Ukraine updates: Kyiv wants to 'align' with US over minerals

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged on Monday that the Ukrainian troops were present in Russia's Belgorod region, to protect Ukrainian towns near the border.

Belgorod city is located approximately 40 kilometers (25 mi) north of the Russia's border with Ukraine. 

"We continue active operations in the enemy's border areas and this is absolutely justified. The war must return to where
it came from. Our main objective remains the same: to protect our land and our communities in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions from Russian occupiers," said Zelenskyy in his nightly video address.

On Saturday, Russia's defence ministry said in a statement published on Telegram, that Ukraine had increased its attacks on Russian energy infrastructure. The strikes had caused damage in Russia's Bryansk, Belgorod, Smolensk, Lipetsk and Voronezh regions, as well as the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Kherson, parts of which are under Russia control.

Last month, Russia and Ukraine agreed to a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire on striking each other's energy infrastructure. Since then, both countries have repeatedly accused one another of violating the deal.

Pope Francis donated four ambulances to Ukraine to be used on the front lines of the war with Russia

"In this time of Easter rebirth, the pope wanted to make a gesture of closeness in one of the most painful places where the war has been raging for three years, the martyred Ukraine," the Vatican said.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Vatican City has donated food and medical supplies, generators, ultrasound machines, and a van for non-urgent medical situations to hospitals targeted by military strikes.

Despite his repeated pleas for an end of the war, the pope has been ineffective in securing a ceasefire However, the Vatican played a role in prisoner exchanges between Kyiv and Moscow.

The pontiff was recently released from a hospital in Rome following five weeks of treatment for pneumonia.

Despite Washington's waning support for Kyiv, some US volunteers fighting in Ukraine are not giving up. They're part of the 20,000 foreign soldiers who, according to Kyiv, have joined Ukraine's ranks, and hope their sacrifices haven't been "for nothing."

A team of Ukrainian negotiators will travel to the US this week, hoping to close a mineral deal that has been stalled for weeks.

The administration of President Donald Trump has demanded guarantees for a large US business presence in a post-war Ukraine as well as some mineral rights in the country in exchange for aid.

Originally due to be signed in February, President Zelenskyy walked out of a White House meeting without agreeing to the deal after a fiery exchange in front of cameras with Trump and Vice President JD Vance. 

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko wrote on X that the new Ukrainian team would "aim to align on project selection, legal frameworks, and long-term investment mechanisms," with US partners.

The Ukrainian delegation to Washington will include representatives of the economy, foreign, justice and finance ministries, she added.

One sticking point in the deal is aid provided to Ukraine by the US under former President Joe Biden. Zelenskyy has said he will not agree to view that aid as loans that must be repaid.

The exact details of the current draft of the deal have not been made public.

As Western leaders from Donald Trump to French President Emmanuel Macron accuse the Kremlin of dragging its feet on a peace deal, the spokesman for President Vladimir Putin said that a "whole range" of questions remain that have not been answered by the other parties.

"Putin does support the idea that a ceasefire is needed, but before that a whole range of questions have to be answered. These questions are hanging in the air, so far no one has given an answer to them," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. 

Putin has said that any peace agreement must address Russia's central questions over the future of Ukraine, and whether Moscow or the West will have more influence in Kyiv.

On Sunday, Trump told reporters "We're talking to Russia. We'd like them to stop. I don't like the bombing. The bombing goes on and on."

Russia unleashed a series of major aerial attacks over the weekend, including on Kyiv and on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown of Kryvyi Rih.

Some 18 people were killed in the attack on Kryvyi Rih, and Zelenskyy later called the muted response from allies in the US "surprisingly disappointing."

The president added that the number of airstrikes was dramatically increasing, and that the pressure on Moscow from the international community was "insufficient."

At the same time, Russia also claimed to have captured two villages in eastern Ukraine.