The announcement made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday is another very big deal. His delegation submitted to Russian officials a list of nearly 400 names of abducted Ukrainian children. While welcoming the agreement, he said he was disappointed that Russia agreed to resolve the cases of only ten of those children. This revelation comes amid heightened tensions following Ukraine’s significant drone attack on Russian airfields, which Kyiv claims has incapacitated over a third of Moscow’s heavy bombers.
The landings had not gone for Russia as expected. On that same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin had called Pope Leo XIV. This was the first meeting between the new pope and the Russian leader since the pontiff’s election last month. It was during this call the Vatican delivered perhaps the most important message. Several days later the pope called on Russia to make a courageous gesture for peace.
In a related story, former U.S. President Donald Trump had a private phone call with Putin that lasted more than an hour. Trump shared that he had not been notified by Ukraine ahead of the drone strikes, with a Kremlin spokesperson stating Mr. And he noted their discussion quickly turned to the multitude of wars America is still waging. He noted peace in Ukraine would not come overnight as a result.
“We discussed the attack on Russia’s docked airplanes, by Ukraine, and also various other attacks that have been taking place by both sides,” – Donald Trump
Ukraine had to do this drone strike on four Russian airfields at the same time. It may seem like a simple operation, but this mass operation required 18 months of careful planning. Ukrainian officials claim that the strike killed or wounded 41 enemy warplanes. This involves nine of their 12 strategic bombers, all the types capable of launching cruise missiles. In retaliation, Putin announced that Russia would need to retaliate against this new provocation.
“It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate peace. President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields,” – Donald Trump
Even as the crisis continued to worsen, at this point Putin had already decided against agreeing to an in-person meeting with Zelenskyy. He sure seemed to when he cited recent attacks on railways in Kursk and Bryansk border regions. He denounced these attacks as “terrorist acts” and cited them as grounds to call off all summit talks.
“How can any such [summit] meetings be conducted in such circumstances? What shall we talk about?” – Vladimir Putin
As military operations increase, Russia has surged its aerial attacks against a range of cities in Ukraine. In only two weeks, they have recently retaken large swaths of land in the northern area of Sumy, capturing more than 150 square kilometers (58 square miles). Now the positive momentum continues, with Zelenskyy having tweeted out the good news of an upcoming weekend prisoner exchange. Both countries were slated to exchange 500 PoWs.
In addition, Vladimir Medinsky, Russia’s chief negotiator in Istanbul, reported that Russia is “working” on the return of Ukrainian children. He also cited Kyiv’s newly-released list of 339 abducted children. In response, Zelenskyy dismissed Moscow’s latest peace overtures as an “ultimatum,” souring negotiations even more.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has clearly ruled out a full-scale ceasefire in Ukraine. Rather, he argues that any such agreement would provide Ukraine a temporary and insufficient respite to recover and redeploy its military assets.
“Why reward them by giving them a break from the combat, which will be used to pump the regime with western arms, to continue their forced mobilization and to prepare different terrorist acts?” – Vladimir Putin
That deepening violence and disaster plays out hand in hand with international diplomatic overtures and military escalation. As both sides engage in negotiations regarding prisoner exchanges and attempts to repatriate fallen soldiers’ bodies, the situation remains fluid and highly charged.