Ukraine: Nine dead in attack on bus – Macron calls Putin Zynisch

On Saturday, nine people were killed and four more injured in a Russian drone attack on a bus in the north of Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine had previously had direct discussions on Friday for the first time in more than three years. The meeting in Istanbul ended without approaching in the question of a ceasefire. The parties to the conflict agreed on a prisoner exchange and discussed a possible meeting between Kremlin boss Putin and the Ukrainian President Selenskyj-but there were hardly any signs of progress in the end of the war.

Despite the mew results, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskow does not exclude a meeting between the heads of both countries. He cited progress in the negotiations as a prerequisite, but remained vague in detail: “Such a meeting as a result of the work of the delegations on both sides is possible when certain agreements are reached by these delegations,” he told TASS. The occupation of the Russian delegation, which the Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj had described as second -class, remains unchanged.

In the talks between the warring parties in Istanbul, the Ukrainian delegation had called for a meeting between Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin and Selenskyj, according to the Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinski. “We took note of this,” he was then quoted by Russian media. A ceasefire had not been achieved during the conversations. Peskow now confirmed that Moscow was working on a list of conditions for a ceasefire. The Russian side prepares them, hand over and swap them with the Ukrainian side.

So far, contacts between Moscow and Washington have not existed after the negotiations. France’s President Emmanuel Macron, on the other hand, had already made calls to US President Trump on Friday afternoon with Selenskyj, Chancellor Friedrich Merz as well as Great Britain Premier Keir Strander and Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

After the drone attack on Saturday, Macron said: “In view of President Putin’s cynicism, I believe that I am even sure that President Trump, concerned about the credibility of the USA, will react,” said French President Emmanuel in a reakation Macron in the Albanian capital Tirana on Saturday.

Trump was elected President by the US population and “started with a praise” goal: “to create peace,” said Macron. Trump also said that he wanted to “involve everyone to create peace,” said Macron at the joint press conference with the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.

Ukraine has been defending itself against a Russian invasion with western help for more than three years.