Anhelina, a one-year-old girl, died in her stroller when a Russian drone hit a public park in the Kharkiv region. Her mother also died. The attack killed six civilians, including two children, and injured 15 others, seven of them children.
Against that continuing violence, US President Donald Trump has suspended several Russian sanctions days before they were due to take effect, saying he wanted to keep Moscow at the negotiating table. The sanctions had passed the US Congress and been signed into law by the US president in September.
Trump described the suspension as part of his effort to end the war. “I am in the process of negotiating Peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine,” he wrote on Truth Social. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the move a 60-day pause.
Trump has also struck a controversial deal to import Russian diesel last week. He said he did not want to “do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table.”
His approach has brought a sharper public split with President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump said Zelensky “doesn't want to end this war, and probably never did,” and argued that Zelensky “could have made a better deal two years ago than he can now.”
“To be honest, I think it's time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine,” Trump said. He also criticised Zelensky over Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, saying: “Zelensky is using Diesel Refineries in Russia as a target, knowing that these attacks are seriously hurting the world diesel markets, including those in the United States.”
Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev called Trump’s order “an important and truly historic moment.”
Zelensky has rejected the suggestion that Washington should align itself with Moscow to secure a deal. In an interview with NBC News on Sunday, he said siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin would be a “historic mistake.” He also spoke with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Sunday, and said a lot depended on the US position in the war. Zelensky said “it is clear that there are many things that matter to all of us and that this war must be brought to an end.”
Speaking to a European Union summit, Zelensky said it was good to be among “real leaders”, after Trump said Zelensky was “more difficult to deal with” than Putin.
Trump said Monday, October 19, that he was willing to meet Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in China next month, potentially without Zelensky. He said nuclear disarmament would be the main subject of any meeting, with Russia’s war against Ukraine also a possible topic.
The proposed gathering followed a Wall Street Journal report that Putin was seeking talks with Trump and Xi at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, on 18 and 19 November.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, warned against a forum that left his country out. “A trilateral meeting between the leaders of Russia, China, and the US would do only the opposite: encourage Putin to continue this war,” he said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the prospect of a meeting involving the Russian, American and Chinese leaders had been raised. He said there were no formal proposals, agreements or agenda, and acknowledged that any final settlement would require Ukrainian participation.
Fighting has continued alongside the manoeuvring over talks. Ukraine’s army launched drones at Saint Petersburg late Sunday, setting an oil refinery ablaze and killing one person, Moscow said. Russian strikes left tens of thousands without power in several regions, while Ukrainian officials said three people had been killed.
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