London – Volodymyr President Zelenskyy once again appealed to the US to give more pressure to Russian President Vladimir Putin in pursuing peaceful talks to end Moscow’s 3-year invasion of his neighbors and when long-term drone strikes continued.
“Russian strikes are getting bolder and large-scale every night,” Zelenskyy wrote in a night message to Telegram, after consecutive days of intense Russian attacks involving more than 900 drones of attacks and missiles.
“There is no military logic in this regard, but this is a clear political choice – Putin’s choice, Russian choice – the choice to continue to fight and destroy life,” wrote Zelenskyy.
“New and strong sanctions against Russia – from the United States, from Europe, and from all people around the world who are looking for peace – will function as a guaranteed way to force Russia not only to stop shooting, but also to show respect,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine soldiers prepare for a combat mission near Pokrovsk City in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on May 26, 2025.
Anatolii Stepanov/Reuters
“Putin must begin to respect the people he talked about,” wrote the President. “For now, he only plays games with diplomacy and diplomat. It must change.”
The President of Ukraine tried to frame Putin as the main barrier to a peace agreement, because Kyiv navigated a cracked bilateral relations with President Donald Trump’s administration.
For months US peace talks have failed to produce a lasting ceasefire or a clear framework for a peaceful agreement.
Trump’s frustration has been proven. This weekend, Trump said Putin had “really crazy,” while also reprimanding Zelenskyy for causing “problems” with his public statement.
Kyiv pushed a ceasefire 30 days during the time of peace talks to occur. Russia has so far rejected the proposal.
Putin told Trump in a telephone call last week that Moscow was preparing a memorandum that established a negotiation position. But Kyiv and European partners accused Kremlin of deliberately stopping the discussion.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Maria Zakharova told reporters to Briefing Tuesday that Moscow was still developing a memorandum, which he said would be sent to Kyiv immediately after completing.
“We hope that the Ukraine will do the same job and will send us its development simultaneously with the acceptance of Russian documents,” said Zakharova.
In this photo handout was taken and released by the Ukraine press presidential service on May 26, 2025, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy received a call at his office in Kyiv.
Handout/ukraine presidential press ser
Zelenskyy on Monday doubted the Russian proposal. “They have spent more than a week for this,” he wrote. “They talked a lot about diplomacy. But when, in the middle of all that, there was a constant Russian attack, constant murder, endless attacks, and even preparation for new attacks.”
Ukraine leaders have repeatedly appealed to Trump to impose new and harder sanctions against Moscow to encourage Kremlin to reduce his maximum war goals. That includes annexation of the Ukraine plot, Ukraine demilitarization and permanent blocks in the state’s accessions to NATO.
Ukraine’s request has not been answered so far, although there is a threat of Trump to introduce new sanctions to press Putin into negotiations.
Both Russia and Ukraine continued the drone attack on Monday night to Tuesday morning.
The Ukraine Air Force said they fired 43 of 60 Russian drones launched to the country, with a confirmed impact in nine locations and debris in three locations.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said his troops dropped 99 Ukraine drones over seven regions.