Russia – Ukrainian War: List of Key Events, Day 1,181 | Russia – Ukrainian War News
This is what happened on Tuesday, May 20:
struggle
- With the imminent arrival of peace talks, Russia currently controls one-fifth of Ukrainian territory. Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to ask Ukrainian troops to retreat to four areas of Ukraine during peace talks.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ruled out withdrawal from the forces in parts of Kiev-controlled eastern and southern Ukraine in an interview with Kiev-based independents.
- The Russian Ministry of Defense said in a telegram that it occupied the marine village in the northern part of Sumi in Ukraine and the village of Novoolenivka in the eastern Donetsk region. Ukraine did not immediately comment on these claims.
Ceasefire talk
- US President Donald Trump said Moscow and Kyiv lasted for more than two and a half hours on the phone with Putin and “negotiating a ceasefire and ending the war immediately.”
- After the call, Putin told reporters that Russia was “ready to cooperate with Ukraine to make a memorandum on possible future peace agreements and define many positions, such as the principle of reconciliation, (and) timing of possible peace agreements.”
- Putin repeated what he often said that any ceasefire needs to resolve the “root cause of the crisis”, which refers to the potential entry of Ukraine into NATO.
- In a statement, Zelenskyy said Ukraine remains committed to peace talks, but Russia also needs to prove that it is ready for meaningful dialogue. He also said the United States needs to say, “It is crucial for us all to be the distance between the United States and the negotiations and the pursuit of peace is crucial because the only one who benefits from that is Putin.”
- Zelenskyy said Moscow and Kiev were also talking about a major prisoner exchange after a phone call on Monday.
- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said EU leaders told Trump they were ready to put more pressure and sanctions on Moscow. “Europe will increase the pressure on Moscow through sanctions. This is what we agreed with @potus after talking to Putin.”
- Germany has joined Denmark to call on China's impact on Ukraine's war.
- Trump said Pope Leo was interested in talks between Russia and Ukraine, a proposal that was welcomed by U.S. and European leaders, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who said Italy was “ready to work to promote contact and peaceful ties.” The Vatican did not confirm any such proposals from the Pope.
economy
- Finnish Ministry of Defense said it would use approximately 90 million euros ($101.35 million) to purchase Ukrainian ammunition from the proceeds from frozen Russian assets. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, about US$30 billion of Russian assets have been frozen.
- EU officials quoted EU officials as saying the EU is expected to lower its current oil price cap to a $60-a-barrel cap, part of the new sanctions package this week.
- Poland seized 5 million tons of tires for Russian civilian Boeing aircraft that violated international sanctions.