Mark Rutte

Ukraine's stepped-up strikes deep inside Russia enable Kyiv to negotiate the end of the war on an equal footing, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, just after one of the barrages struck an oil terminal and naval base hundreds of kilometers away. For months, Kyiv's troops have been conducting attacks on Russian fossil fuel industry sites, at times daily, aiming to cut Moscow's main funding source for the war and pressure the Kremlin for talks."Thank God that today we have security guarantees that allow us to end this war on equal footing with the Russians in any format of diplomacy," Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv, speaking alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

Mark Rutte pointed to Russian casualties and mounting economic pressures, which he said were putting Moscow under strain.