MOSCOW: Russia said it will hold security talks with the US and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi on Friday, but warned after a late-night meeting between President Vladimir Putin and three US envoys that a durable peace would not be possible unless territorial issues were resolved.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters the talks, which began shortly before midnight and lasted some four hours, had been useful and extremely frank.
He said Russian Admiral Igor Kostyukov would head Moscow’s team at the three-way security talks, and investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev would meet separately on economic issues with Steve Witkoff, the envoy of President Donald Trump.
But while outlining the next steps, Ushakov stopped short of hailing any major breakthrough.
“Most importantly, during these talks between our president and the Americans, it was reiterated that without resolving the territorial issue according to the formula agreed upon in Anchorage, there is no hope of achieving a long-term settlement,” he said, referring to last year’s Trump-Putin summit in Alaska.
Ushakov said Putin underlined that Russia was “sincerely interested” in a diplomatic solution.
He added, however: “Until this is achieved, Russia will continue to consistently pursue the objectives of the special military operation. This is especially true on the battlefield, where the Russian armed forces hold the strategic initiative.”
Putin, Ushakov and Dmitriev took part in the talks on the Russian side.
On the US side, Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who last met Putin in the Kremlin in early December, were accompanied by Josh Gruenbaum, newly appointed by Trump as a senior adviser to his Board of Peace, which will seek to tackle world conflicts.
The talks were the latest stage in a drive by Trump to bring an end to the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two, now approaching the end of its fourth year.
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Russia agrees next steps with US envoys but says territory is the key issue
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Russia agrees next steps with US envoys but says territory is the key issue
- Kremlin says no lasting settlement without agreement on territory
Hundreds of thousands without power after storm lashes France
- Around 450,000 households in southern France were without power on Friday, operator Enedis said, a day after a storm tore through the region, ripping up trees and flooding roads
PARIS: Around 450,000 households in southern France were without power on Friday, operator Enedis said, a day after a storm tore through the region, ripping up trees and flooding roads.
High winds and hard rain brought chaos across southern France, northern Spain and parts of Portugal on Thursday, forcing cancelations of flights, trains and ferries and disruption on roads.
French officials said a truck driver was killed when a tree smashed through his windscreen, while dozens were injured in weather-related incidents in Spain and a viaduct in Portugal partially collapsed because of flooding.
French forecasters said the storm, named Nils, was “unusually strong” and France’s electricity distributor said it had mobilized around 3,000 as it battled to reconnect households to the grid.
“Enedis has restored service to 50 percent of the 900,000 customers who were without electricity,” it wrote around 6:00 am (0500 GMT).
“Flooding complicates repairs because the fields are waterlogged and some roads are blocked,” Enedis crisis director Herve Champenois said during a press briefing on Thursday.
Residents across the south of France were shocked at the storm’s ferocity.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Ingrid, a florist in the city of Perpignan, told AFP. “A tree almost fell on my car — two seconds more and it would have.”
“During the night, you could hear tiles lifting, rubbish bins rolling down the street — it was crazy,” said Eugenie Ferrier, 32, from the village of Roaillan near Bordeaux in the southwest.
Forecasters said the storm had moved eastwards away from French territory during Thursday, though some areas were still on alert for flooding.
High winds and hard rain brought chaos across southern France, northern Spain and parts of Portugal on Thursday, forcing cancelations of flights, trains and ferries and disruption on roads.
French officials said a truck driver was killed when a tree smashed through his windscreen, while dozens were injured in weather-related incidents in Spain and a viaduct in Portugal partially collapsed because of flooding.
French forecasters said the storm, named Nils, was “unusually strong” and France’s electricity distributor said it had mobilized around 3,000 as it battled to reconnect households to the grid.
“Enedis has restored service to 50 percent of the 900,000 customers who were without electricity,” it wrote around 6:00 am (0500 GMT).
“Flooding complicates repairs because the fields are waterlogged and some roads are blocked,” Enedis crisis director Herve Champenois said during a press briefing on Thursday.
Residents across the south of France were shocked at the storm’s ferocity.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Ingrid, a florist in the city of Perpignan, told AFP. “A tree almost fell on my car — two seconds more and it would have.”
“During the night, you could hear tiles lifting, rubbish bins rolling down the street — it was crazy,” said Eugenie Ferrier, 32, from the village of Roaillan near Bordeaux in the southwest.
Forecasters said the storm had moved eastwards away from French territory during Thursday, though some areas were still on alert for flooding.
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