Kyiv Sets November Talks But Rules Out Limits on Its Army

A November meeting involving Kyiv, Washington, and Moscow aims to restart peace negotiations that have stalled, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday. "We are ready to talk. If it's a territorial issue, it must be addressed at a leadership level. Other issues fall within the remit of the technical groups. All this can therefore be discussed in November," he said in an interview.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine would not discuss caps on its armed forces or postwar neutrality at the meeting. He also renewed his push for a direct session with Vladimir Putin, saying he believes Putin is the only person in Russia who can decide how the war ends. Kyiv has sought Nato membership despite hesitation from some members.

The president said US warnings about Russian ballistic missile strikes, which Ukraine's air defenses rely on, are fully restored. He told Ukraine's TSN television channel that SpaceX's Starshield satellite internet had run at speeds of up to 420km/h since early Saturday, following a meeting with US special envoy Steve Witkoff in Oslo. Starshield was slowed earlier in October during Washington's diplomatic pressure on Kyiv.

The US has pressed Ukraine to suspend strikes on Russian oil refineries, which Washington says raise energy prices. Zelenskyy said Kyiv would stop those strikes only if Moscow halts attacks on Ukrainian power infrastructure, or if the US permits Starshield use over Russia to locate ballistic missile launch sites, or if the US supplies Patriot missiles. In an online post on Sunday, Zelenskyy said Russia launched close to 2,300 strike drones at Ukrainian cities in the past week, along with about 1,600 guided bombs and 48 missiles of various types, and he asked western allies to speed up interceptor deliveries.

Russia's defense ministry said on Sunday its drones hit a cargo vessel bound for the Black Sea port of Chornomorsk overnight and another en route to Odesa during the day, saying both supplied the Ukrainian army. The ministry also reported strikes on a logistics center, a distribution center, and a logistics terminal in Kharkiv overnight. Reuters could not confirm those reports.

A Ukrainian drone attack overnight on the Russian border city of Belgorod killed three people and injured 13, regional governor Alexander Shuvayev said on Sunday, and a later strike killed one more person. The overnight attack damaged 30 apartment buildings, he said.