Ukraine-Russia war latest: 15 miners killed in Russian strike on bus after peace talks delayed

Volodymyr Zelensky has said that February will be a “period of quite intense foreign policy activity” as he expects the US to be as active as Ukraine in its de-escalation measures.

Trilateral negotiations, meant to take place in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, have been delayed to next week.

Zelensky announced the postponement just hours before Russia launched deadly strikes that hit a bus in the Dnipro region and killed 15 people.

In a post on social media on Sunday night, the president said: “Today’s Russian drone strike on an ordinary bus carrying miners in the Dnipro region is a telling crime that yet again shows that Russia bears responsibility for the escalation. Evil must be stopped.

“There is an arrangement to hold a trilateral meeting at an appropriate level in the Emirates next week. February will be a period of quite intense foreign policy activity.

“We expect the American side to be just as active, particularly when it comes to de-escalation measures – reducing strikes. Much depends on what the U.S. can achieve so that people trust both the process and the outcomes.”

Ukraine is receiving two lorries worth of potatoes after Berlin experienced a bumper harvest year with its biggest crop in more than two decades.

The phenomenon has inspired a potato dump in Berlin, as farmers, not wanting their produce to go to waste, have given away their potatoes away to soup kitchens, schools, churches, and the public.

Two lorries worth of spuds have also been delivered to Ukraine.

It comes as the country experiences a brutal winter, with temperatures in some areas dropping to -30C.

Russia has been repeatedly targeting Ukraine’s energy grid, leaving thousands of Ukrainians without power or food.

World affairs editor Sam Kiley writes: Chaotic, unprincipled and dangerously effective, Donald Trump’s latest foreign policy move in Ukraine may provide a brief respite from Russian bombing in plunging temperatures that have left civilians freezing in their homes.

The danger lies in what he expects to get in return for securing a week-long agreement from Vladimir Putin to hold off on tormenting Ukraine. The concession he will, no doubt, demand is that Kyiv give in to the Kremlin’s demands to hand over his most potent defensive lines and fortress cities without a shot being fired in return for a longer “ceasefire”.

Trump has been backing the wrong side in Ukraine, and may soon launch a war in Iran that he cannot control.

Click here for Sam’s full analysis

A key political ally of Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine has called for a peace deal which prioritises people over land ahead of a major conference in the war torn country on Thursday.

Vitaliy Kim, governor of the Mykolaiv Oblast region in Ukraine, is an emerging name in Ukrainian politics and spoke to The Independent as other governors and mayors get together to discuss where the peace line needs to be drawn in the war with Russia.

Mr Kim headed the Mykolaiv branch of Zelensky’s Servant of the People party during the 2019 elections and was appointed by the Ukrainian president to be regional governor in November 2020.

His significant intervention ahead of Frontline Cities and Communities Forum 2026, where governors and mayors will try to agree what they want from a peace settlement, underlines a willingness to move away from border arguments to security guarantees.

Click here for the full story.

Russia is attempting to disrupt logistics and connectivity between cities and communities through its drone, bomb and missile attacks, President Zelensky said on Sunday.

”Over the past week, Russia has used more than 980 attack drones, nearly 1,100 guided aerial bombs, and two missiles against Ukraine,” he wrote on X.

“We are recording Russian attempts to destroy logistics and connectivity between cities and communities. That is precisely why the need to protect the sky persists.”

A new round of US-brokered trilateral talks between Ukraine and Russia will take place in Abu Dhabi on February 4 and 5, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, adding that Kyiv was ready for a "substantive discussion".

“Our negotiating team has just delivered a report. The dates for the next trilateral meetings have been set – February 4 and 5 in Abu Dhabi,” he wrote on X.

”Ukraine is ready for a substantive discussion, and we are interested in ensuring that the outcome brings us closer to a real and dignified end to the war.”

Trump in August said he had ordered two US nuclear submarines to move closer to Russia in response to what he called "highly provocative" comments from Medvedev about the risk of war after what appeared to be an ultimatum from Trump.

“We still have not found them,” Medvedev said of the U.S. submarines.

After Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Medvedev has repeatedly hurled invective at Kyiv and Western powers while warning of the risks of an escalation of the war towards a nuclear "apocalypse".

Medvedev said Russia would "soon" win military victory in the Ukraine war but the key thing was to prevent any further conflict, adding: “I would like this to happen as soon as possible.”

President Vladimir Putin remains the final voice on Russian policy, though Medvedev, an arch-hawk who has repeatedly goaded Trump on social media, gives a sense of hardliners' thinking within the Russian elite, according to foreign diplomats.

“Trump wants to go down in history as a peacemaker - and he is really trying,” Medvedev said.

“He is really trying to do that. And that is why contacts with Americans have become much more productive.”

Medvedev said the key to understanding Trump was his business background, quipping that there was no such thing as a former businessman - a play on an old Russian joke that there is no such thing as a former KGB agent.

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, praised US President Donald Trump as an effective leader who was seeking peace.

But, he added, Moscow had seen no trace of nuclear submarines Trump said he moved to Russian shores.

Trump, who has said he wants to be remembered as a "peacemaker" president, has repeatedly said that a peace deal to end the Ukraine war is close, and a new round of U.-Russian-Ukrainian talks is scheduled for this week in Abu Dhabi.

Asked if Trump was positive or negative for Russia and about unproven speculation that Trump was some sort of Russian agent, Medvedev said the American people had chosen Trump and that Moscow respected that decision.

“He is an emotional person, but on the other hand, the chaos that is commonly referred to, which is created by his activities, is not entirely true,” he said.

“It is obvious that behind this lies a completely conscious and competent line.”

Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said Kyiv was developing a system that would allow only authorised Starlink terminals to work on Ukrainian territory.

“Ukraine, together with @Starlink, has already taken the first steps that delivered rapid results in countering Russian drones,” he wrote on X.

“The next step is implementing a system that will allow only authorized terminals to operate on the territory of Ukraine.”

In a social media post in February 2024, SpaceX said it does not sell or ship Starlink to Russia, and “does not do business of any kind with the Russian Government or its military”.

Musk turned on Starlink service over Ukraine in 2022 after Kyiv pleaded for help in the first days following Russia's full-scale invasion.