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Zelensky calls on West to amp up pressure after Putin’s latest deadly air raid on Kyiv
A Ukrainian team will visit Washington this week for crunch talks on a minerals deal, the first visit since the deal collapsed in dramatic fashion five weeks ago.
Volodymyr Zelensky was set to sign a framework agreement in late February before he was booted out of the White House, when a furious Donald Trump berated the Ukrainian president for not being thankful enough for US war assistance.
Since then, teams from Kyiv and Washington have been working to hash out a revised agreement – and to rebuild a broken relationship.
Washington has proposed a more expansive minerals deal which could give iy access to valuable mineral resources, including titanium, lithium, and uranium, according to economy minister Yuliia Svyrydenko.
But the deal has not yet been agree by Ukraine and it is unclear exactly how close the two sides are to reaching an agreement.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump has urged Russia to stop bombing Ukraine, after a ballistic missile strike in Kryvyi Rih killed 20, including nine children.,
“We are talking to Russia. We would like them to stop,” Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One. “I don’t like the bombing, the bombing goes on and on, and every week thousands of young people being killed.”
Ukraine’s minerals have become central to global geopolitics, with the US president, Donald Trump, seeking a deal with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky to access them.
But what are these minerals exactly and why are they so sought after?
Ukraine is often recognised for its vast agricultural lands and industrial heritage, but beneath its surface lies one of the world’s most remarkable geological formations, the “Ukrainian Shield”.
This massive, exposed crystalline rock formed over 2.5 billion years ago, stretches across much of Ukraine. It represents one of Earth’s oldest and most stable continental blocks.
Munira Raji reports:
Russian forces are losing an average of 146 soldiers, one tank and two armoured combat vehicles pieces per square kilometre claimed of Ukrainian territory in 2025, the Ukrainian military has said.
The calculations, carried out by the Khortytsia Operational Strategic Group of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, are based on the losses suffered by Moscow’s forces on the eastern front alone, during the first quarter of the year, Ukrainska Pravda reported.
Russia will do all it can to resolve tensions between the US and Iran around Tehran’s nuclear programme, the Kremlin has said.
Donald Trump recently warned Iran that it must reach a nuclear deal with the US if it wants to avoid being bombed.
Moscow has reiterated its previous offer to mediate between the two sides. Kremlin spokeman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday: “We are in constant consultations with our Iranian partners, including on the topic of the nuclear deal.
“This process will continue, including in the near future. And, of course, Russia is ready to make every effort, to do everything possible to contribute to this problem’s resolution by political and diplomatic means.”
In his first term, Mr Trump withdraw the US from a 2015 deal with Iran which placed strict limits on Tehran’s nuclear capabilities in exchange for sanctions relief.
Russian troops have taken control of the settlement of Katerynivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the defence ministry said according to Russian state news.
The Independent could not independently verify the report.
Vladimir Putin is ready to support a ceasefire but Moscow has not been give answers to Russia’s key issues, the Kremlin said on Monday.
There is a common understanding between Washington and Moscow that contacts should continue, Kremlin spokesmen Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.
Ukraine and its allies have accused Moscow of deliberately delaying the ceasefire as it seeks further territorial gains.
A Ukrainian delegation will visit Washington for vital talks on a minerals deal, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister has confirmed, after reports of the trip emerged earlier on Monday.
Kyiv is seeking to align with US legal frameworks and investment mechanisms during the talks, Oleksiy Chernyshov told reporters.
Ukraine attacked Russian energy infrastructure six times over the previous day, its defence ministry has claimed, despite a US-brokered halt to such strikes.
Both Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of breaching a US-brokered halt to such strikes in recent weeks.
Russia said Ukraine struck power facilities and electrical substations in Russia’s Rostov, Voronezh and Bryansk regions, as well as in the Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Donetsk, parts of which Moscow controls.
The Independent was not able to verify reports of the strikes.
Volodymyr Zelensky has paid tribute to the importance of the Ukrainian army in an X post, declared that the Kyiv’s forces must be “strong enough” to build the “entire security architecture”.
“The primary and most effective guarantee of our security for Ukraine is our state’s Defense Forces and Security Forces, along with the appropriate motivation, supplies, and all necessary defense capabilities,” Mr Zelensky said, in call for Ukraine to be sufficiently armed against Russia.
“We must always remember how much depends on our army—on all Ukrainians who are defending the life of Ukraine with their own lives,” he added.
A court in far east Russia has reduced the prison sentence of a US soldier convicted of stealing and making murder threats, state media has reported.
Staff Sgt Gordon Black, 34, was arrested in May 2024 after flying to Vladivostok to see his girlfriend – after she accused him of stealing from her.
Black’s girlfriend, Alexandra Vashchuk, told reporters last year that “it was a simple domestic dispute”, during which Black “became aggressive and attacked” her, stealing money from her wallet. She described Black as “violent and unable to control himself”.
He was convicted one month later and sentenced to three years and nine months behind bars.
After losing one appeal, Black successfully had his sentence reduced to three years and two months. The judge partially sustained a request by his lawyers to acquit him of the murder threats and reduce the punishment for theft.
The US army said Black hadn’t obtained travel clearance before his trip, and given the hostilities in Ukraine, it is unlikely he would have been granted approval.
Russian advances in eastern Ukraine have slowed down in the first part of 2025, the UK defence ministry has said.
Moscow’s forces likely only seized 143 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory throughout March, an average of less than five square kilometres per day, the ministry said in an intelligence update over the weekend.
The rate of advance has dropped each month since November, it said, adding that Ukraine has “carried out tactical counter-attacks, reversing some of Russia’s gains around Pokrovsk”.
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Ukraine-Russia war latest: Macron demands strong action if Putin continues to refuse peace – The Independent
