Ukraine war briefing: I will sit down with US, Europe and Putin, says Zelenskyy

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has said he would agree to direct talks with Vladimir Putin to end the war. “If that is the only set-up in which we can bring peace to the citizens of Ukraine and not lose people, definitely we will go for this set-up,” adding that he would also require other “participants” to be present. “If people believe we must move to the diplomatic track, and I believe we are ready to move to the diplomatic track, there must be the US, Europe, Ukraine and Russia [at the talks],” Zelenskyy said in an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan.
In the Morgan interview, Zelenskyy put Ukraine’s war dead at 45,100 people and injured at 390,000. He estimated Russian losses at 350,000 dead and between 600,000 and 700,000 injured, with “many” Russian forces missing in action.
A Russian strike killed five civilians including a pregnant teenager and wounded 55 on Tuesday in the town of Izium in Ukraine’s north-eastern Kharkiv region, partially destroying the city council building, officials said. A ballistic missile hit the building in the town’s central district, said the governor, Oleh Syniehubov. Three children were among the injured, who also included many local government and social services workers, he said.