Zelensky cancels foreign visits as Putin’s forces push forward

Military situation in Kharkiv region deteriorates as US announces new $2bn weapons deal for Ukraine

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has cancelled all his upcoming foreign trips as he looks to concentrate on Russia’s advance in Ukraine’s north-eastern Kharkiv region.

It comes as US secretary of state Antony Blinken announced a new $2bn (€1.84bn) weapons deal during a visit to Kyiv, before suggesting Washington could sign a bilateral agreement with Ukraine in the coming weeks.

Mr Blinken did not go into detail about what would be included in the latest pledge, which will be drawn from the $61bn package passed by the US Congress last month.

But during a press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, he said the US was focused on sending Patriot missile systems and other forms of critical air defence.

Mr Blinken said that the support for Ukraine comes at a “critical time”, as the country faces a renewed Russian onslaught.

Earlier yesterday, the Ukrainian president met senior military personnel, including commander-in-chief Oleksandry Syrskyi, to discuss the difficult situation in the Kharkiv region.

His press secretary Sergii Nykyforov announced on Facebook after the meeting that Mr Zelensky had “instructed that all international events scheduled for the coming days be postponed and new dates co-ordinated” so that he could focus on Kharkiv.

King Felipe of Spain had been due to hold a reception for Mr Zelensky tomorrow and host a meal in his honour.

The Ukrainian president had also been expected to sign a bilateral security co-operation agreement with Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez following a joint declaration by Nato last year. He was later scheduled to visit neighbouring Portugal.

But the situation in Kharkiv has deteriorated quickly as Russian forces appear to have moved within artillery range of the city centre of the region’s namesake capital, where more than 1.3 million civilians are currently living.

Russian president Vladimir Putin – during his own meeting with top military generals, as well his new defence minister Andrei Belousov and his predecessor Sergei Shoigu, now the secretary of the security council – said the work of the military was “proceeding according to the plan”.

Russia’s defence ministry claimed to have captured two more villages in the northernmost of its two attacks across the border into the Kharkiv region.

Kremlin troops have advanced nearly 8km towards the region’s capital since last Friday, when the first units of infantry rushed into the “grey zone”, a portion of land that was previously outside the control of both the Russian and Ukrainian forces.

The recent captures of the towns of Hlyboke and Lukyantsi mean that Putin’s forces have taken eight towns in that sector of fighting and an additional four in the neighbouring attack towards the small city of Vovchansk.

According to DeepState, a Ukrainian war tracker, Russia’s forces have occupied a total of more than 130 sq km of land in the Kharkiv region in just six days.

Ukraine’s military, in its latest update, claimed it had repelled multiple attacks along both sectors of fighting.

After a local Vovchansk police chief said Russian forces had “taken positions in the streets” of the town, Ukraine’s military said it had “expelled [Russian] forces… in the northern and north-western suburbs”.

DeepState said Russian forces were using artillery to “level everything to the ground” in the two areas of fighting.

It came as Putin said his regime is prepared to negotiate over the conflict in Ukraine in an interview with Chinese media on the eve of a two-day trip, starting today, to partner Beijing that has backed Moscow in its full-scale invasion.

“We are open to a dialogue on Ukraine, but such negotiations must take into account the interests of all countries involved in the conflict, including ours,” Putin was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency yesterday.

“We have never refused to negotiate. We are seeking a comprehensive, sustainable and just settlement of this conflict through peaceful means.”

Mr Zelensky has said any negotiations must include a restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the withdrawal of Russian troops, the release of all prisoners, a tribunal for those responsible for the aggression, and security guarantees for Ukraine.

Switzerland has had over 50 registrations from the more than 160 delegations the neutral country has invited to a summit next month that Bern hopes will pave the way for a peace process in Ukraine, President Viola Amherd said yesterday.

Ms Amherd, speaking at a press conference with German chancellor Olaf Scholz after the two held talks in Berlin, said her government was seeking a broad-based turnout for the summit, but that China had not yet said it would attend.

Countries from South America, Africa and the Middle East were among those that had confirmed they would come, according to Ms Amherd, who in January agreed to host a peace summit at the behest of Mr Zelensky.

Russia has not been invited, and diplomats and foreign-policy experts say the talks due to be held near the Swiss city of Lucerne are likely to focus on forging consensus on how to mitigate risks stemming from Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Roughly half of the countries who have said they would take part were non-European, and the list of attendees was likely to keep changing until the last minute, Ms Amherd said.

Switzerland was pressing to persuade more countries from the so-called Global South, as well as China, to sign up, she added.

“This work is continuing at full speed,” Ms Amherd said.

She was also asked whether Switzerland would be prepared to hold off taking delivery of a Patriot missile defence system it is due to receive from the US to help Ukraine get one sooner, following a German proposal.

The Swiss president said her cabinet had not yet debated the question, but that she was in discussion with German defence minister Boris Pistorius about it.

“We are open to a dialogue, but such negotiations must take into account the interests of all countries involved, including ours” Vladimir Putin