ETV Bharat / international

Zelenskyy Warns Oil Price Surge Could Help Russia’s War Effort

Kyiv: A sharp rise in global oil prices following Israeli strikes on Iran will benefit Russia and bolster its military capabilities in the war in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday in comments that were under embargo until Saturday afternoon.

Speaking to journalists in Kyiv, Zelenskyy said the surge in oil prices threatens Ukraine’s position on the battlefield, especially because Western allies have not enforced effective price caps on Russian oil exports.

“The strikes led to a sharp increase in the price of oil, which is negative for us,” Zelenskyy said. “The Russians are getting stronger due to greater income from oil exports.” Global oil prices rose as much as 7% after Israel and Iran exchanged attacks over the past 48 hours, raising concerns that further escalation in the region could disrupt oil exports from the Middle East.

‘We will raise this issue’

Zelenskyy said he planned to raise the issue in an upcoming conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump. “In the near future, I will be in contact with the American side, I think with the president, and we will raise this issue,” he said. Zelenskyy also expressed concern that U.S. military aid could be diverted away from Ukraine toward Israel during renewed tensions in the Middle East.

“We would like aid to Ukraine not to decrease because of this,” he said. “Last time, this was a factor that slowed down aid to Ukraine.” Ukraine’s military needs have been sidelined by the United States in favor of supporting Israel, Zelenskyy said, citing a shipment of 20,000 interceptor missiles, designed to counter Iran-made Shahed drones, that had been intended for Ukraine but were redirected to Israel.

“And for us it was a blow,” he said. “When you face 300 to 400 drones a day, most are shot down or go off course, but some get through. We were counting on those missiles.” An air defense system, Barak-8, promised to Ukraine by Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu was sent to the U.S. for repairs but never delivered to Ukraine, Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian president conceded that momentum for the Coalition of the Willing, a group of 31 countries which have pledged to strengthen support for Ukraine against Russian aggression, has slowed because of U.S. ambivalence over providing a backstop.

“This situation has shown that Europe has not yet decided for itself that it will be with Ukraine completely if America is not there,” he said.

Coalition offer under consideration

The offer of a foreign troop “reassurance force” pledged by the Coalition of the Willing was still on the table “but they need a backstop, as they say, from America,” Zelenskyy said. “This means that suddenly, if something happens, America will be with them and with Ukraine.”

The Ukrainian president also said the presence of foreign contingents in Ukraine would act as a security guarantee and allow Kyiv to make territorial compromises, which is the first time he has articulated a link between the reassurance force and concessions Kyiv is willing to make in negotiations with Russia.

“It is simply that their presence gives us the opportunity to compromise, when we can say that today our state does not have the strength to take our territories within the borders of 1991,” he said.

But Europe and Ukraine are still waiting on strong signals from Trump.

Without crushing U.S. sanctions against Russia, “I will tell you frankly, it will be very difficult for us,” Zelenskyy said, adding that it would then fall on Europe to step up military aid to Ukraine.

Dubai: Israel launched an expanded assault on Iran on Sunday, with direct strikes targeting its energy industry and Defence Ministry headquarters, while Tehran unleashed a fresh barrage of missiles blamed for the deaths of four people.

The simultaneous strikes represented the latest salvo since a surprise attack by Israel two days earlier aimed at decimating Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. New explosions boomed across Tehran as Iranian missiles entered Israel’s skies in an attack that Israeli emergency officials said killed four people in an apartment building in the Galilee region.

Casualty figures weren’t immediately available in Iran, where Israel targeted its Defense Ministry headquarters in Tehran as well as sites that it alleged were associated with the country’s nuclear program. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed that Iranian missiles targeted fuel production facilities for Israeli fighter jets, something not acknowledged by Israel.

Amid the continued conflict, planned negotiations between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s nuclear program were cancelled, throwing into question when and how an end to the fighting could come. “Tehran is burning,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on social media.

Both Israel’s military and Iran state television announced the latest round of Iranian missiles as explosions were heard near midnight, while the Israeli security cabinet met.

Israel’s ongoing strikes across Iran have left the country’s surviving leadership with the difficult decision of whether to plunge deeper into conflict with Israel’s more powerful forces or seek a diplomatic route.

Urgent calls to deescalate

World leaders made urgent calls to deescalate and avoid all-out war. The attack on nuclear sites set a “dangerous precedent,” China’s foreign minister said. The region is already on edge as Israel makes a new push to eliminate the Iranian-backed militant group Hamas in Gaza after 20 months of fighting.

Israel — widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East — said its hundreds of strikes on Iran over the past two days have killed a number of top generals, nine senior scientists and experts involved in Iran’s nuclear program. Iran’s U.N. ambassador has said 78 people were killed and more than 320 wounded.

U.S. intelligence agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency have repeatedly said Iran was not pursuing a nuclear weapon before Israel unleashed its campaign of airstrikes targeting Iran beginning Friday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has made the destruction of Iran’s nuclear program his top priority, said Israel’s strikes so far are “nothing compared to what they will feel under the sway of our forces in the coming days.”

In what could be another escalation if confirmed, semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported an Israeli drone struck and caused a “strong explosion” at an Iranian natural-gas processing plant. It would be the first Israeli attack on Iran’s oil and natural gas industry. Israel’s military did not immediately comment.

The extent of damage at the South Pars natural gas field was not immediately clear. Such sites have air defense systems around them, which Israel has been targeting.

Iran calls nuclear talks ‘unjustifiable’

The sixth round of U.S.-Iran indirect talks on Sunday over Iran ’s nuclear program will not take place, mediator Oman said. “We remain committed to talks and hope the Iranians will come to the table soon,” said a senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomacy.

Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, and U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran was not actively pursuing the bomb. But its uranium enrichment has reached near weapons-grade levels, and on Thursday, the U.N.’s atomic watchdog censured Iran for not complying with obligations meant to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.

Iran’s top diplomat said Saturday the nuclear talks were “unjustifiable” after Israel’s strikes. Abbas Araghchi’s comments came during a call with Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat.

The Israeli airstrikes were the “result of the direct support by Washington,” Araghchi said in a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency. The U.S. has said it isn’t part of the strikes.

On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump urged Iran to reach a deal with the U.S. on its nuclear program, adding that “Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left.”

US helps to shoot down Iranian missiles

Iran launched its first waves of missiles at Israel late Friday and early Saturday. The attacks killed at least three people and wounded 174, two of them seriously, Israel said. The military said seven soldiers were lightly wounded when a missile hit central Israel, without specifying where.

U.S. ground-based air defense systems in the region were helping to shoot down Iranian missiles, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the measures. Israel’s main international airport said it will remain closed until further notice.

‘More than a few weeks’ to repair nuclear facilities

Israel attacked Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz. Satellite photos analyzed by AP show extensive damage there. The images shot Saturday by Planet Labs PBC show multiple buildings damaged or destroyed. The structures hit include buildings identified by experts as supplying power to the facility.

U.N. nuclear chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that the above-ground section of the Natanz facility was destroyed. The main centrifuge facility underground did not appear to have been hit, but the loss of power could have damaged infrastructure there, he said.

Israel said it also struck a nuclear research facility in Isfahan, including “infrastructure for enriched uranium conversion,” and said it destroyed dozens of radar installations and surface-to-air missile launchers in western Iran. Iran confirmed the strike at Isfahan.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said four “critical buildings” at the Isfahan site were damaged, including its uranium conversion facility. “As in Natanz, no increase in off-site radiation expected,” it added.

An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with official procedures, said that according to the army’s initial assessment “it will take much more than a few weeks” for Iran to repair the damage to the Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites. The official said the army had “concrete intelligence that production in Isfahan was for military purposes.”

Israel denied it had struck the nuclear enrichment facility in Fordo, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Tehran.

Among those killed were three of Iran’s top military leaders: one who oversaw the entire armed forces, Gen. Mohammad Bagheri; one who led the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami; and the head of the Guard’s aerospace division, which oversees its arsenal of ballistic missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh. On Saturday, Khamenei named a new leader for the Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace division: Gen. Majid Mousavi.

Both leaders did not rule out the possibility of negotiations around Iran’s nuclear program resuming.

President Donald Trump confirmed that he had a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin during which they discussed the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel.

“President Putin called this morning to very nicely wish me a Happy Birthday, but to, more importantly, talk about Iran, a country he knows very well,” Trump said in a post on the social media platform Truth Social. “We talked at length. Much less time was spent talking about Russia/Ukraine, but that will be for next week.”

Trump went on to say that his talk with Putin lasted about an hour, and they both felt that the war between Israel and Iran should end. He said that he added that Putin’s own war with Ukraine should also come to an end.

“He is doing the planned prisoner swaps—large numbers of prisoners are being exchanged, immediately, from both sides,” Trump said of Putin.

Israel launched a preemptive attack on multiple sites within Iran in the early hours of June 13, damaging key parts of Iran’s nuclear program and killing several members of the regime’s leadership, including the chief commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami.

“We have no choice,” IDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said on the night of the attack. “We are operating against an imminent and existential threat. We cannot allow the Iranian regime to obtain a nuclear weapon that would be a danger to Israel and the entire world.”

The strike triggered a retaliatory attack against Iran later that day, with both sides suggesting that the exchange of fire would continue for several days.

The Kremlin confirmed that a 50-minute conversation took place between Putin and Trump, and that Putin affirmed previous comments condemning Israel’s preemptive attack on Iran.

“Vladimir Putin condemned Israel’s military operation against Iran and expressed serious concern about a possible escalation of the conflict, which would have unpredictable consequences for the entire situation in the Middle East,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters, adding that Trump described the escalating situation as “very alarming.”

Ushakov also said that the two leaders did not rule out the return of negotiations concerning Iran’s nuclear program. The United States was set to begin the next round of talks with Iran in Oman on June 15, but that had been canceled.

“The Russian president recalled that prior to the current rise in tensions, our side had proposed concrete steps intended to find mutually-acceptable agreements during talks between U.S. and Iranian representatives about the Iranian nuclear programme,” Ushakov said.

“Russia’s principled approach and interest in a resolution is unchanged and, as Vladimir Putin noted, we will continue to act based on this.”

The Kremlin also confirmed that Trump reiterated his desire to achieve “the fastest possible end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.”

Ushakov also said that both Trump and Putin expressed satisfaction “at their personal relations, which have allowed for them to speak in a business-like manner to seek solutions to issues that are bilateral or on the international agenda, however complex those issues might be.”

According to a Russian state news agency, Putin told Trump that Russia would be ready to continue negotiations with Ukrainians after June 22.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump held a 50-minute phone call on Saturday, focusing primarily on the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. According to Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, Putin strongly condemned Israel’s military actions against Iran and warned of a possible regional escalation with unpredictable consequences.

Trump, posting on Truth Social, confirmed that the Middle East crisis dominated the conversation. He also pressed Putin to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, stating, “This war in Israel-Iran should end, to which I explained, his war should also end.”

Ushakov noted that both leaders expressed concern about rising tensions and agreed on the importance of diplomacy. They discussed the possibility of reviving nuclear negotiations with Iran, although a planned round of talks in Oman has been canceled. Putin reiterated Russia’s commitment to previously proposed steps aimed at de-escalating the situation and finding common ground on Iran’s nuclear program.

Despite their differing positions, Ushakov said Putin and Trump were satisfied with their ability to engage in “business-like” discussions on complex international matters. Trump hinted at possible follow-up discussions regarding the Ukraine conflict in the coming week. Meanwhile, Putin reportedly conveyed that Russia is open to resuming talks with Ukraine after June 22, according to RIA news agency.

The conversation also included a personal note, as Putin congratulated Trump on his 79th birthday.

This high-level dialogue comes amid mounting geopolitical tensions, with both leaders signaling cautious openness to diplomatic paths on Iran and Ukraine. As global instability grows, their exchange marks a rare moment of direct communication on two of the world’s most volatile flashpoints.

ETV Bharat / international

Russia’s Foreign Minister Assures Assistance To Iran In De-Escalation With Israel

Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday condemned Israeli strikes against Iran and expressed Moscow’s readiness to resolve Tehran’s nuclear issue and de-escalation with Israel. Lavrov’s comment came during a telephone call by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a readout.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Araghchi’s call was in continuation of President Vladimir Putin’s phone call on Friday night with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

“To continue the June 13 phone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, the Russian side has repeatedly stressed that Moscow condemns Israel’s operation against Iran, carried out in violation of the UN Charter and the norms of international law,” the ministry said.

“The readiness was confirmed to continue facilitating efforts on settling the situation around Iran’s nuclear programme as well as on de-escalating the conflict between Iran and Israel,” the foreign ministry added. On Friday night, President Putin had phone conversations with Pezeshkian and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Kremlin press office said.