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The West’s attempts to persuade Ukraine to negotiate with Russia are ‘bizarre’ and would amount to capitulation given Ukrainian forces’ recent advances in the northeast and south of the country, a key adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. Russia and Iran reached a deal to manufacture weaponised drones on Russian soil, The Washington Post reported. Read our live blog for the latest developments. All times are in Paris time (GMT + 1).
10:07: Russia and Iran reach deal to manufacture drones, Washington Post reports
Russia has reached agreement with Iran to begin manufacturing hundreds of unmanned weaponised aircraft on Russian soil, The Washington Post reported, citing intelligence seen by US and other Western security agencies.
The Post said Russian and Iranian officials finalised the deal during a meeting in Iran in early November.
Russia and Iran are moving rapidly to transfer designs and key components that could allow production to begin within months, three officials familiar with the matter said, according to the newspaper.
9:38am: West’s attempts to persuade Kyiv to negotiate with Moscow are ‘bizarre’, top Zelensky adviser says
The West’s attempts to persuade Ukraine to negotiate with Moscow, after a series of major military victories by Kyiv, are “bizarre” and amount to asking for its capitulation, a key adviser to the Ukrainian presidency told AFP.
“When you have the initiative on the battlefield, it’s slightly bizarre to receive proposals like: ‘You will not be able to do everything by military means anyway, you need to negotiate,” said Mykhaylo Podolyak.
This would mean that the country “that recovers its territories, must capitulate to the country that is losing”, he added, during an interview at his office in the presidency building in Kyiv.
US media recently reported that some senior officials were beginning to encourage Ukraine to consider talks, which President Volodymyr Zelensky has so far rejected without a prior withdrawal of Russian forces from all Ukrainian territory.
“Russia doesn’t want negotiations. Russia is conducting a communication campaign called ‘negotiations’,” the Ukrainian presidential adviser said.
“It will simply stall for time. In the meantime, it will train its mobilised forces, find additional weapons and fortify its positions,” he warned.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
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