JERUSALEM (AP) — Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for the International Board of Peace overseeing the Israel-Hamas ceasefire on Wednesday reiterated longstanding demands that Hamas and other militant groups, calling them “not negotiable.”
Seven months ago, the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreed to by Israel and Hamas included disarmament as a key provision but little progress has been made. Negotiations have centered around details, some of which Mladenov referenced on Wednesdaay, about gun buybacks and small arms for law enforcement.
But Mladenov also said Hamas could have a role in post-war Gaza if they disarmed. “We are not asking Hamas to disappear as a political movement,” he said.
He criticized the group for consolidating power in parts of Gaza and said they were doing it “to squeeze better terms of a negotiation.”
The remarks conflict with some of Israel’s aims to destroy the militant group that has governed Gaza for two decades.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Nickolay Mladenov, the top diplomat overseeing the U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal in Gaza, was in Jerusalem on Wednesday seeking to advance the ceasefire deal that Israel and Hamas agreed to more than seven months ago.
His appearance comes as efforts to advance the phased ceasefire have stalled, without much progress on its key tenets, including demilitarization and reconstruction. The truce envisioned Hamas handing over its weapons, Israeli forces withdrawing and rebuilding destroyed swaths of the coastal enclave after more than two years of war.
Instead, the seven months since the ceasefire have seen Israel and Hamas trade accusations of violations. Aid groups say Israel has not allowed the promised amount of aid in. Hamas has not disarmed and remains in control of roughly half the strip.
Israel has stepped up its attacks in Gaza in recent days, since the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, and many Palestinians fear a return of more airstrikes and full-scale war may be imminent.
Mladenov is a longtime U.N. diplomat and consultant who has also been a government minister in his home country, Bulgaria. Last year he was named high representative for Gaza for the President Donald Trump-led International Board of Peace designed to oversee post-war plans for the strip.
The Israel-Hamas war began when Hamas-led militants stormed Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 as hostages. Israel’s ensuing offensive has killed over 72,724 Palestinians, including at least 846 since a ceasefire took hold last October.
That’s according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half the deaths were women and children. The figures by the ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.
A Palestinian man carries water containers in Gaza City, Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
FILE - United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov, attends a press conference at the (UNSCO) offices in Gaza City, Monday, Sept. 25, 2017. (AP Photo/Adel Hana, File)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — More than 100 Russian drones targeted areas of Ukraine on Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, hours after another barrage of civilian areas killed at least eight people.
“Russia continues its strikes and is doing so brazenly — deliberately targeting our railway infrastructure and civilian sites in our cities,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
Moscow’s attacks on its neighbor are unrelenting, even as Ukraine is emboldened by its recent military accomplishments and as U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin said — without providing evidence — that the 4-year-old war could be approaching an end.
The overnight strikes targeted Ukraine's residential and railway infrastructure in the central Dnipro and northeastern Kharkiv regions, port infrastructure in the southern Odesa region, and energy facilities in the central Poltava region, according to Zelenskyy. On Tuesday, he said, 14 regions came under attack throughout the day.
“It is important to support Ukraine and not remain silent about Russia’s war. Every time the war disappears from the top of the news, it encourages Russia to become even more savage,” Zelenskyy said, in an apparent reference to the world's attention being gripped by the Iran war.
Trump said Tuesday said he believes Moscow and Kyiv will soon reach a deal to end fighting.
“The end of the war in Ukraine I really think is getting very close,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a summit in Beijing. “Believe it or not, it’s getting closer.”
Putin said in a speech last weekend that his invasion of Ukraine is possibly “coming to an end.”
Neither leader elaborated on what persuaded them about the possibility of peace in Europe’s longest conflict since World War II. U.S.-led diplomatic efforts over the past year to end the war have fizzled after making no progress on key issues, such as whether Russia gets to keep Ukrainian land it has seized and what can be done to deter Moscow from invading again.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov indicated Wednesday that Moscow’s fundamental terms are unchanged, with Putin insisting that Ukraine pull its troops from the four regions — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — that Russia illegally annexed in September 2022 but hasn't fully captured.
“At that point, a ceasefire will be established, and the parties can calmly engage in negotiations, which, incidentally, will inevitably be very complex and involve a lot of important details,” Peskov said.
Zelenskyy vowed to keep pressure on Moscow to make concessions in talks.
“We’re not giving up on diplomatic efforts, and we hope that pressure on Russia, together with negotiations in different formats, will help bring peace,” he said in a speech Wednesday in Bucharest, Romania, to representatives of countries on NATO's eastern flank.
“Sanctions are working, our long-range (drone and missile) capabilities are working, and every form of pressure is working,” he said.
Meanwhile, European governments are assessing the merits of opening talks with Putin. Europe has for years tried to isolate the Russian leader and punished his country with international sanctions.
The correlation of forces in the war has shifted in recent months. Ukraine has gone from pleading for international help with its defense to offering foreign countries its expertise on how to counter attacks, thanks to its domestically developed drone technology.
Ukraine’s long-range drone and missile attacks have disrupted energy facilities and manufacturing deep inside Russia, with three regions reporting strikes Wednesday. The Russian Defense Ministry said that its forces intercepted and destroyed 286 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions, the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula, the Azov Sea and the Black Sea.
On the 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) front line, the advance of Russia’s bigger and better-equipped army has been slowing every month since October, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
Russia’s spring offensive has floundered, with Russian forces recording a net loss of territory last month for the first time since 2024, the Washington-based think tank said.
“Not only are Ukrainian defensive lines holding, but Ukrainian forces have managed to contest the tactical initiative in several areas of the front line even as Russia continues to lose disproportionate amounts of manpower to achieve minimal gains,” the ISW said Tuesday.
Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives at the Bucharest B9 summit held at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the awarding ceremony for the Order "For Valiant Labor" to employees of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology, part of the Roscosmos state space corporation, in Moscow, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives at the Bucharest B9 summit held at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian drone attack on a gas pipeline in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian drone attack on a gas pipeline in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
