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European leaders have indicated they will press ahead with further sanctions against Russia – whether or not the US does likewise – if talks in Turkey on Thursday do not produce a ceasefire. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said Europe would impose new sanctions if Moscow did not agree to the 30-day ceasefire. The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, warned Russia on Tuesday that it would face fresh European sanctions if there was no “real progress” this week towards peace in Ukraine, as he urged Putin to meet Zelenskyy. The European Union has already imposed 16 rounds of sanctions on Russia since Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
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It remained unclear on Tuesday evening whether Vladimir Putin would accept Voldoymyr Zelenskyy’s challenge for the two presidents to meet in person. Zelenskyy is travelling to Ankara, the Turkish capital, to meet with its president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and has said he will go to Istanbul if Putin shows up, writes Shaun Walker. “If Putin does not arrive and plays games, it is the final point that he does not want to end the war.”
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The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said in Copenhagen on Tuesday: “I think it’s a good move if they sit down … But I don’t think he dares, Putin.” If Putin does not attend, and Zelenskyy does not either, talks are still expected to be held at a lower level between Ukrainian and Russian delegations.
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Donald Trump’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, said that if Putin shows up, “President Trump will be there”. The US president is visiting the Middle East. Kellogg, as well as the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and Trump’s property dealer friend Steve Witkoff are also reportedly expected in Turkey.
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The Ukrainian foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, called on Brazil to help persuade Putin to go to Istanbul. The leaders of China and Brazil, members with Russia of the Brics grouping, said in a joint statement they hoped direct dialogue could begin as soon as possible.
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Macron said that Ukraine acknowledges it cannot retake all the territory seized by Russia since 2014 and warned that the west did not want a “third world war”. “The war must cease and Ukraine must be in the best possible situation to go into negotiations,” Macron said. “Even the Ukrainians have the clear-sightedness to say they do not have the capacity to retake everything that has been taken since 2014.”
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Russian guided bombs hit the north-eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv on Tuesday, killing at least three people, a local official said.
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The Cannes film festival has begun by screening three 2025 Ukraine documentaries: Zelensky; Bernard-Henri Lévy’s Notre Guerre; and The Associated Press-Frontline coproduction 2000 Meters to Andriivka, by Mstyslav Chernov who won an Oscar for 20 Days in Mariupol. “This ‘Ukraine Day’ is a reminder of the commitment of artists, authors and journalists to tell the story of this conflict in the heart of Europe,” the festival said in a statement.
