Latest war between Ukraine and Russia: Zelensky accuses Scholz of opening ‘Pandora’s box’ after calls with Putin

Leaders of the major G7 democracies on Saturday reiterated their pledge to impose severe consequences on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Consequences will include sanctions, export controls and other measures, the G7 said. The group will continue to support Ukraine as long as necessary, it added.

“Russia remains the only obstacle to just and lasting peace,” it said in a statement on Saturday. The statement was adopted “in support of Kiev as the thousand day of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine approaching.”

“The G7 reaffirms its commitment to impose severe costs on Russia through sanctions, export controls and other effective measures. We stand with Ukraine“, the statement added.

Italy currently holds the rotating presidency of the G7 in 2024. Other member states include the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Ukraine must ensure that the war with Russia ends next year through diplomacy.

Mr. Zelensky accepted in a radio interview on Saturday that the situation on the eastern Ukrainian front is difficult as Russia continues to advance in key areas.

US law prevents the president from meeting US President Donald Trump before his inauguration in January – but Mr Zelensky has said he will only speak to Trump himself rather than an adviser.

“I, as the president of Ukraine, will only take a conversation with the president of the United States seriously, with all respect for any consequence, to any people.”

“From our side, we must do everything for this war to end next year, end by diplomatic means,” Mr Zelensky said.

Russian forces have captured two villages in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Russian news agencies quoted the Defense Ministry as saying on Saturday.

The villages of Makarivka, just over 100 km west of Donetsk city, and Hryhorivka, which lies west of the city of Selydove, captured by Russia last month, the ministry claims, according to Reuters.

It comes as Russia continues to make progress in its offensive on the eastern Ukrainian front.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has criticized German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his call for Russian President Vladimir Putin to open a “Pandora’s Box”.

“This is exactly what Putin has wanted for a long time: it is extremely important for him to weaken his isolation, Russia’s isolation, and to have normal negotiations that end in nothing,” Mr Zelensky said.

In the first phone call in almost two years, Mr Scholz urged Mr Putin to withdraw his troops and end the full-scale invasion launched in February 2022.

After months of occupying a swath of territory in Russia in the wake of a daring summer offensive, Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed that Ukraine is now engaged against a force of 50,000 troops assembled by Vladimir Putin in the Kursk border region.

But Moscow is now pushing to reclaim the territory. Following reports that thousands of North Korean troops have been stationed in Kursk, Ukraine’s military has claimed that Russia has suffered two consecutive days of record losses – suggesting the battle is gaining new intensity.

The independent have spoken to analysts about how the situation may develop in the coming weeks and months:

President Joe Biden is expected to use his final meeting with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, to urge him to dissuade North Korea from further deepening its support for Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Today’s talks on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru will take place just over two months before Biden leaves office and makes way for Republican President Donald Trump.

It will be Mr Biden’s last check-in with Mr Xi – someone the Democrat saw as his most relatable peer on the world stage.

With the latest meeting, officials say Mr. Biden will look to Mr. Xi to increase Chinese engagement to prevent an already dangerous moment with North Korea from escalating further.

Biden, along with South Korean President Yoon Seok Yul and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, yesterday condemned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s decision to send thousands of troops to help Moscow repel Ukrainian forces that have seized territory in Russia’s border region of Kursk .

Mr. Biden called it “dangerous and destabilizing cooperation.”

White House officials have also expressed frustration that Beijing, which accounts for the vast majority of North Korea’s trade, is not doing more to rein in Pyongyang.

The embattled Chancellor Olaf Scholz has insisted that the war in Ukraine constitutes an economic emergency for Germany – which would open up the possibility of more spending.

In an interview with Sueddeutsche Zeitung Scholz said that at the start of the war in February 2022, Germany had no idea how long the conflict would last or how long over 1 million Ukrainian refugees would need protection in the country.

“The misjudgment we made then does not prevent us from doing the right thing today. Russia’s war is an extraordinary event that justifies a financial emergency – and therefore higher spending,” Scholz said, while also calling for a moderate change to the debt rule that currently limits public spending.

“A reform will not solve all our economic problems, but it will make our path a little easier,” he added.

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya landed in the Ukrainian capital today for an unannounced visit in an apparent show of unity with the war-torn country.

Iwaya traveled to Kiev by train from Poland after visiting Peru for a regional economic meeting, the State Department said.

The top diplomat will meet his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha and hold talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky later in the day. Mainichi reported.

A London-based exiled Russian TV chef has been found dead in Serbia.

Alexei Zimin, 52, was an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea. According to Russian media, he was found dead in a hotel room in Belgrade earlier this week. He traveled to the Serbian capital to promote his new book about Britain, titled Anglomania.

According to Serbian authorities, there were “no suspicious circumstances” in Zimin’s death. An autopsy and toxicology examination were underway, according to BBC News.

Zimin spent his last years in exile in the UK, running a cookery show on the Russian NTV channel. But the show was pulled after he posted anti-war messages on social media in the wake of Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Russian state-owned natural gas company Gazrom will cut off supplies to Austria’s OMV utility today, Austria’s chancellor said.

He added that his country’s underground gas storage was full and that it had alternative, non-Russian supplies.

The cut follows OMV’s announcement that it would stop paying for Gazprom gas to its Austrian arm to offset a 192m arbitration award. GBP, which it won over an earlier cut-off of gas to its German subsidiary.

Chancellor Karl Nehammer said yesterday that Austria has a secure supply of alternative fuel and that “no one will freeze this winter, no home will be cold.”