Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Called the first day of Abu Dhabi talks constructive and said a 1,000-1,500 prisoner exchange was possible

Russian, Ukrainian and U.S. negotiators began their first trilateral talks in nine months in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 10 and returned for a second day on Nov. 11. The first day covered humanitarian steps, prisoner exchanges and security guarantees, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it "very productive."

Updated 7 hours ago

Says a three-way meeting with Russia and the U.S. could happen next month; pressing for Patriot interceptors and warning Starlink limits are choking Ukraine's drones

The first Russian diesel cargo sent to the United States under President Donald Trump's deal with Vladimir Putin has stalled off the East Coast, and no tanker has unloaded at an American port. The Malta-flagged Agioi Fanendes, carrying 40,000 metric tons, stopped off the coast on Nov. 10 after New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill and lawmakers warned that accepting the fuel could bring legal penalties.

Updated 7 hours ago

Leading emergency response to energy crisis

Ukraine started the war with 38 GW of power generation capacity; By January 2026, capacity had fallen to 11 gigawatts against 18 gigawatts of demand.. Winter demand hit 18 GW on January 15, 2026. Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal told parliament on January 16 that 'not a single power plant left in Ukraine' has escaped Russian attack.

Updated Yesterday

Said on Nov 9 that Russia is trying to divide Ukraine along the Dnipro River and pledged state resources to frontline regions. Ukraine's delegation arrived in Abu Dhabi for Nov 10 talks.

Russia escalated missile and drone strikes in the week before the first trilateral talks since February, damaging energy facilities in 12 regions on Nov 9. At least four people were killed in attacks on Odesa and the Kyiv region, a 2-year-old was injured in Kharkiv, and Dnipro and Kamianske lost power.

Updated 2 days ago

Ended Ukraine's pause on refinery strikes on Oct. 15 after Russia hit Ukraine's grid, telling the Financial Times he was done with the ceasefire; called Trump's waiver of the Graham sanctions act wrong on Oct. 17.

Ukrainian drones set fire to the Kirishi refinery in Leningrad Oblast, Russia's second-largest, overnight into Nov. 9, and struck the Morozov plant near St Petersburg, which makes solid fuel for Iskander ballistic missiles. A woman was killed by falling debris in Kirishi, and a Russian strike on Odesa killed three people.

Updated 2 days ago

Faces renewed mass strikes after a brief lull in energy attacks, with peace talks stalled.

Since October 2022, Russia has attacked Ukraine’s power plants, substations, rail hubs and ports in repeated missile and drone waves. The campaign forced a formal energy emergency in January 2026, when the grid met only 60% of demand and available capacity had fallen to about 14 gigawatts from 33.7 before the invasion.

Updated 3 days ago

Warns a broad deal could divide the continent

European leaders rejected a US-Russia framework for the continent's security and warned it could weaken NATO. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Moscow has no veto over European security, and Poland's foreign minister called a deal reached above Europe's head impossible.

Updated 3 days ago

In office; leading Ukraine's wartime government

Rescue workers pulled bodies from a smoldering school in Komyshuvakha, a village in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, after Russian bombs hit a humanitarian aid distribution point on November 2. Bodycam video released by Ukraine's police appears to show residents walking through the rubble after the first strike, before bombs hit a shelter where police and rescuers had taken cover.

Updated 4 days ago

Says Ukraine resumed refinery strikes after the October 11 pause collapsed; a Ukrainian delegation is due in Abu Dhabi next week.

Ukraine resumed long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries after the U.S.-brokered energy ceasefire collapsed in mid-October. In the following weeks it hit the Bashneft complex in Ufa, an oil facility in Samara Oblast, the Kstovo refinery and a refinery in Yaroslavl, according to Ukrainian and Russian reports. Rosneft told Bloomberg on October 22 that losses from the strikes were becoming unsustainable, and the first tanker of Russian diesel under a Trump-brokered import deal sailed to the U.S. the next day despite Ukrainian objections.

Updated 4 days ago

Leading Ukraine as U.S. support frays; says strikes on Russia will continue

On June 1, 2025, Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) flew 117 drones smuggled into Russia in truck cabins and struck four air bases, gutting Russia's strategic bomber force. About 17 months on, the toll is still disputed: the SBU claims 41 aircraft hit, while U.S. officials say up to 20, about 10 destroyed.

Updated 5 days ago

Said on Nov. 4 that emergency power outages were in effect in nine regions and that repairs were delayed by repeated strikes

Russia fired 310 drones at Ukraine overnight into Nov. 4, hitting energy facilities in Kyiv and Zhytomyr and cutting power and water across the capital region. Ukraine's air force said it downed or electronically suppressed 272 of them, with strikes recorded at 19 locations.

Updated 7 days ago

Says Starshield was used only to defend Ukrainian territory, rejecting Musk's claim of offensive misuse

Ukraine's Operation Vivaldi pushed Russian forces back 277 square kilometers in the Donbas, freeing 16 settlements. The campaign collapsed an attempted Russian pincer around Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the fortress cities it was meant to encircle.

Updated 7 days ago

Preparing for Abu Dhabi talks in November

A six-day ceasefire that Melania Trump brokered in Ukraine's southern Kherson region ended on November 1. Russia and Ukraine reported no violations in the Oleshky area during the pause, though both continued strikes elsewhere and BBC News reported fighting returned to the Kherson region after the truce.

Updated Nov 3

Welcomed the October 30 approval of a 500-missile Patriot sale but said deliveries could take years; reporting on October 31 said they are not expected until after 2030. He asked the US to send interceptors from existing stockpiles this winter.

The State Department approved a possible $2.1 billion sale of 500 Patriot PAC-3 MSE interceptors to Ukraine on October 30. Canada, Germany and Norway are paying through a US fast-track program, with a European Union loan covering the rest, and no US government money is involved.

Updated Oct 31

Said on November 1 that hundreds of thousands of families remained without electricity and urged allies to carry out air-defence decisions immediately

A Russian jet-powered drone hit a crowded platform at Dnipro's main railway station on October 29, killing 15 people and wounding at least 14, including an 11-year-old boy; 11 remained hospitalized on October 30, six in serious condition. The blast struck as a passenger train prepared to leave for Zaporizhzhia, and Russia hit the station at least twice more by October 30, injuring one woman.

Updated Oct 31

Facing a new Russian campaign against Ukrainian power stations as Washington restarts direct talks with Moscow

Ukraine's drone campaign reached deeper into Russia. Russia's Defence Ministry said it shot down 1,214 Ukrainian drones overnight into October 29, and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 231 were destroyed on the approach to the capital. Earlier, Ukrainian strikes hit a chemical plant in Voronezh on October 26 and an ammunition depot in occupied Luhansk.

Updated Oct 29

Condemned the October 29 drone strike on Dnipro's railway station that killed at least 13 people; says Russia fired nearly 2,300 attack drones and about 1,600 guided bombs in the week to October 25

A Russian jet-powered drone hit the main railway station in Dnipro on October 29, killing at least 13 people and wounding at least 14, including an 11-year-old boy. The drone struck a platform where a train was preparing to leave for Zaporizhzhia; the state rail company, Ukrzaliznytsia, said passengers were on the platform despite a heightened danger warning. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attack.

Updated Oct 29

In office; pressing allies for interceptor missiles as US deliveries slow

A Russian glide bomb killed at least 33 people on two buses in Kramatorsk on October 8. The strike is part of a Russian campaign to knock out Ukraine's transport and power systems before winter.

Updated Oct 29

Criticized the sanctions waiver and diesel deal, and engaged in a public row with Trump over energy attacks

The first Russian diesel cargo under Trump's deal is at sea. The tanker Agioi Fanendes left Primorsk on October 22 with about 40,000 metric tons, roughly 298,000 barrels, and lists New York as its destination, with arrival expected in early November.

Updated Oct 27

Leading Ukraine's defense amid ongoing energy strikes into late Feb 2026 (incl. Feb 17,26 ahead of Geneva talks); warned of imminent attacks and condemned as terror

The energy war continued through 2026. In February, Russia launched repeated strikes on Ukraine's grid ahead of peace talks, cutting power to millions. In October, a U.S.-brokered energy ceasefire collapsed after Moscow struck Ukrainian energy sites, ignoring the pause Trump announced. Ukraine responded by hitting the Ryazan oil refinery, its first strike on Russian energy infrastructure since the truce.

Updated Oct 26

Blamed Russia for attacks on ships off Romania and Bulgaria

A drone hit the Comoros-flagged cargo ship Khoryv about 13 nautical miles off Romania's Constanta port on Oct. 23, killing at least one of its 13 Ukrainian and Azeri crew. Nine sailors were rescued, three are still missing, and President Nicușor Dan said the strike was part of Russia's escalation in its war in Ukraine.

Updated Oct 25

Offered to halt strikes on Russian refineries if Russia stops attacking Ukraine's energy grid; pressing allies for more Patriot systems

Russian forces have kept striking Zaporizhzhia, killing a 27-year-old woman in a high-rise on October 18. On October 22, regional officials reported 862 attacks on 48 settlements in 24 hours, with three people killed in the city and surrounding district.

Updated Oct 22

Announced FP-7's first combat use

Ukraine's first combat launch of its FP-7 ballistic missile succeeded, military expert Pavlo Narozhnyi said, because Russian S-400 air defenses failed to intercept it. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the October 1 strike but has not said what it hit.

Updated Oct 19

Welcomed Trump's 'energy ceasefire' on October 11 while reporting Russian strikes on Ukraine's grid continued; said Ukraine could hold elections under a 60-day ceasefire

Ukrainian drones knocked out three of Yandex's five data centers between October 8 and 11. All three AI supercomputers went down, disrupting taxi, banking, music and cloud services used by millions in Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia. Yandex moved customers to rival clouds, waived fees through the end of October, and reports say repairs could take months.

Updated Oct 18

Denounces the waiver as rewarding Putin

Drafted by the late Lindsey Graham and signed into law September 18, the Graham Act lets Trump tariff the five largest buyers of Russian crude oil or natural gas up to 100%. China, India and several European countries are among the largest buyers.

Updated Oct 18

Declared Ukraine was 'done' with the energy ceasefire, resumed strikes on Russian oil refineries, and accused the US of withdrawing intelligence-sharing

Ukraine and Russia resumed attacks on each other's energy infrastructure this week, and the US-brokered ceasefire has collapsed. Russia sent a record swarm of drones across nine regions, cutting power to hundreds of thousands, while Ukraine struck an oil refinery in the Ryazan region.

Updated Oct 16

Pressing allies for more air-defense interceptors as Russian strikes on ports and energy infrastructure continue

Russia and Ukraine kept striking each other's grain ports through the fall. After the August attacks on Izmail and Novorossiysk, the Black Sea grain trade nearly stopped. Ukraine's grain exports fell 76% in the first two weeks of August from a year earlier, and wheat prices hit $8 a bushel, the highest in three and a half years.

Updated Oct 16

As of October 2026: Announced the POW transfer at the UN General Assembly on Sept 23, 2026; Ukraine denied making a non-disclosure deal

Zelenskyy told the UN General Assembly on Sept 23 that Ukraine had transferred two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea. Seoul says the disclosure broke a secrecy deal, and it has demanded an apology and recalled its ambassador from Kyiv.

Updated Oct 10

As of September 2026: Hosted the Carpathian summit and welcomed Poland into the coalition

Poland sat out the Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition when it launched in July. On September 18, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced Poland had joined, ending a two-month gap that Warsaw attributed to "a certain misunderstanding."

Updated Sep 21

As of September 2026: Met with US envoys in Kyiv

President Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Kyiv on Sunday for their first official visit to Ukraine. The trip came a day after a three-hour meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow, part of a renewed push to end a war now in its fifth year.

Updated Sep 7

As of August 2026: Called for more air defense support after the attack on his hometown

Two Russian drones hit the largest shopping mall in Kryvyi Rih on a Friday afternoon, killing at least 16 people and wounding more than 130. The second drone arrived about 30 minutes after the first, when rescue crews were already pulling people from the rubble — a tactic known as a double-tap strike.

Updated Aug 23

As of July 2026: Confirmed and defended the Caspian strikes

For five months, the 2026 Iran war stayed in the south — the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf. On July 25, Ukrainian drones struck cargo ships more than 1,000 miles north, in the Caspian Sea.

Updated Jul 26

As of July 2026: Ordered the command reshuffle

Ukraine changed the general running its war. On July 22, President Volodymyr Zelensky named Mykhailo Drapatyi, a 43-year-old combat commander, to replace 60-year-old Oleksandr Syrskyi as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

Updated Jul 22

As of July 2026: Leading the Freyja push inside the new coalition

A single Patriot interceptor costs about $3.8 million, and the US makes only so many each year. On July 14, 2026, Ukraine and nine European countries agreed to build their own, cheaper alternative and share the factories that make them.

Updated Jul 14

As of July 2026: Rejecting Russia's capture claim

Russia says it holds Kostiantynivka. Ukraine says its troops are still fighting inside the city. On July 5, 2026, Russia's Defense Ministry offered a six-hour truce there for July 6 to hand back the bodies of dead Ukrainian soldiers. Kyiv rejected the offer.

Updated Jul 5

As of July 2026: Building the Drone Deal buyer network that exports now depend on

Ukraine's arms makers now build more weapons than their own government can afford to buy. On July 1, 2026, the Cabinet approved the first formal procedure to sell that surplus abroad, ending a de facto export freeze in place since Russia's full-scale invasion.

Updated Jul 2

As of May 2026: Reported 216 drones fired as truce expired; prisoner exchange not completed; proposed extending truce and an 'airport truce'; both rejected by Russia

The Trump-brokered three-day ceasefire expired at midnight on May 12, and Russia launched 216 attack drones at Ukraine within hours. Ukrainian air defenses neutralized 192 of them. At least one person was killed in Dnipropetrovsk, and debris set fire to a 16-storey residential building in Kyiv's Obolon district.

Updated May 31

As of May 2026: Secured defense pacts with Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar; expanding drone exports, weapons swaps, and ceasefire leverage across Gulf

Russia began bombing Ukrainian cities with Iranian-made Shahed drones in October 2022. Over three and a half years later, Ukraine has transformed that threat into an exportable edge: low-cost interceptor drones, as cheap as $2,100 each, now handling over 70% of Shahed kills.

Updated May 30

As of May 2026: Facing energy ultimatums from two EU neighbors while managing wartime electricity crisis

For decades, Russian oil flowed west through the Druzhba pipeline and European electricity flowed east into Ukraine's war-battered grid. That exchange collapsed after a Russian drone strike knocked out the pipeline's main Ukrainian pumping station on January 27. Slovakia and Hungary, the last European Union members importing Russian crude through the pipeline, then escalated from halting diesel exports to threatening Ukraine's electricity supply.

Updated May 29

As of May 2026: Pressed for EU accession timeline at Munich

For six decades, the Munich Security Conference is the West's main annual defense gathering. On February 15, 2026, the 62nd edition closed with NATO allies announcing military commitments—including Britain's Operation Firecrest Arctic carrier deployment—as tensions with Washington and Trump's April China visit loom.

Updated May 29

As of May 2026: Pressing for progress on peace negotiations amid US deadline

For seventy-five years, the transatlantic alliance operated on a simple premise: America leads, Europe follows, and collective defense binds them together. That arrangement is being renegotiated: at the Munich Security Conference on February 13, 2026, European leaders gather not to coordinate with Washington but to assess how much they can still count on it.

Updated May 29

As of May 2026: Visited Kupiansk frontline in December 2025

Russian forces have spent more than two years trying to recapture Kupiansk, a railway hub they lost in five days during Ukraine's 2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive. On February 9, 2026, they launched a mechanized assault east of the city, claiming to have captured Petropavlivka and Stepova Novoselivka, though Ukrainian forces said they repelled multiple attacks there.

Updated May 27

As of May 2026: Active; leading sanctions policy coordination with Western allies

Ukraine first passed sanctions legislation in 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea. Twelve years and a full-scale invasion later, Kyiv is targeting the cryptocurrency networks and third-country shell companies that funnel billions of dollars to Russian missile factories. On February 8, 2026, President Zelenskyy signed decrees sanctioning 128 individuals and 97 legal entities—including the A7 crypto ecosystem, which Ukrainian officials say processed billions for weapons procurement.

Updated May 27

As of May 2026: Pursuing domestic weapons production and European defense partnerships

Poland has delivered over 300 tanks, 14 fighter jets, and more than €4.5 billion in military equipment to Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. On February 5-6, 2026, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a letter of intent in Kyiv to establish joint production lines for weapons, ammunition, and drones. The agreement, backed by EU SAFE programme funding and Polish government credits, shifts from emergency wartime aid to institutionalized defense industry integration on both sides of the border.

Updated May 27

As of May 2026: Delivered scathing critique of European inaction

This year's World Economic Forum (the first in 55 years without founder Klaus Schwab) became an emergency diplomatic summit when Trump's tariff threats over Greenland drew record attendance from 60+ heads of state. By week's end, a NATO 'framework deal' had defused the immediate crisis, and Canadian PM Mark Carney declared to applause from European and middle-power leaders that the U.S.-led rules-based order is over.

Updated May 22

As of May 2026: Potential Trump meeting and $800B deal signing unconfirmed; White House says 'no bilateral meetings scheduled' at Davos

For 55 years, the World Economic Forum at Davos was neutral ground where adversaries brokered deals. This year, 65 heads of state and nearly 3,000 leaders arrived just 48 hours after Trump announced 10% tariffs on eight European allies. The tariffs escalate to 25% by June unless Denmark agrees to sell Greenland.

Updated May 22

As of May 2026: Leading peace negotiations while criticizing European hesitancy and finalizing security guarantees

For nearly three years after Russia's 2022 invasion, Ukraine relied on American satellites and signals intelligence for roughly 75-80% of its battlefield awareness, but in ten months France claims to have replaced most of that. President Macron announced on January 15, 2026, that France now provides two-thirds of Ukraine's intelligence—a restructuring forced by Washington's March 2025 decision to suspend most intelligence sharing as leverage in peace negotiations. Yet Macron's assertion contradicts Ukraine's own intelligence officials: the former GUR chief stated in December 2025 that the US remained the key provider, and concerns about US intelligence leaks to Moscow have reportedly chilled Kyiv's information sharing with Washington.

Updated May 21

As of May 2026: Confirmed second-tranche preparations underway; authorized retaliatory drone strikes on Russia May 17

Russia and Ukraine each handed back 205 prisoners on May 15, the first tranche of a 1,000-for-1,000 swap Donald Trump brokered in early May. Zelenskyy said on May 16 that work on the next round's prisoner lists is ongoing. The swap is still the only deliverable from months of US-led talks.

Updated May 20

As of May 2026: Leading war effort and peace negotiations, term extended indefinitely under martial law

On December 28, President Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced 90% agreement on a revised 20-point peace framework at Mar-a-Lago. The next day Russia claimed Ukraine attacked Putin's residence with drones—a charge Kyiv denies, calling it fabricated to sabotage talks. The alleged attack exposes how fragile negotiations are: while diplomats inch toward compromise, the shadow war continues and Moscow weaponizes accusations to 'toughen' its bargaining position. The real question after nearly four years of invasion is whether either side will stop fighting long enough to sign a deal.

Updated May 16

As of May 2026: Offering to abandon NATO membership bid in exchange for legally binding guarantees

Zelensky just did something he once treated as untouchable: he offered to drop Ukraine's NATO bid. Not as surrender, but as a trade—Kyiv gives up the alliance path, and the West gives Ukraine legally binding protection strong enough to scare Moscow off for good.

Updated May 15

As of May 2026: Leading wartime government; pressing allies for air defense and leverage in talks

Ukrainian officials say more than 450 drones and about 30 missiles hit energy and port infrastructure overnight. Odesa and surrounding areas went dark.

Updated May 15

As of May 2026: Leading Ukraine’s negotiating position; publicly rejecting territorial concessions

In early 2025, Trump launched an aggressive push to "end the war" in Ukraine. He tied resumed military aid and intelligence sharing to Kyiv's acceptance of a U.S.-drafted peace framework that includes territorial concessions to Russia and long-term limits on Ukraine's sovereignty.

Updated May 10

As of May 2026: Ukrainian president balancing domestic constraints with intensive diplomacy; reports 90% agreement on peace framework

By late December 2025, the controversial 28-point plan was replaced by a revised 20-point framework. Zelenskyy said it was '90 percent agreed' with Washington, with '100 percent' consensus on U.S.–Ukraine security guarantees.

Updated May 10

As of May 2026: Key stakeholder under pressure in U.S.–Russia–Ukraine peace talks

In early December 2025, the Trump administration published a National Security Strategy abandoning Russia as a primary threat, emphasizing 'flexible realism,' reviving the Monroe Doctrine in the Western Hemisphere, and seeking a negotiated Ukraine peace while re-establishing stability with Moscow. Within days, the Kremlin praised the strategy, saying it 'corresponds in many ways' with Russia's worldview and welcoming the shift from treating Russia as a direct adversary.

Updated May 10

As of May 2026: Negotiating under military pressure but rejecting formal territorial concessions

In late 2025, U.S. Special Envoy Keith Kellogg said a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine was "really, really close." Two disputes remain: the fate of Donbas, especially Ukrainian-held areas in Donetsk, and the future of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant (Russia-occupied and the largest in Europe).

Updated May 10