𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

President Volodymyr Zelensky has named Yulia Svyrydenko as Ukraine’s new prime minister in the latest reshuffle of his cabinet.

Ms Svyrydenko, 39, has been serving as first deputy prime minister and economic development and trade minister since November 2021. She had been appointed to lead the revival of Ukraine’s struggling economy only months before Russia invaded in February 2022 and made her task more difficult.

Volodymyr Zelensky has said US president Donald Trump can end the war in Ukraine, something that his predecessor Joe Biden was not able to do.

“President Trump is giving Putin a chance to end this war. I really want to believe that he has given him this window of opportunity. And I really want to believe that if Putin doesn’t draw conclusions, president Trump will truly apply powerful sanctions that cannot be circumvented,” Mr Zelensky said in an interview to Newsmax.

He went on: “I do not want to criticise anyone. I am grateful to America for all the help in this war. America has supported us and I have always said we are grateful to the White House, grateful for the bipartisan support. It was there and I am grateful that it continues. But president Biden was not able to end this war. I am confident that president Trump can do it.”

Ukraine is ready for more peace talks with Russia, Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said yesterday, but gave no specific date.

Mr Sybiha reiterated Kyiv’s call for a meeting between Russian and Ukrainian leaders, saying it would be the most effective step to help agree a ceasefire.

“We are ready for such negotiations in any format, in any geography,” he said during a visit to Lublin, in Poland.

The Ukrainian military has claimed that Russia has lost 1,170 troops in just one day, bringing the wartime casualty total of Russia’s war to more than 1,030,000 people.

Dozens of artillery systems and a handful of tanks, combat vehicles and tankers were also lost over the past day, Ukraine’s General Staff said.

The Independent could not independently verify the numbers.

US president Donald Trump said that weapons are already being shipped to Ukraine.

On being asked yesterday about what he thought of Patriot missiles being purchased by the US allies, Mr Trump said: “They are already being shipped”.

He added that the Patriot anti-missile defence systems are coming in from Germany.

“And in all cases, the United States gets paid back in full. So what’s happening, as you know, is the European Union, if you look, mostly European Union stuff, but let’s put it in the form of Nato, it’s very similar, but Nato’s going to pay us back for everything,” the US president said.

Mr Trump also added that he has not spoken to Russian president Vladimir Putin since sanctions against Russia were announced on Monday.

A meeting of Patriot owner nations and Ukraine donors, who want to help bring new Patriot air defence systems to Ukraine could take place Wednesday next week, a source told Reuters.

It comes after Donald Trump said on Monday that Washington will supply Patriot air defence systems, missiles and other weaponry to Ukraine and that the arms would be paid for by other Nato countries.

Germany, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Canada all want to be part of the initiative to fund the Patriot systems, Nato chief Mark Rutte said on Monday.

France has ruled itself out, according to a report in Politico.

France will not assist in a project announced by Donald Trump under which US weapons would be supplied to Ukraine with funding from European countries, Politico is reporting.

Paris will not be joining the initiative to purchase American weapons due to president Emmanuel Macron’s long-term position that Europeans should build their own defence industrial base through local procurement, two French officials familiar with the matter said.

The French government is looking to increase its own defence spending as it cuts other areas of the budget.

Germany, meanwhile, has taken a different stance. Chancellor Friedrich Merz believes that purchasing US weapons is one of the only ways to quickly arm Ukraine.

A strike by Russian forces on a shopping centre and market in Dobropillia, a town near the frontline of the 40-month-old war, killed two people, injured up to 27 and caused widespread damage, officials said.

Vadym Filashkin, governor of eastern Donetsk region, said a 500kg (1,100lbs) bomb was deployed at 5.20pm, when shoppers were out.

He said there were two dead and 22 people injured, with eight nearby apartment blocks and eight cars destroyed. Video posted online showed areas around the shopping centre on fire with smoke billowing skywards.

“Firefighters are extinguishing the blaze as there is a possibility that people are still inside the shopping centre,” Mr Filashkin told Ukrainian television.

“The occupier dropped the bomb at a time when Dobropillia was crowded with people. Many were out shopping. The occupier specifically targeted the shopping centre. All nearby shopping centres have been either destroyed or damaged,” he said.

Ukraine’s national emergency services put the number of injured at 27.

There are two candidates for the post of Ukraine’s ambassador to the US, Ukrainska Pravda is reporting.

Defence minister Rustem Umerov and justice minister Olha Stefanishyna are both being considered for the post, sources in Volodymyr Zelensky’s team said.

Earlier reports had suggested Mr Umerov was the frontrunner for the role.

“It looks like Umerov’s candidacy has not been firmly decided on yet. Stefanishyna may become ambassador to the US,” a high-ranking source told the outlet.

It is unclear what role Mr Umerov would take if Ms Stefanishyna takes the US role.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has carried out a political reshuffle this week, nominating as his new prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko, the driving force behind a minerals deal with the United States. Outgoing prime minister Denys Shmyhal has been put forward as the new defence minister.