Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,192

On Saturday, May 31, 2018, this is how things are going.

In a Russian attack on the village of Vasyliv Khutir in northeastern Kharkiv, eight people were hurt, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov, including two teenagers.

Ukraine has resisted US and Russian pressure to agree to a second round of peace talks in Istanbul on Monday, contending that it first needs to hear Russian demands for a ceasefire. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, stated that Russia “is doing everything possible to make sure the next potential meeting does not produce any results.”
Andrii Sybiha, the foreign minister of Ukraine, added that Kyiv needed to be aware of the Russian ceasefire proposals in advance to ensure that the talks would be “substantial and meaningful,” without stating in detail what Kyiv would do if it failed to receive the document or set a delivery date.
As long as Western nations stopped arming Ukraine and preventing Kyiv from mobilizing troops, Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, stated to the UN Security Council that Moscow was ready to consider a ceasefire.

Lindsey Graham, a well-known US Republican senator, stated during a visit to Kyiv that a bill to impose sanctions on Russia is expected to be introduced by the Republican-led US Senate next week. Graham, who met Zelenskyy on Friday in Kyiv, claimed to have spoken with Donald Trump prior to his trip, and that Moscow is now anticipating taking concrete steps.
Trump claimed to have been surprised and depressed by the Russian bombing of Ukraine while attempting to arrange a ceasefire, and that both Putin and Zelenskyy were stubborn.
Trump’s special representative for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, argued that Washington did not want to see Ukraine join the US-led military alliance, and that Russia’s concern about the NATO expansion was fair.
Moscow was pleased, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who noted that a Russian delegation would be traveling to Istanbul and prepared for discussions with Ukraine on Monday morning.
The next step, according to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, would be to try to host a meeting between Trump, Putin, and Zelenskyy.

Source: Aljazeera