Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday welcomed Russia’s offer for direct peace talks, but insisted there must be a full, temporary ceasefire in place before negotiations can start. Zelenskyy, writing on X, called Russian President Vladimir Putin’s counter-offer to start talks without a ceasefire a “positive sign”, and said “the entire world has been waiting for this for a very long time”.

He added, however, that “the very first step in truly ending any war is a ceasefire”. Meanwhile, Russia resumed mass drone attacks in Ukraine early on Sunday, after its self-declared 3-day pause expired. Russia launched 108 attack drones and simulator drones from six different directions, Ukraine’s Air Force said on Sunday. It said 60 drones were shot down and another 41 simulator drones failed to reach targets due to Ukrainian countermeasures.