressing its advantage with a White House that is impatient to show that Donald Trump is the only leader who can deliver peace in the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine.
At first blush, the deal agreed by US negotiators in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday offers concession on concession to the Kremlin, leaving observers to question whether Russia had given anything to secure its first offer of sanctions relief since the beginning of the war.
But the White House account of the agreement did not even include the fine print. In its readout, the Kremlin said that it would only implement the Black Sea ceasefire once the US delivers sanctions relief on Russian agricultural products and fertilisers, as well as delisting a major state-owned bank called Rosselkhozbank that services the Russian agricultural industry.
That would be the first significant rollback of sanctions on Russia since the war began, and indicates that Moscow will seek a dual price to halt its war against Ukraine: political and military concessions from Ukraine as well as an escape from the international isolation that began after its full-scale invasion in 2022.
And, so far, it looks like that is a deal that the Trump administration is willing to make.
Full analysis:
Russia launches overnight drone attack on Ukrainian port providing access to Black Sea
Russia launched an overnight drone attack on the Ukrainian port of Mykolaiv, which provides the country with access to the Black Sea, and struck Kryvyi Rih in what Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday was the war’s biggest drone attack on the city, Reuters reported.
Cargo vessels are seen in the Black Sea, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Photograph: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters
The attack came just hours after the US said it reached agreements with Russia and Ukraine to “eliminate the use of force” in Black Sea, although it wasn’t clear if it came into force immediately after Russia appeared to put forward conditions on the arrangement.
The Ukrainian military said its air defence units had shot down 56 of 117 drones launched by Russia in the overnight attack.
Reuters noted that there was no immediate comment from Russia, but the Russian defence ministry said that its air defence units destroyed nine Ukrainian drones overnight, including two over the waters of the Black Sea.
Morning opening: The unwelcome guest
Jakub Krupa
US vice-president JD Vance has decided to join his wife, Usha, on a trip to Greenland later this week, attracting even more attention to the controversial visit criticised by both Greenlandic and Danish leaders.
In a social media post last night, Vance said:
There was so much excitement around Usha’s visit to Greenland this Friday that I decided that I didn’t want her to have all that fun by herself, and so I’m going to join her.
He said he wanted to “check out what is going on with the security there of Greenland” after “a lot of other countries have threatened Greenland, have threatened to use its territories and its waterways” to pose threat to the US and Canada.
But in a potentially inflammatory part of his video, he said:
I say that speaking for President Trump: we want to reinvigorate the security of the people of Greenland because we think it’s important to protecting the security of the entire world.
Unfortunately, leaders in both America and in Denmark, I think, ignored Greenland for far too long.
That’s been bad for Greenland, it’s also been bad for the security of the entire world.
We think we can take things in a different direction, so I’m gonna go check it out.
Despite the rhetoric, the character of the visit will also change: after protests from Greenlandic leaders, the Vances will no longer take part in a dog-sled race or visit historical places, but solely focus on the US military base, Pituffik Space Base.
A view of Pituffik Space Base (formerly Thule Air Base) in Greenland. Photograph: Ritzau Scanpix/Reuters
As Danish broadcaster DR notes, its history goes back to 1953 when 116 Greenlanders were forcibly removed from the area to make room for the base (they later won a lawsuit and received some compensation for the move).
The base was previously known as Thule Air Base, but was renamed Pituffik Space Base in 2023, after the plain on which the base is built, Pituffik.
DR also noted that in 1968 an American military bomber B52 carrying nuclear weapons crashed near the base.
The White House press release highlighted the base’s importance during the cold war, and noted:
In the decades since, neglect and inaction from Danish leaders and past U.S. administrations have presented our adversaries with the opportunity to advance their own priorities in Greenland and the Arctic. President Trump is rightly changing course.
Responding to the announcement, Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said this morning on P1 Morgen that it was “very positive that the Americans cancelled their visit to the Greenlandic society.”
“Instead, they will visit their own base, Pituffik, and we have nothing against that,” he said, noting with satisfaction that cars shipped to the island in the last few days in preparations for the broader US visit are now being sent back.
The minister argued that by limiting the visit, the US is actually de-escalating the tension, even as it theoretically upgraded its delegation by sending the US vice-president. The Danish press also called it “a small victory.”
But defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen remained unconvinced about the visit, saying it was not the right development in relations between close allies, DR reported.
The acting government of Greenland only said diplomatically that it “notes that the previously announced US delegation visit to Nuuk and Sisimiut has been cancelled by the US government.”
Expect this topic to continue to attract a lot of attention ahead of Friday, as a practical test of what US leaders are prepared to do and say on Greenland, which remains a Danish territory and does not appear to show much interest in becoming a part of the US.
Elsewhere, we will be following updates on Ukraine ahead of what appeared to amount to a Black Sea ceasefire, as Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits Emmanuel Macron in Paris this evening, ahead of another meeting of “the coalition of the willing” tomorrow.
It’s Wednesday, 26 March 2025, and this is Europe live. It’s Jakub Krupa here.
