A fresh round of US-mediated peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, planned for this week, has not been called off despite the weekend strikes on Iran carried out by the US and Israel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, reports RTE.
Mr Zelensky indicated that Kyiv was weighing an alternative venue for the discussions, which had been scheduled for 5 March and 6 March in Abu Dhabi, and said Turkey or Switzerland were being considered, reports RTE.
“Due to the ongoing hostilities, we cannot confirm that the meeting will take place in Abu Dhabi but, nevertheless, no one has cancelled the meeting,” he told reporters in a briefing on WhatsApp, reports RTE.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that it remained in Russia’s interests to pursue peace negotiations with Ukraine and that Moscow still favoured a diplomatic resolution to bring the four-year conflict to an end.
US President Donald Trump has been urging both Kyiv and Moscow to identify a path towards ending the war, reports RTE.
However, despite several rounds of negotiations, Ukraine and Russia remain widely divided in their positions.
Mr Zelensky once again rejected Moscow’s demand that Ukraine pull back from the remaining 20% of the eastern Donetsk region that Russian forces have yet to seize, reports RTE.
Mr Zelensky said Ukraine’s standing was strengthening after enduring the harsh winter months and remaining steadfast despite sustained Russian drone and missile strikes on its energy facilities.
Hostilities in the Middle East had not so far affected weapons deliveries to Ukraine from its allies,
Mr Zelensky said: “But, of course, we understand that a long war – if it is to belong – and the intensity of the fighting will affect the amount of air defence equipment we receive,”, reports RTE.
He said Russia was preparing another wave of assaults targeting infrastructure, logistics networks and water supplies, adding that securing adequate air defence systems continued to be a major challenge for Kyiv.
“Ukraine was ready to share its experience in air defence but he had no direct requests from Britain or other partners to do so for now,” he added, reports RTE.
Ukraine strikes major Russian oil terminal after US caution
Ukraine targeted an oil terminal in the southern Russian port city of Novorossiysk earlier today, the Ukrainian military said, days after reports emerged that the US had cautioned Kyiv against striking its interests at the port.
Ukraine previously hit the Sheskharis terminal last November, along with the nearby Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) facility, which processes most of Kazakhstan’s oil exports, reports RTE.
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The CPC is partially owned by US energy giants Chevron and ExxonMobil and accounts for up to one percent of global oil supplies.
Following those attacks last year, the US State Department instructed Ukraine to halt strikes on its interests at the port, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States said last week, according to US media, reports RTE.
It was not immediately clear when Washington issued the warning or which specific areas of the port it wanted Kyiv to avoid targeting.
Novorossiysk is responsible for roughly a fifth of Russia’s crude oil exports and serves as the country’s largest export hub on the Black Sea, reports RTE.
Unverified footage shared on Russian social media appeared to show a blaze at the port, along with a projectile crossing the night sky.
“During the night of 2 March, units of the Ukrainian Defense Forces struck the Sheskharis oil terminal and the Novorossiysk naval base in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai,” the Ukrainian army said on Facebook, reports RTE.
“A large-scale fire has been recorded on the site,”, reports RTE.
The strike left five people injured, the governor of Russia’s Krasnodar region said in a Telegram post, without referring to the oil terminal.
A state of emergency was declared in the city, he added, reports RTE.
At least five killed in Russian overnight strikes in Ukraine
Russian overnight attacks killed at least five people in Ukraine as Moscow continues its military campaign despite US-led efforts to advance negotiations, Ukrainian officials said.
Three people died in the embattled eastern city of Kramatorsk, a Ukrainian-held stronghold towards which Russian troops are advancing, the head of the city’s military administration said, reports RTE.
The body of a 55-year-old man was also discovered in the debris of a house in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, while a woman was killed in the northern Chernigiv region, according to regional authorities.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said it remained in Russia’s own interests to continue peace talks with Ukraine and that Moscow still preferred to achieve a diplomatic settlement to bring the fighting to an end, reports RTE.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II and resulting in hundreds of thousands of military and civilian casualties on both sides.
Mr Zelensky said he hoped scheduled negotiations with Russian representatives in Abu Dhabi would proceed, while supporting alternative locations because of the conflict, reports RTE.
“The meeting was envisaged to take place between the 5th and 8th, tentatively on March 5-6. The meeting was planned in Abu Dhabi,” Mr Zelensky told reporters, adding that the “important” talks should be held.
“If there are difficulties with Abu Dhabi because of missiles and drones, then I think we have Turkey, we have Switzerland,” he said, reports RTE.
“We will definitely support any of these three venues for the meeting.”
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