Ukraine, allies must resist Russian ‘deception’

President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday that Ukraine and its allies must work together to pressure Russia into ending its invasion, ahead of talks in Berlin with European leaders and US leader Donald Trump.

"Pressure must be exerted on Russia for the sake of a fair peace. We must learn from the experience of Ukraine and our partners to prevent deception on the part of Russia," Zelensky wrote on social media. "There are currently no signs that the Russians are preparing to end the war," he added.

Zelensky reached in Berlin yesterday for talks with European leaders and Trump ahead of the US president's summit with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

The Ukrainian leader said he and his team had held more than 30 conversations with world leaders and high-ranking officials ahead of the talks. The flurry of diplomatic engagements have been overshadowed by rapid, but so far limited Russian push in the eastern Donetsk region, which the Kremlin claims is part of Russia.

Meanwhile, Russia branded as "insignificant" European diplomatic consultations with Ukraine yesterday ahead of a planned summit between Trump and Putin in Alaska.

The Russian army made its biggest 24-hour advance into Ukraine in over a year on Tuesday just ahead of the Trump-Putin summit, according to an AFP analysis of data from the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).