Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin U-turns on Zelensky peace talks with Trump pushing for deal ‘this week’
Russia has resumed its brutal aerial attack on Ukraine after claiming it ‘strictly observed’ Easter ceasefire
Russian president Vladimir Putin has for the first time proposed direct peace talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.
Mr Putin has previously claimed he would only negotiate peace with Ukraine if the country held elections to form a new government, having repeatedly made false claims that Mr Zelensky is an illegitimate leader despite his election in 2019.
The Russian autocrat has suggested face-to-face talks for the first time since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, with Donald Trump’s efforts to broker a quick ceasefire deal have failed to bear fruit.
Mr Trump said Russia and Ukraine can do “big business” with Washington if they reach a deal. "Hopefully Russia and Ukraine will make a deal this week," the US president wrote on Truth Social over the weekend.
It comes as representatives from Ukraine, the UK, France and the US were set to meet in London on Wednesday to continue talks on a potential ceasefire.
While Mr Zelensky did not directly respond to Mr Putin’s proposal, he emphasised in his nightly video address that Ukraine "was ready for any conversation" that would stop strikes on civilians.
“Actions always speak louder than words,” he posted on X.
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Trump wanted nothing to do with Ukraine in first administration - former adviser
Donald Trump wanted nothing to do with Ukraine during his first stint as US president from 2017 until 2021, his former adviser has said.
“Right from the very beginning, president Trump wanted nothing to do with Ukraine,” Fiona Hill, who advised on European and Russian Affairs during Mr Trump’s first stint, said.
“In his first phone call with [former German chancellor] Angela Merkel, she most famously asked him, ‘Donald, what are you going to do about Ukraine?’” Ms Hill said.
“[Trump] said, ‘No, Angela, it’s got nothing to do with me, what are you going to do about Ukraine?’
“And he’s been very consistent with his idea of trying to distance himself from the war in Ukraine, and frankly equally consistent in his desire to reset the Russian relationship with the US.”
Trump ‘determined’ to have ‘close friendship’ with Putin, says former advisor
Donald Trump is determined to form a “close friendship” with Russian president Vladimir Putin, the US president’s former foreign policy advisor has said.
“I wouldn’t say that they’re friends but president Trump is determined to turn that relationship into a close friendship with Putin,” said Fiona Hill, who in Mr Trump’s first stint served as an advisor on European and Russian Affairs within the National Security Council.
“That has highly personalised the presidency in a way that previous presidents haven’t managed to do,” Ms Hill said, speaking to an online conference held by the Brookings Institution think tank.
“He is unbridled now in his ability to put these things into action. The first time round, he had a lot of obstacles, there was a sense that somehow the Russians had got him elected into the White House which actually wasn’t the case.
“But there was a prevailing sense, there was backlash from Congress about any kind of effort to have a rapprochement with Russia because of [alleged] Russian interference with the elections,” she added.
Spain will meet Nato spending targets to help ‘defend Europe’ - Spanish PM
Spain will meet Nato’s spending target of 2 per cent GDP on defence this year, prime minister Pedro Sanchez said on Tuesday.
This comes far earlier than its self-imposed deadline of 2029, for a country which spent just 1.3 per cent on defence in 2024 - the lowest among Nato members.
Other European countries are under pressure from the Trump administration to lift military spending to as high as 5 per cent, with Washington reluctant to continue funding Kyiv in the war in Ukraine.
Mr Sanchez said he would meet the goal through additional spending of 10.47 billion euros (£8.98 billion), with a focus on increasing the size of its military, telecommunications, cybersecurity and procurement of military equipment.
"This plan will help us meet (the target) in record time," Mr Sanchez said. "Spain will contribute to defending Europe."
Putin claims Russia has 'positive attitude' towards peace talks
Vladimir Putin, speaking to a Russian state TV reporter, said Moscow was open to any peace initiatives and raised the prospect of direct talks with Kyiv for the first time in years.
There have been no direct talks between the two sides since the early weeks after Mr Putin ordered his forces to invade their European neighbour in February 2022.
"We have always talked about this, that we have a positive attitude towards any peace initiatives. We hope that representatives of the Kyiv regime will feel the same way," Mr Putin told state TV reporter Pavel Zarubin.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, quoted later by Interfax news agency, told reporters: "When the president said that it was possible to discuss the issue of not striking civilian targets, including bilaterally, the president had in mind negotiations and discussions with the Ukrainian side."
Russian journalist critical of army on the run after escaping house arrest
A Russian journalist facing up to a decade in prison for criticising the army has escaped house arrest and is wanted by police, Russian state media has reported.
Ekaterina Barabash, 63, was arrested in February on suspicion of spreading false information about the Russian military on social media.
Authorities were alerted to her disappearance on 13 April by an electronic monitoring system, AFP cited Tass state news agency as saying.
“The accused has been declared wanted,” the Moscow branch of Russia’s federal penitentiary service said according to Tass.
Barabash had been critical of the army while writing for multiple news outlets, and on Facebook accused them of having “razed whole cities to the ground”.
Criticising the army and its operations in Ukraine was made illegal shortly after Moscow’s invasion began, and authorities have launched thousands of cases against those it deemed critical.
Georgian-Russian sculptor Zurab Tsereteli, known for his gigantic and controversial work, dies at 92
Zurab Tsereteli, a prominent Georgian-Russian sculptor known for colossal, often controversial, monuments, died early on Tuesday at 92.
His assistant Sergei Shagulashvili told Russia’s state news agency Tass that Tsereteli suffered cardiac arrest.
Tsereteli was born on January 4, 1934, in Georgia, which was part of the Soviet Union at the time, in the capital Tbilisi.
In the 1970s, Tsereteli became an art director with the Soviet Foreign Ministry, traveling the world and decorating Soviet embassies. In between, he worked on Mikhail Gorbachev’s summer house in Abkhazia.
Read the full report:
Georgian-Russian sculptor Zurab Tsereteli, known for his gigantic and controversial work, dies at 92
In pictures: Heavy damage to Zaporizhzhia apartment building after Russian strike
Ukraine’s Catholics express hurt over late pope’s war stance
Worshippers coming out of a Catholic church service in the Ukrainian city of Lviv yesterday expressed sorrow at the death of Pope Francis, but also lingering hurt that the Roman Catholic pontiff had not taken Ukraine's side in its war with Russia.
The pontiff was quoted as saying in a 2024 interview with a Swiss broadcaster that Ukraine should have "the courage of the white flag", and sue for peace to end the conflict with Russia.
Those comments differed sharply from the view held by Ukraine's government, and its Western allies, that they have a moral imperative to defeat an unjust and unprovoked invasion by Russia.
"There were certain subjective judgments from his side, unfortunately," said Andriy Ben, a former fighter in the Ukrainian military, referring to Pope Francis.
"I am not going to comment on this," he said outside the church in Lviv. "I hope that the next pope will be wiser, more enlightened, and better."
Another worshipper coming out of the church, 57-year-old Oleh Yakymiak, said the late pontiff did much in his life that was good.
"We understand that the good things he did are so much bigger than the painful thing he did to us," said Mr Yakymiak.
Full report: Russian drones batter Ukraine's Odesa as peace talks come to a crux
Russian drones battered the Ukrainian port city of Odesa in a nighttime attack, local authorities said Tuesday, less than 24 hours after a purported Easter ceasefire unilaterally declared by Moscow ended and just over a day before Ukrainian, British, French and U.S. officials are due to meet in London to discuss the war.
Anticipation is building over whether diplomatic efforts can stop more than three years of fighting since Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor.
Trump said last week negotiations were “coming to a head” and insisted that neither side is “playing” him in his push to end the grinding war.
Read the full report:
Russian drones batter Ukraine's Odesa as peace talks come to a crux
Starmer praises 'resilience' of Ukrainians
Sir Keir Starmer praised the “resilience” of Ukrainians as he addressed personnel taking part in Operation Interflex.
Addressing Ukrainians taking part in the programme to train troops, the Prime Minister thanked them for attending and said it is “incredible to see the resilience and inspiration that you have” as they head to the Russian front line.
Sir Keir thanked them for taking part in the training, and added: “I don’t think it could come at a more important point.
“I think it’s incredible that all of the predictions at the beginning of this conflict were that the aggressor Russia would succeed very quickly, and they didn’t.
“Because of the resilience of the Ukrainians, because as you fought back and forth for your country and fought for all of us in fighting for your country.”
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