内容摘要：Father Simon uses a mallet and plank to summon monks and visitors to afternoon prayers at the Simonopetra, or Simonos Petra Monastery, home of the all-male autonomous community of Agion Oros, or Holy Mountain, on the peninsula of Mount Athos in northern Greece, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Father Simon uses a mallet and plank to summon monks and visitors to afternoon prayers at the Simonopetra, or Simonos Petra Monastery, home of the all-male autonomous community of Agion Oros, or Holy Mountain, on the peninsula of Mount Athos in northern Greece, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Lower-level talks would amount to simply “dragging out” any peace process, Podolyak said.European leaders have recently accused Putin of dragging his feet in peace efforts, while he attempts to press his bigger army’s battlefield initiative and capture more Ukrainian land.

Russia effectively rejected an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, starting Monday, that was demanded by Ukraine and Western European leaders, when it fired more than 100 drones at Ukraine. Putin instead offered direct peace talks.But the wrangling over whether a ceasefire should come before the talks begin has continued.“Ukraine is ready for any format of negotiations with Russia, but a ceasefire must come first,” Andrii Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said Tuesday.

Negotiations are impossible while “the Ukrainian people are under attack by Russian missiles and drones around the clock,” Yermak said in a video address to the Copenhagen Democracy Summit 2025.Putin has repeatedly

of the Ukrainian government, especially Zelenskyy himself, saying his term expired last year. Under Ukraine’s constitution, it’s illegal for the country to hold a national election while it’s under martial law, as it now is.

Zelenskyy dismissed claims thatNow, Gaza is entering its third month without supplies. Thousands of trucks queue along the border of the territory, waiting to be let in. Community kitchens are closing down and bakeries are running out of fuel. Families spend hours waiting in line for small portions of rice.

In their desperation, Palestinians have begun scavenging warehouses and stores for anything left. Aid groups report a rise in looting incidents over the last week. At least some have beenMeanwhile, Israel is moving forward with plans to seize all of Gaza and to stay in the Palestinian territory for an unspecified amount of time. It says it will expand operations there, defying calls for an immediate renewal of a ceasefire from families whose relatives are still held hostage in Gaza.

Israel’s offensive has displaced more than 90% of Gaza’s population and, Palestinian health officials say, killed more than 52,000 people, many of them women and children. Palestinian officials do not distinguish between combatants and civilians in their count.AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — When Haitham Abu Daqa’s 5-month-old daughter developed a heart problem that could not be addressed near their home