Live blog: Zelenskyy rules out peace talks with Russia

Saturday, November 4, 2023

1518 GMT — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ruled out starting peace talks with Russia.

"There is no and there will be no such thing," Zelenskyy said at a news conference in the capital Kiev following a meeting with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Zelenskyy denied reports that Western countries are pressuring him to start negotiations with Russia.

"No one is pushing me today. All this was at the beginning of the war and before the war," which started in February 2022, he said.

He also denied that Ukraine's war with Russia had reached a "stalemate". "Time has passed, people are tired... But this is not a stalemate," Zelenskyy said.

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1132 GMT — Ukraine files charges against Russian Orthodox chief

Ukraine has filed criminal charges against Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, in absentia for "justifying" Russia's attack.

Moscow's most influential spiritual leader, a fervent supporter of President Vladimir Putin, has called the war a historic battle against the "forces of evil".

0705 GMT — EU's von der Leyen visits Kiev ahead of EU membership report

Von der Leyen has arrived in Kiev ahead of a report the European Union is expected to present next week about Ukraine's progress in its membership bid, a Ukrainian lawmaker said.

The EU assessment due on Wednesday is expected to detail how far Ukraine has advanced in fulfilling various economic, legal, and other criteria to clear the way for accession talks to be launched in December.

Ukraine, which applied to join the European Union days after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, sees joining the trade bloc as a top priority.

The EU's 27 members are due at a summit in December to decide whether to allow Kiev to begin accession negotiations, a move requiring the unanimous backing of all the bloc's members.

0123 GMT — Russian forces want to capture big coking plant in key town - Mayor

Russian forces, focused for weeks on seizing the key eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, are now intent on capturing its vast coking plant, the town's mayor has said.

Ukrainian military officials said a heavy overnight set of drone strikes on widely separated regions showed new attacks on infrastructure were to be expected as winter approaches.

Russi and forces captured the devastated town of Bakhmut in May after months of battles and, since mid-October, have focused their assaults on Avdiivka, a potential gateway to Donetsk, held by Russian forces and their allies since 2014.

Mayor Vitaliy Barabash, speaking on national television, said audio transmission intercepts had revealed that Moscow was now seeking to secure the town's giant coking plant.

For our live updates from Friday (November 3), click here.