Rescue was carried out under Zelenskyy’s ‘Bring Kids Back UA’ programme; Trump ‘stepping up pressure’ to end war. What we know on day 1,325
Twenty-three Ukrainian children and adolescents have been brought out of Russian-occupied areas of the country to territory under Kyiv’s control, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff said on Thursday. Andriy Yermak, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the rescue was carried out under the president’s “Bring Kids Back UA” programme aimed at bringing to safe areas children deported to Russia or confined to Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump said Thursday that Washington and Nato allies were “stepping up the pressure” to end the war in Ukraine, after his outreach to Russia’s Vladimir Putin failed to achieve a ceasefire. “Yeah, we are stepping up the pressure,” Trump said in an Oval Office during a meeting with Finnish President Alexander Stubb. “We’re stepping it up together. We’re all stepping it up. Nato has been great,” he added. Trump said his administration might impose more sanctions on Russia.
Russia accused Ukraine on Thursday of rupturing a now defunct pipeline used to transport Russian ammonia into Ukraine for export, releasing toxic gas into the air. The incident took place near the frontline village of Rusin Yar in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Russia said.
