Russia-Ukraine updates: General denies Russian forces encircling troops

Before you go, you can learn what’s on the agenda at the US-Ukraine talks in Saudi Arabia here.

Read our story on a new study showing Europe’s imports of US weapons have skyrocketed in the past five years.

And for a look at Russian special forces operating in Ukraine, check out this video.

This live page will soon close. Here are some of the day’s top news lines:

• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says it’s important to clearly establish Ukraine’s intentions to reach a point where peace talks with Russia are possible.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says: “Ukraine has been seeking peace since the very first second of the war, and we have always said the only reason the war is continuing is because of Russia.”
• Ukraine’s top general says soldiers fighting in Russia’s Kursk region are not at risk of encirclement despite a recent counteroffensive by Russian forces that includes North Korean soldiers.
• The comments come as military bloggers with ties to Moscow say Russian forces are advancing in Kursk from at least seven directions.
• Ukrainian drone strikes hit several Russian targets, including oil refineries “supplying the invaders”, Ukraine’s military says, adding the extent of the damage is being clarified.
• Ukraine announces plans this year to buy about 4.5 million first-person view drones, one of the most inexpensive and potent weapons in its war effort against Russia.

The British prime minister has told Trump he’s hoping for a positive result during US-Ukraine talks on Tuesday.

Starmer’s spokesperson said UK officials spoke to their Ukrainian counterparts over the weekend and “they remained committed to a lasting peace.”

“The prime minister said he hoped there would be a positive outcome to the talks that would enable US aid and intelligence sharing to be restarted,” he told reporters.

Dmitry Babich, deputy foreign editor at the Komsomolskaya Pravda news outlet, says Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy issued “a special decree” at the beginning of the war that makes it “illegal for anyone in Ukraine to negotiate with Russia”.

“So first this decree has to be lifted so the Ukrainians have the legal right to negotiate with Russia,” Babich told Al Jazeera. “The other question is unfortunately Mr Zelenskyy’s powers expired in May last year. So who is going to be the legal representative of these talks?”

He added, “Unfortunately, the EU opted for an armed solution to this conflict to first inflict what they call ‘a defeat of Russia’ and then to negotiate.”

“For Russia, of course, this is unacceptable. So let’s hope negotiations start with the Americans as intermediaries,” said Babich.

We’ve been reporting on a series of drone attacks by Russian and Ukraine forces.

Both sides have come to rely on cheaper and more effective alternatives to conventional artillery, and Ukrainian officials say the majority of Russian troops and vehicles are now hit by drones.

Ukraine – which is seeking strong security guarantees from its partners before agreeing to any peace talks with Russia – is developing its own defence industry to wean itself off reliance on Western partners. That effort also includes long-range drones and unmanned ground vehicles.

Kyiv’s top General Oleksandr Syrskyii said Ukrainian drones destroyed 22 percent more targets last month compared to January, but he added Russian forces are also adapting.

“We simply have no right to lag behind the enemy in those areas of technological warfare where we should be arming and strengthening ourselves by our own resources,” Syrskyii said.

The US secretary of state has arrived in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah before the planned talks with Ukrainian officials on Tuesday aimed at ending three years of conflict with Russia.

He is leading a delegation that also includes Mike Waltz, US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser. Rubio said he sees promise in a Ukrainian proposal for a partial ceasefire.

“I’m not saying that alone is enough, but it’s the kind of concession you would need to see in order to end the conflict,” he told reporters.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been under massive pressure the last couple of weeks. People here – whether they are officials or civilians – say he’s being bullied into going to Saudi Arabia.

There is also talk that Zelenskyy is potentially offering some form of a partial ceasefire involving the halt of the use of air and maritime power that targets deep inside the enemy’s country.

The president is hoping this kind of message will in some way ease this pressure that the US has been putting on Ukraine. We’re talking about the suspension of military aid, the suspension of full access to intelligence sharing and satellite imagery.

Some analysts, quite interestingly, are saying that if Zelenskyy plays it right, he could put the ball back in Russia’s court – really testing the Russians, who have so far been averse to any partial ceasefire.

The foreign minister says Denmark is “in principle” willing to participate in a potential mission in the event of a ceasefire with Russia.

“If it comes to the point where a ceasefire or peace agreement requires a European presence, Denmark is prepared to participate in principle,” Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters.

Lokke’s comments follow a meeting of the Danish parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee.

As he spoke alongside Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, neither specified the nature of the Danish contribution.

“Denmark obviously has an interest in being active internationally, and we can be active in several ways,” the defence minister said.

Britain and France are leading efforts to form a group of countries prepared to help protect a ceasefire in the event an agreement is reached to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.

The US secretary of state has expressed optimism about the meeting between senior American and Ukrainian officials in Jeddah.

He said there will be an effort to engage Russia to establish how far the two sides are apart in terms of ending the war, which some estimates suggest has killed one million people.

The US pause in financial aid to Ukraine is something Rubio said he hoped could be resolved, adding that what happens on Tuesday will be key to that.

Also at stake is the military aid and intelligence previously offered by the US that had helped Kyiv since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The top US diplomat says it’s important to clearly establish Ukraine’s intentions to reach a point where peace with Russia is possible.

Rubio spoke to reporters en route to the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah along with US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz for Tuesday’s meeting with Ukrainian officials.

He stressed it’s crucial to leave the meeting with a strong sense that Ukraine is prepared “to do difficult things” – just like the Russians.

More details need to be worked out on a planned US minerals deal with Ukraine, the US secretary of state added.

Ukraine drones strikes have hit several Russian targets including oil refineries “supplying the invaders”, the military says.

Attacks by unmanned aerial vehicles “struck a number of important strategic targets of the Russian aggressor”, the army said in statement.

“Detailed information on the consequences of the destruction of the facilities is currently being clarified,” it added.

“The defence forces continue to take all measures to undermine the military-economic potential of the Russian occupiers and force the Russian Federation to stop its armed aggression against Ukraine.”

Certainly, the Americans are raising expectations for what may happen in Saudi Arabia. We know there have been problems between the United States and the Ukrainians.

It’s only been 10 days since Volodymyr Zelenskyy was effectively kicked out of the White House. It seems things have improved between them, although the US also stopped providing intelligence support over the last week or so.

US officials say the move was not to hinder them in defensive operations, but it was to stop the Ukrainians from targeting Russian troops.

Speaking to some experts, you can almost understand the Americans didn’t want to show favoritism before they sit around the table.

A Russian war blog, Two Majors, says Russian forces have cleared the settlement of Ivashkovsky and Russian units have been advancing in Kursk from at least seven directions.

Yuri Podolyaka, a Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger, said he was having trouble keeping up with events because the Russian advance was so swift.

He said Ukrainian units were trapped in several pockets in Kursk.

“Over the past four days, Russian troops have cleared as much territory in the Kursk region as they sometimes could not even clear in a couple of months,” said a Russian blogger close to the Defence Ministry who goes by the name Rybar.

“The front has been pierced,” said Rybar, adding that Russian troops are gathering inside the Ukrainian border to cut off the main roads leading out of Kursk to Ukraine’s Sumy region.

The Russian Defence Ministry says air defence systems have destroyed two Ukrainian drones a short time ago.

The ministry wrote on Telegram that one was downed over Russia’s Belgorod region and the other over the Kursk region, both of which sit on the border with Ukraine.

Russian military sources said their forces advanced in the Kursk region today and curled behind Ukrainian forces as part of an encirclement operation aimed at forcing thousands of Ukrainian soldiers in western Russia to either flee or surrender.

Ukraine has announced plans this year to buy about 4.5 million first-person view (FPV) drones, one of the most inexpensive and potent weapons in its war effort against Russia.

Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said it will allocate the equivalent of more than $2.6bn for the purchase.

Small and cheap, FPV drones are controlled by pilots on the ground and often crash into targets while laden with explosives. In April, a NATO official said FPV drones that cost less than $1,000 had destroyed two-thirds of Russian tanks worth millions.

Read the full story here. 

Military officials from more than 30 nations will take part in Paris talks on the creation of an international security force for Ukraine, a French official says.

The long list of participants on Tuesday will include Asian and Oceania nations joining the discussions remotely, The Associated Press cited the unnamed French military official as saying.

Such an international force would aim to dissuade Russia from launching another invasion after any ceasefire comes into effect.

The French official described the goal of forming a coalition of nations “able and willing” to be part of an effort to safeguard Ukraine in the event of a truce.