Papal conclave will last only 2 or 3 days, cardinal predicts

LONDON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of “prolonging the war” and “ignoring” U.S.-led efforts to agree to a ceasefire, as a first step toward ending Moscow’s three-year-old invasion of its neighbor.

Recent weeks have seen Kyiv and Moscow frame each other as the main impediment to peace, maneuvering to win backing from President Donald Trump as the White House presses for an end to the conflict.

Zelenskyy on Saturday reported a massing of Russian troops along the border with Ukraine’s eastern Sumy region. “This indicates an intention to attack,” Zelenskyy said. “We are aware of this, and will counter it. I would like all partners to understand exactly what Putin is planning, what he is preparing for and what he will be ignoring.”

“The buildup of Russian forces indicates that Moscow intends to keep ignoring diplomacy,” the Ukrainian leader wrote on social media. “It is clear that Russia is prolonging the war. We are ready to provide our partners with all the real information on the situation at the front, in the Kursk region and along our border.”

Fierce fighting and long-range strikes continued despite the U.S. peace push. Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 90 attack drones into the country on Saturday night. Forty-seven were shot down with 33 lost in flight, the air force said. “The Chernihiv, Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odessa regions were affected by the Russian attack,” it added.

Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down 31 Ukrainian drones over four Russian regions.

Last week, Ukrainian and U.S. negotiators agreed to a 30-day ceasefire. Moscow was non-committal, Putin saying he was “for” the agreement but setting out additional conditions for its implementation.

In Russia’s western Kursk region — where Ukrainian forces seized ground in a surprise August 2024 offensive — Moscow is seeking to cut off and destroy Kyiv’s troops. Russian officials have said no peace deal is possible until Kursk is recaptured.

The fighting in the border region prompted Trump to warn of “a horrible massacre,” adding he had asked Putin to spare the lives of the Ukrainian soldiers still fighting there.

Zelenskyy, his officials and commanders denied the suggestion that Ukrainian troops were cut off.

“Our troops continue to hold back Russian and North Korean groupings in the Kursk region,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media on Saturday. “There is no encirclement of our troops.”

Trump last week touted “very good and productive” discussions between the U.S. and Russia, for which Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Moscow and met with Putin. There is, Trump said, a “very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by phone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday, according to a State Department readout. The two officials “discussed next steps to follow up on recent meetings in Saudi Arabia and agreed to continue working towards restoring communication between the United States and Russia,” the statement said.

It remains unclear whether Russia is willing to downgrade its long-held maximalist war goals. Trump has threatened to impose new sanctions and tariffs on Moscow if the Kremlin does not show a willingness to pursue a peace deal.

Yuri Ushakov, a senior foreign policy aide to Putin, said in an interview with state television aired on Sunday that Moscow views the proposed 30-day ceasefire an “an attempt to give a break to Ukrainian troops who are now enduring difficult times.”

“Russian troops are on the offensive on all fronts,” Ushakov said in comments that appear to have been recorded on Thursday when Witkoff was in Moscow. “And in this situation, we can view it as a sort of attempt to give time to Ukrainian troops time to rearm and regroup.”

Ukraine, meanwhile, appears to have somewhat repaired ties with the White House after a month of tensions culminated in a brief U.S. freeze on military aid and intelligence sharing.

Still, Zelenskyy has repeatedly stressed the need for lasting Western security guarantees backed by the U.S. — a commitment the Trump administration has so far dodged.

“Peace will be more reliable with the presence of European contingents on the ground, supported by the American side,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media on Saturday.

The Kremlin has dismissed the proposal, a stance Zelenskyy suggested should be ignored.

“It is also a very bad signal to listen to the opinion of the Russians regarding the contingent,” the president wrote. “The contingent should be stationed on Ukrainian soil. This is a guarantee of security for Ukraine and for Europe.”

“If Putin wants to introduce some foreign contingent into the territory of Russia, that is his business,” he added. “But it is not his business to decide something about the security of Ukraine and Europe.”

ABC News’ Patrick Reevell contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LONDON) — National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said Thursday that officials in Kyiv “need to tone it down” after a fierce back and forth between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy related to a potential deal to end Russia’s three-year-old invasion of its neighbor.

U.S.-Russia talks began this week in Saudi Arabia without Ukrainian participation, Kyiv’s exclusion prompting condemnation in Ukraine and across Europe as well as a vow from Zelenskyy that his country would not sign any deal agreed over its head. Zelenskyy also pushed back on a proposed deal that would give the U.S. access to hundreds of billions of dollars worth of minerals.

Responding to the discord, Waltz told Fox News that the Ukrainians “need to tone it down and take a hard look and sign that deal,” referring to the proposed minerals agreement.

“There’s obviously a lot of frustration here,” Waltz said after Wednesday’s war of words.

Seeking to explain the strong remarks from Trump and Vice President JD Vance, Waltz said, “We presented the Ukrainians really an incredible and historic opportunity to have the United States of America co-invest with Ukraine, invest in its economy, invest in its natural resources and really become a partner in Ukraine’s future in a way that’s sustainable, but also would be — I think — the best security guarantee they could ever hope for, much more than another pallet of ammunition.”

Trump on Wednesday attacked European allies and the Ukrainian leadership for having failed to end Russia’s war. The president went on to call Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections,” claiming — without providing evidence — that his Ukrainian counterpart’s public approval rating was as low as 4%.

Trump also wrote on Truth Social that Zelenskyy “better move fast or he is not going to have a country left.”

Zelenskyy, meanwhile, suggested Trump is in a “disinformation space,” attributing at least some of the U.S. leader’s criticism to Russian disinformation campaigns.

Vance then warned that Zelenskyy’s approach to dealing with the Trump White House was “atrocious.”

In Moscow, meanwhile, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday that Ukrainian officials had made “unacceptable and impermissible” remarks about foreign leaders “in recent months.”

“Rhetoric used by Zelenskyy and numerous other representatives of the Kyiv regime in general leaves much to be desired,” Putin’s spokesperson said.

The diplomatic spat was set against the backdrop of continued Russian strikes across Ukraine. On Thursday, Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 14 missiles and 161 drones into the country in a massive overnight bombardment.

Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 80 of the drones launched in the latest Russian barrage, with another 78 lost in flight without causing any damage. The 14 missiles targeted energy infrastructure, the air force said, adding it would not reveal how many were intercepted.

Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko wrote on Facebook that Russia conducted a “massive” missile and drone attack on “gas infrastructure.”

The aim of the “criminal attacks” was to “stop the production of gas, which is necessary to provide citizens’ household needs and centralized heating,” he said.

“While Russia continues to blatantly lie about not attacking civilian critical infrastructure, we are witnessing multiple missiles targeting Ukrainian gas mining facilities at once,” Galushchenko wrote.

“Such actions of the enemy prove only once again that Russia is trying to hurt ordinary Ukrainians, plunged into the cold in the middle of winter,” he added. “This is outright terrorism.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its strike targeted “gas and energy infrastructure facilities that ensure the operation of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine.”

“The strike’s objective has been achieved,” the ministry said. “All facilities have been hit.”

Russia’s long-range strikes into Ukraine have not eased despite the opening of talks aimed at ending Moscow’s three-year-old full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s latest salvo came with Trump’s Ukraine-Russia envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian leaders. Items of discussion are expected to include the proposed deal with the U.S. for access to the country’s mineral resources and the larger possible peace deal with Moscow.

On Thursday, Zelenskyy marked the anniversary of the culmination of Ukraine’s 2014 Maidan Revolution — in which pro-Western protesters overthrew Moscow-aligned President Viktor Yanukovych.

“It was in these days of 2014 that Russia chose war — it began the first steps towards the occupation of Crimea,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. “While people were being killed in Kyiv, and people were defending their freedom, Putin decided to strike another blow.”

“Since then, the world has been living in a new reality, when Russia is trying to deceive everyone,” the president wrote. “And it is very important not to give in, to be together. It is very important to support those who defend freedom.”

Ukraine is continuing its own long-range campaign against Russian military and industrial infrastructure, especially targets linked to the country’s lucrative fossil fuel industry. Ukrainian security services have referred to the campaign as “drone sanctions.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Thursday that its forces shot down 13 Ukrainian drones over the previous 24 hours.

ABC News’ Nataliia Popova, Oleksiy Pshemyskiy, Fidel Pavlenko, Kelsey Walsh and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
 

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LONDON and JERUSALEM) — Palestinian Academy Award-winning filmmaker Hamdan Ballal was released from Israeli custody on Tuesday, friend and fellow filmmaker Yuval Abraham said, after Ballal was detained by Israeli security forces on Monday.

The co-director of “No Other Land” was detained by the Israel Police following a confrontation with Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Basel Adra — who shared the recent Oscar win — told ABC News that Ballal is believed to have been injured in what activists said was an attack by settlers on local Palestinian families.

Ballal was released on Tuesday, Abraham wrote on X. The filmmaker “is now free and is about to go home to his family,” he said.

Israel Police confirmed to ABC News that Ballal was among three people released “on conditions that include not contacting other people involved and providing a personal guarantee. The investigation is ongoing and additional arrests are expected.”

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said of Monday’s incident, “Several terrorists hurled rocks at Israeli citizens, damaging their vehicles” near Susiya, a village located to the south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron.

“Following this, a violent confrontation broke out, involving mutual rock-hurling between Palestinians and Israelis at the scene,” the IDF said. “IDF and Israeli Police forces arrived to disperse the confrontation, at this point, several terrorists began hurling rocks at the security forces.”

“In response, the forces apprehended three Palestinians suspected of hurling rocks at them, as well as an Israeli civilian involved in the violent confrontation. The detainees were taken for further questioning by the Israel Police. An Israeli citizen was injured in the incident and was evacuated to receive medical treatment.”

Israel Police confirmed to ABC News in a statement that Ballal was arrested and taken to Kiryat Arba police station. The force said Ballal was under investigation.

“No Other Land,” which won best documentary at this year’s Oscars, details the efforts of the residents of Masafer Yatta to stop the demolition of their villages by the IDF and harassment by Israeli settlers. Both Ballal and Adra are residents of Masafar Yatta.

Nasser Nawaja, a field researcher working for B’Tselem — a human rights organization based in Jerusalem — told ABC News on Monday that he was with Ballal before the filmmaker was arrested.

“For the past month, there have been attacks every single day,” Nawaja said. “The settlers are trying to pressure us to leave Susiya.”

Settler attacks began on Monday morning at around 7:30 a.m. local time, Nawaja said. “We called the Israeli police. When they arrived, they told us, ‘The settlers are allowed to graze here.’ But it’s our private land. It’s our homes.”

At around 6 p.m., Nawaja said the settlers “attacked” local families, throwing stones at a house and trying to “shoot the family’s sheep.”

Activist Anna Lippman told ABC News that she and a group of fellow activists were also attacked by stone-throwing Israeli settlers outside the village of Susiya on Monday evening after they arrived to come to the aid of Ballal.

The incident started at the house of Ballal’s neighbor, Lippman said, before moving on to Ballal’s house.

Adra said he saw two settlers with guns and that most of the attackers were masked.

“Hamdan was just standing there when the settlers came at him too,” Nawaja said. “They destroyed the water tanks. And not long after that, the soldiers arrested him. We haven’t heard anything about him since.”

“Hamdan ran home,” Nawaja added. “He got his wife and children inside, and stood in the doorway to protect them. That’s when the soldiers arrested him. I got close enough to film it. He was blindfolded, handcuffed, and taken away in a military vehicle — along with two other Palestinians.”

“Later, I spoke with Hamdan’s wife,” Nawaja said. “She told me he was beaten. But she’s too afraid to speak to journalists. Another journalist tried, and she said no.”

“He spent years documenting what was happening to us,” Nawaja said. “And now it’s happening to him. And we don’t even know where he is.”

The Israeli military designated Masafer Yatta as a live-fire training zone in the 1980s and ordered residents to be expelled, prompting a 20-year legal battle.

Israel’s Supreme Court upheld the expulsion order in 2022, though approximately 1,000 residents remain in place. Israeli forces regularly move in to demolish homes and other structures. Locals say Israeli settlers have also set up several outposts nearby since the court’s 2022 decision.

Both Ballal and Adra are residents of Masafar Yatta. The film also has two Israeli directors — Abraham and Rachel Szor.

ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Ellie Kaufman, Chris Looft and Dragana Jovanovic contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.