EUROPEANS VOW SUPPORT

Zelensky held a conference call while in Canada with European leaders who, according to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, pledged their full support for his peace efforts.

Russia has accused Ukraine and its European backers of trying to “torpedo” a previous US-brokered plan to stop the fighting.

Adding to pressure on the battlefield, Russia announced on Saturday it had captured two more towns in eastern Ukraine, Myrnograd and Guliaipole.

“If the authorities in Kyiv don’t want to settle this business peacefully, we’ll resolve all the problems before us by military means,” Putin said on Saturday.

He was also quoted by state news agency TASS as saying that “the leaders of the Kyiv regime are in no hurry to resolve this conflict peacefully”.

EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa, who participated in the conference call, said the European Union’s backing for Ukraine would never falter and vowed to maintain pressure on the Kremlin to come to terms.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told TASS that Moscow would continue its “engagement with American negotiators” and “address the root causes of the conflict”, but criticised the Europeans.

“They are making no secret of their plans to prepare for war with Russia,” Lavrov said, adding that the ambitions of European politicians are “literally blinding them”.

“Not only do they not care about Ukrainians, but they also don’t seem to care about their own population,” he said.