Ukraine-Russia war latest: Germany suggests Kyiv will have to cede territory to achieve peace and EU membership
Ukraine might have to lose territory in order to achieve a peace deal with Russia and – eventually – membership of the EU, German chancellor Friedrich Merz has suggested.
“Hopefully, there will eventually be a peace treaty with Russia. Then, possibly, part of Ukraine’s territory will no longer be Ukrainian,” he said, speaking during a discussion with students in Germany’s Marsberg.
He said Zelensky would need to convince Ukrainians to back such a step at a referendum, telling them: “But I have opened the way to Europe for you.”
Earlier, Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said Israel's ambassador had been summoned over what he described as Israeli inaction in allowing shipments of grain to enter the country from Russian-occupied Ukraine.
Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar told Sybiha that Ukraine had provided no evidence to support allegations that the grain was "stolen" and accused him of conducting diplomacy through the media.
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Germany says Kyiv could cede territory to achieve peace
German chancellor Friedrich Merz has said Ukraine might have to lose territory in order to reach a peace deal with Russia, which could in turn bring it closer to EU membership.
“Hopefully, there will eventually be a peace treaty with Russia. Then, possibly, part of Ukraine’s territory will no longer be Ukrainian,” he said, speaking during a discussion with students in Germany’s Marsberg.
He added that Zelensky would need a referendum for such a step, something the Ukrainian leader has previously noted himself.
To pass such a vote, Zelensky will have to tell the Ukrainians: “But I have opened the way to Europe for you,” Merz said.
Merz said that the European Union should offer Kyiv a clear and credible roadmap to the EU amid its accession efforts.
"Ukraine must have a European perspective. We must not lose Ukraine to Russia, but rather tell the people of Ukraine that they have a future in Europe," he said.
Ukraine evacuates 77-year-old woman from frontline town 'under constant fire' with ground drone
An elderly woman trapped on the frontlines of Ukraine was rescued by a drone on a heroic recovery mission, according to soldiers.
Video shared by the Third Army Corps on Telegram shows an unmanned ground drone arriving to pick the pensioner up on a road under fire in Lyman, eastern Ukraine.
“With no hope of survival, she walked through shell craters and the bodies of fellow villagers — until a robot arrived for her,” the corps said.
They said the robot was covered in a blanket so as to not scare her, and had attached a note that read: “Grandma, sit down!”
The 60th Motorized Rifle Brigade led the four-hour operation to rescue four civilians in the area, they said.
Arpan Rai28 April 2026 08:45Watch: Iranian foreign minister visits Russia for Putin talks
Russia targets Odesa in major attack wounding 14
An overnight Russian drone attack in the early hours of Monday on Ukraine's southern city of Odesa wounded more than a dozen people, including two children, and damaged residential buildings, Ukrainian officials said.
The strikes caused the worst damage in the historic central Prymorskyi district, where residential buildings, a hotel and facilities were damaged, said Serhiy Lysak, the head of the local military administration, on Telegram.
Most of the injured people were located there, Lysak said.
The regional governor, Oleh Kiper, said the number of injured rose to 14.
Odesa, a major Black Sea port and a focal point for Ukrainian exports, has been a repeated target of Russian attacks during more than four years of Russia's war.
"It was an extremely difficult night," Lysak said, adding that high-rise residential buildings, private homes and vehicles came under attack in two other districts.
He posted photographs of a damaged building with shattered windows.
Ukraine's seaports authority said that port infrastructure of the Greater Odesa hub came under attack, and a "Ramco" Nauru-flagged vessel sustained minor damage as it moved through a Ukrainian maritime corridor.
Russia claims its forces took control of two more settlements in Ukraine
The Russian defence ministry said its forces have taken control of the villages of Illichivka and Taratutyne in eastern Ukraine, the state-run RIA news agency reported.
Over the weekend, Russian milbloggers claimed that Russian forces are conducting offensive operations in the Taratutyne direction (southeast of Sumy City) and in other areas of Sumy oblast.
A Russian milblogger claimed that Russian forces advanced into Taratutyne.
A Kremlin-affiliated Russian milblogger claimed that Russian forces have launched a new offensive southeast of Sumy City toward Novodmytrivka and Taratutyne after an almost two-month pause, since February this year, said the Institute for the Study of War.
Ukraine has not commented on Russia's claims immediately.
Evacuation under way in Russia's Tuapse refinery after drone attack
An evacuation was under way after a Ukrainian drone attack sparked a major fire at Russia's Tuapse oil refinery on the Black Sea, regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev said this morning.
Just hours earlier, authorities said Ukrainian drones attacked Russia's Tuapse oil refinery, which has an annual production capacity of about 12 million metric tons, or 240,000 barrels per day, turning out naphtha, diesel, fuel oil and vacuum gasoil.
It was the latest of repeated drone attacks in the past few weeks on the Rosneft-owned refinery and the port of Tuapse that led to an oil spill at sea and a blaze that took several days to put out.
The refinery, which delivers oil products mainly for exports, had stopped operations from 16 April after a drone attack, industry sources have said.
Ukraine has ramped up its strikes on Russia since March as the US-brokered peace talks have been paused with Washington mainly focusing on the war in Iran.
Three killed in Ukrainian drone attacks in Russia's Belgorod
Ukrainian drone attacks on civilian cars killed three people and wounded three others in different districts of Russia's Belgorod region, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
Arpan Rai28 April 2026 07:44Putin praises Iranian people for resistance to US in talks with Araghchi
Russian president Vladimir Putin praised the Iranian people for battling to stay independent in the face of US and Israeli pressure and said Moscow would do all it could to help Tehran.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi visited russia on Monday following a trip to Muscat, Oman and Islamabad, Pakistan over the weekend.
Moscow has offered to mediate and store Iran’s enriched uranium as a way of defusing tensions, a proposal that has been spurned by the United States.
“We see how courageously and heroically the Iranian people are fighting for their independence and sovereignty," Putin told Araghchi.
“For our part, we will do everything that serves your interests and the interests of all the peoples of the region to ensure that peace is achieved as quickly as possible.”
Sanctioned Russian billionaire's superyacht crosses blockaded Strait of Hormuz
A superyacht linked to sanctioned Russian billionaire Alexey Mordashov sailed through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, shipping data showed, one of very few vessels to transit the blockaded shipping lane at the heart of the US-Iran conflict.
Mordashov was among a number of Russians sanctioned by the United States and European Union after Russia's invasion of Ukraine for their links to Putin.
Nord – a 142-metre (465-foot) yacht worth over $500m – left a Dubai marina at around 1400GMT on Friday, crossed the strait on Saturday morning, and arrived in Muscat early on Sunday, according to data on the MarineTraffic platform.
It is not clear how the multi-deck pleasure vessel gained permission to use the route. Since February, Iran has severely restricted traffic through the strait, which typically handles around one-fifth of the world's oil supply.
Just a few, mainly merchant vessels, have been passing daily through the crucial waterway at the entrance to the Gulf as Washington and Tehran maintain an uneasy ceasefire. This represents a fraction of the average 125 to 140 daily passages before the Iran war began on 28 February.
Arpan Rai28 April 2026 07:15Watch: Zelensky blames Iran was for stalled weapon supply as Russia continues to attack Ukraine
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