内容摘要：Ukraine refuses to cede any land and wants robust security guarantees against future aggression, possibly involving a contingent of peacekeepers -– something a handful of European nations have been discussing and Russia publicly rejects as a nonstarter.

Ukraine refuses to cede any land and wants robust security guarantees against future aggression, possibly involving a contingent of peacekeepers -– something a handful of European nations have been discussing and Russia publicly rejects as a nonstarter.

European leaders have recently accused Putin of dragging his feet in peace efforts, while he attempts to press his bigger army’s battlefield initiative and capture more Ukrainian land.Russia effectively rejected an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, starting Monday, that was demanded by Ukraine and Western European leaders, when it fired more than 100 drones at Ukraine. Putin instead offered direct peace talks.

But the wrangling over whether a ceasefire should come before the talks begin has continued.“Ukraine is ready for any format of negotiations with Russia, but a ceasefire must come first,” Andrii Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said Tuesday.Negotiations are impossible while “the Ukrainian people are under attack by Russian missiles and drones around the clock,” Yermak said in a video address to the Copenhagen Democracy Summit 2025.

Putin has repeatedlyof the Ukrainian government, especially Zelenskyy himself, saying his term expired last year. Under Ukraine’s constitution, it’s illegal for the country to hold a national election while it’s under martial law, as it now is.

Zelenskyy dismissed claims that

prohibited him from meeting Putin, saying that the claim was Russian propaganda.CORRECTS TO NEVINE - Enas Fathi Salout poses for a photo with her young daughter Nevine, who was recently sent back to Gaza after receiving medical treatment in Jordan, at their tent in a camp for displaced Palestinians in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Daqa’s daughter was among 17 Palestinian children who were recently returned to Gaza with their caregivers after receiving medical treatment in Jordan. Rights groups warn that forcing the children to go back to a war zone is a possible violation of international law. It also raises doubts about whether the young patients can regain their health in a place where medical care is scarce andare an everyday threat.

The children are trapped betweenoperation in Gaza as it threatens to seize the territory and a proposal to permanently resettle much of the population — which