What you need to know
‘Spike’ in foreign volunteers for Ukrainian army
After the infamous Oval Office meeting between President Trump and President Zelensky, thousands of foreign volunteers have applied to join the Ukrainian army, according to a new report.
The Kyiv Independent spoke to several US army veterans who were part of the “massive spike” in volunteers who signed up to fight for Ukraine after the two leaders clashed on February 28.
Citing a senior military source, the news site reported that many of the new volunteers had expressed “outrage and shock over what has been happening with the shift in American policy”.
The US briefly paused military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine. The security assistance was restored after the US and Ukraine signed a ceasefire proposal earlier this week in Saudi Arabia.
Britain’s role in peace plans praised
Emily Thornberry, the Labour MP, praised the UK’s role in mending a rift between the US and Ukraine, saying the diplomatic efforts had helped to forge a ceasefire proposal and called President Putin’s bluff.
“I’m so impressed with the role that Britain has played,” the chair of the foreign affairs select committee told Times Radio.
“It’s not ended yet, it’s a long road, but at least bringing Ukraine back; getting the arms back from the United States; the intelligence back from the United States and then putting the ball in Putin’s court has been a very important step,” she said.
She added that Jonathan Powell, the UK national security adviser, had helped to “craft” the 30-day ceasefire deal that was signed by US and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia this week.
Potential breakthrough in ceasefire talks
President Trump alluded to a breakthrough in the ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine during his speech at the Department of Justice.
“Just before I came here I got some pretty good news,” Trump said, without providing further details.
Steve Witkoff, his special envoy, has been in Moscow discussing the 30-day ceasefire proposal with Russian officials.
The president again claimed Ukrainian troops are “surrounded” and in “grave danger”, in an apparent reference to the situation in Kursk where Russian forces have been making advances.
Trump said he asked Putin “not to kill those soldiers”.
11 injured in Russian strike
Eleven people were injured in Russian missile attack on Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, according to the regional governor.
Six of those were being treated in hospital for “moderate” injuries, said Serhiy Lysak, adding that the number of injuries was likely to rise.
Russian ballistic missiles targeted a residential area, causing extensive damage to four apartment buildings, several homes, businesses and communication networks, Lysak added.
Still long way to go on ceasefire talks, says Trump
President Trump has said that ceasefire talks were progressing, but cautioned “there’s still a long way to go”.
“We’ve had some very good talks about it, we’ve had some very good responses,” Trump said in a speech at the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington DC.
He again appeared to blame Ukraine for starting the war, saying: “You don’t want to pick on someone that’s a lot larger than you.”
Trump added that he had warned President Putin not to invade Ukraine prior to Russia’s 2022 invasion.
Trump to speak at Department of Justice
President Trump has arrived at the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington DC where he is expected to set out his law and order agenda.
In a preview of his remarks, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said his remarks would be aimed at restoring a justice department that is “truly focused on fighting crime and restoring law and order in American communities”.
Not easy ‘to mend Russia-US relationship’
Speaking to his security council via video link today, President Putin recognised that America was taking steps to mend its “ruined” relationship with Russia.
“I had a telephone conversation with President Trump [last month], there was contact between our foreign minister and his American colleague, and my presidential adviser [Yury] Ukshakov met face-to-face with his counterpart,” he said. “So overall the situation is beginning to move. We’ll see what comes of it.”
Putin told the council that work was afoot to revive relations with the US. “We know that the new administration led by President Trump is doing everything possible for restoring at least something of what the previous American administration has reduced to zero and ruined,” he said. “This is not an easy process, if not outright difficult.”
Meanwhile, Ukshakov, Putin’s longstanding foreign policy adviser, told reporters that dialogue had been established between Moscow and Washington and “takes place regularly via a whole number of channels”.
Missile strike on Zelensky’s hometown
Russia has launched a missile attack on President Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih, according to the regional governor.
Two Iskander ballistic missiles hit a restaurant in the city centre, causing several injuries.
In a message on Telegram, Serhiy Lysak, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, urged residents to remain indoors as they assessed the damage.
“The enemy has once again launched a sneaky rocket strike into the centre of a residential area,” Lysak wrote. “Another proof that the Russians are fighting the civilian population.”
A Russian missile attack on Kryvyi Rih on Wednesday killed one person and injured 16 others.
Putin’s response to ceasefire plans ‘a delaying tactic’
Germany has criticised President Putin’s response to the US-proposed ceasefire as “at best a delaying tactic”.
Speaking after a meeting with her G7 counterparts in Canada, Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s foreign minister, said that “Putin is holding the door to negotiations open a crack, but has up until now never been willing to walk through it”.
Kathrin Deschauer, foreign ministry spokeswoman, said: “One must seriously question whether there is a genuine interest in working toward a lasting ceasefire and a resolution.”
The US has called for Russia to agree a ceasefire without any conditions, but Putin raised a number of objections and said any truce had to address “the root causes of the crisis”.
Trapped troops at risk of prosecution
President Putin’s promise to treat Ukrainian troops in Kursk region with dignity if they surrender does not appear to exclude them being prosecuted for terrorism and being given long sentences in prisons where torture and maltreatment are common.
The Russian leader said on a visit to Kursk region on Wednesday that captured Ukrainian “fighters” there should be “treated as terrorists, in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation”.
Putin and Russian authorities consistently use the word boyeviki (fighters, or warriors) to describe Ukrainian military personnel, rather than calling them soldiers. Boyevik has a strong association with terrorism because it is the word used for Islamist militants who have fought the Russian army and police in the north Caucasus, and also mounted suicide bombings in Moscow and St Petersburg.
It was also unclear what would happen if Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk surrendered individually. Putin said that “for the effective realisation of the US president’s appeal” to spare them, Ukrainian authorities would need to order their military detachments to hand over their weapons and surrender.
Macron: Russian atrocities must stop
President Macron has called on Russia to accept a proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine and stop making statements aimed at “delaying” the process.
In a post on X, he said: “Russia must now accept the US-Ukrainian proposal for a 30-day ceasefire. The Russian aggression in Ukraine must end. The atrocities must stop. So must the delaying statements.”
The French leader also called on Moscow to stop its “acts of violence” , saying he had discussed the ceasefire proposal with Sir Keir Starmer and President Zelensky today.
Ukraine ‘ready to sign minerals deal’
Ukraine’s deputy prime minister said the US was still deciding on the terms required to sign a minerals deal with Kyiv.
“The agreement is ready,” said Olha Stefanishyna. “There are no changes in the text. The American side has not decided yet on the terms on which they want to sign it. Ukraine is ready to sign.”
Let’s see what happens, Putin says
President Putin has praised Washington’s attempt to “restore” relations with Russia while addressing members of his security council.
In the televised remarks, the Russian leader suggested progress had been made on agreeing a ceasefire deal after direct talks with the US envoy Steve Witkoff last night, but added: “Let’s see what happens.”
Putin’s talk of peace is an ‘illusion’
The chairman of Ukraine’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee said optimism about a US-proposed ceasefire is “an illusion”.
Speaking to Times Radio, Oleksandr Merezhko said: “Let’s look at what we have right now. Ukraine has agreed to Mr Trump’s proposal regarding a ceasefire. It was not easy for us, we did it without any conditions whatsoever.
“And let’s look at Putin. It was quite predictable. He wants to look at it as if he agrees, but in reality, he added these absolutely absurd demands, aimed to destroy Ukraine or to create conditions for Ukraine’s destruction.”
“It’s an illusion,” he added when asked about hopes Putin would agree to a truce.
He urged President Trump to be a “decisive politician” and “not a weak politician” when dealing with the Russian leader.
Putin: Ukrainian troops spared if they surrender
President Putin has reacted to President Trump’s call to spare Ukrainian lives in Russia’s Kursk region, saying Kyiv’s troops will be spared if they “lay down their arms”.
“We are sympathetic to President Trump’s call,” Putin said in televised remarks. “If they lay down their arms and surrender, they will be guaranteed life and dignified treatment.”
What do Americans think about Trump’s peace approach?
New polling shows the majority of Americans disapprove of how President Trump is handling Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Nearly 60 per cent of Americans think it is not too likely or not at all likely that Trump’s approach will bring long-term peace between the two sides, a CNN poll published today shows.
Meanwhile, 50 per cent say his approach to the war is having a negative impact on the US. Of those surveyed, 59 per cent disapprove of how he has handled America’s relationship with Russia.
‘Peace deal rests on actions — not words’
Marco Rubio, US secretary of state, has questioned whether President Putin is using a “delay tactic” in his negotiations with the US on a Ukrainian ceasefire.
Asked by reporters how long Putin has to agree on a truce, Rubio said: “The question isn’t how long, but are we actually moving towards a ceasefire, or is this a delay tactic?”
“Foreign policy is not about trusting, it’s about actions,” he added. “In the end, on something like this, you can’t just say you want peace, you have to do peace, and that’s true for both sides in any conflict.”
He repeated calls for there to be “concessions” from both the Russia and Ukraine.
Plans for peacekeeping force discussed tomorrow
Sir Keir Starmer will convene a meeting of world leaders on Saturday to discuss sending international peacekeepers to Ukraine.
The prime minister will chair virtual talks after President Macron of France hosted defence ministers and military chiefs from more than 30 countries in Paris this week.
Britain and France have proposed assembling a 30,000 peacekeeping force to oversee a ceasefire as part of a “coalition of the willing“. As well as EU countries, Australia, Canada and New Zealand have suggested they could take part.
Russia has denounced plans to send international troops to Ukraine.
Rubio ‘cautiously optimistic’ over ceasefire deal
The US Secretary of State says he is “cautiously optimistic” over a ceasefire deal between Ukraine and Russia following negotiations this week.
“I think there’s reason for cautious optimism that something good is going to come from this,” Marco Rubio told reporters following a meeting of the G7 in Quebec, Canada.
“We are at least talking about peace for the first time in 3 years.”
‘Pressure on Putin necessary to secure peace’
President Zelensky has said peace can only be achieved through “strong pressure” being “applied to the only one who wants to continue this war”.
Posting on X, the Ukrainian leader said: “Thank you to everyone helping to bring peace closer — the United States, Europe, and the whole world. Thank you to all partners whose strength and diplomacy will eventually succeed.
“Strong steps are needed. Strong pressure must be applied to the only one who wants to continue this war. This is what ‘peace through strength’ means.”
He also paid tribute to military volunteers fighting for Ukraine as the country marks Military Volunteer Day.
Nato plans to restore relations with Russia after war ends
Nato’s secretary-general Mark Rutte has said the alliance could “restore normal relations with Russia” after the war in Ukraine had stopped.
“It’s normal if the war would have stopped for Europe somehow, step by step, and also for the US, step by step, to restore normal relations with Russia,” he told Bloomberg TV today. “But we are absolutely not there yet, we have to maintain the pressure on them.”
After meeting with the President Trump yesterday, Rutte said he was confident Trump was “committed” to Nato and there was “no room for doubt there”, while also praising him for “breaking the deadlock” between Russia and Ukraine.
Ukraine denies troops trapped in Kursk
Ukraine’s military has denied reports its troops are being encircled in Russia’s Kursk region after President Trump posted on social media that they are “completely surrounded by the Russian military”.
The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said the reports were “untrue”, adding: “There is no threat of encirclement of our units.”
“[The reports] are being created by the Russians for political purposes and pressure on Ukraine and partners … The situation has not changed significantly over the past day,” the military said in a statement on Telegram.
Trump did not meet Putin, confirms White House
The White House has clarified Steve Witkoff, US envoy for the Middle East, and not President Trump, spoke with President Putin yesterday.
Some confusion was caused when, in an earlier Truth Social post, Trump said: “We had very good and productive discussions with President Vladimir Putin of Russia yesterday.”
Inside occupied Ukraine
By Jack Clover in Zaporizhzhia
A shadow has fallen over the River Dnipro, which now divides Ukrainian and Russian control in the war-torn region of Kherson.
On the north bank, the Ukrainian side, civilians struggle on despite incessant drone and artillery strikes, but at least their plight is known to the outside world.
From the other side, besides the boom of the Russian guns, there is ominous silence.
“The corpses are still lying there,” one witness said. “No one is clearing them up. They’ve been there for two years now. The stench is unbearable.”
• Read in full: Putin, purges and propaganda — inside occupied Ukraine
Russia could face further sanctions, G7 warns
The G7 has warned that Russia could face further sanctions if “a ceasefire is not agreed” in a declaration issued this afternoon.
“G7 members reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine in defending its territorial integrity,” the group said in a final statement from a summit in Canada.
It added: “G7 members called for Russia to reciprocate by agreeing to a ceasefire on equal terms and implementing it fully. They emphasised that any ceasefire must be respected and underscored the need for robust and credible security arrangements to ensure that Ukraine can deter and defend against any renewed acts of aggression.”
There had been fears a final statement would not be agreed after the US Secretary of State said he would oppose any language that Russia could interpret as “abrasive”.
Putin’s ‘nebulous’ response to ceasefire plan
Downing Street has described remarks by President Putin about a proposed 30-day ceasefire as “a nebulous” response.
Asked when there would be more clarity about what the plans might involve, the prime minister’s spokesman said: “The prime minister’s intent is crystal clear.
“I think the nebulous responses are coming from Russia, the ball is in their court.
“There is a proposal there and in the meantime, we are concentrating with our international partners on the best way to drive progress to secure that just and lasting peace.”
Russia accused of dragging out truce talks
President Zelensky has reiterated his call for an “unconditional 30-day” ceasefire, accusing President Putin of “deliberately setting conditions that only complicate and drag out the process”.
“The exchange of prisoners and an unconditional 30-day full interim ceasefire are the first quick steps that could significantly bring us closer to a just and lasting peace,” Zelensky said on X.
“Meanwhile, the world sees how Russia is deliberately setting conditions that only complicate and drag out the process,” he added. “Russia is the only party that wants the war to continue and diplomacy to break down.”
Lammy: time for ceasefire with no conditions
David Lammy, the foreign secretary, has been speaking at a meeting of G7 foreign secretaries in Canada. They are expected to release a joint statement on the ceasefire negotiations with Ukraine later today.
Ukraine rejects snap elections as part of a ceasefire
Ukraine will not hold elections or lift martial law under a potential 30-day ceasefire, said Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Zelensky.
“A 30-day ceasefire is not the end of the war. The situation will be unpredictable. The lifting of martial law and procedures for protecting the country is impossible in such a short time,” Podolyak said.
He also explained that it would be impossible to guarantee the security of polling stations and the election campaign even if there were a temporary ceasefire.
“If, on the other hand, negotiations are initiated with a stable ceasefire guaranteed by neutral observers, then this will be possible,” he said.
Putin’s next move? Our World in 10 podcast asks the experts
As the US and Ukraine wait on President Putin’s response to a 30-day ceasefire truce hammered out in Saudi Arabia, the next steps are anything but predictable.
On World in 10, The Times’s expert journalists interview world-leading experts on global security to identify the paths that discussions could take next.
Professor Scott Lucas from University College Dublin argues that Putin may try to appeal to President Trump’s ego even as he rejects the ceasefire proposal.
Stephen Hall at the University of Bath, meanwhile, says that Putin is caught in a zugwang — a chess position where every move worsens the outcome.
Russian leader ‘has no interest in ceasefire’
Bill Browder, the American-British financier and anti-Putin activist, told Times Radio that President Putin has “no interest in a ceasefire”.
“Putin absolutely has no interest in a ceasefire. He has no interest in ending this war. His only interest right now is to try to find an elegant way not to enrage Donald Trump, who’s made the ceasefire a sort of political milestone,” Browder said.
“And so, I think the tactics that I’ve seen used in the past in these types of negotiations is to try to complicate the discussion, add conditions to the discussion, and make those conditions so unpalatable that the Ukrainians can’t possibly accept them, and then blame the breakdown on this 30-day ceasefire on the Ukrainians.”
Arm Ukraine to put pressure on Putin, says top Democrat
Dispatch from Hugh Tomlinson in Washington
Adam Smith, the most senior Democrat on the House armed services committee, has said that despite the mixed messages from the Kremlin there was “no indication … that Putin supports a ceasefire”. He urged President Trump to offer greater support to Ukraine in an effort to force concessions from Putin.
“He [Trump] hasn’t put any pressure on Putin,” Smith told CNN. “In order for a peace deal to be achieved, you have to force Putin off of his maximalist demands, and what that means is giving security guarantees to Zelensky.”
“Trump has done the exact opposite,” he continued. “He’s pulled aid. Yes, he has turned some of it back on, but he has put all the pressure on Zelensky and Putin is just waiting.”
After Putin said yesterday that he had “serious questions” about how a truce would be implemented, the Kremlin said today that it was “cautiously optimistic” about a deal.
Trump envoy and Putin had ‘good discussions’
President Trump wrote on Truth Social: “We had very good and productive discussions with President Vladimir Putin of Russia yesterday.”
The Kremlin confirmed today that the president’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, had met Putin last night.
“There is a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end,” Trump added.
“But, at this very moment, thousands of Ukrainian troops are completely surrounded by the Russian military, and in a very bad and vulnerable position.
“I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared. This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War Two. God bless them all!!!”
It is not clear whether Trump himself has spoken with Putin since a 30-day ceasefire deal was proposed by the US.
Germany to send aid worth €3bn to Ukraine
Friedrich Merz, Germany’s chancellor in waiting, expects the country to release €3 billion in military aid for Ukraine once the upper house has passed a plan to overhaul public spending.
“There will be no shortage of financial resources to defend freedom and peace on our continent,” Merz told reporters, announcing the agreement to reform Germany’s “debt brake”.
German parties agree deal to unlock defence borrowing
Nick Alipour writes from Berlin
Germany’s main parties have struck a deal on unlocking billions in debt-funded investment into the country’s defence.
The co-leader of Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD), Lars Klingbeil, said a major state borrowing and investment push agreed today would be “a powerful boost” for Europe’s largest economy.
The SPD, Greens and the Christian Democrats, who are poised to form Germany’s next coalition government, all agreed to support a proposal that would reform the country’s debt brake and exempt defence spending of above 1 per cent of GDP from deficit calculations.
“We have laid the foundation for Germany to get back on its feet and protect itself,” Klingbeil said.
The agreement marks a turning point in German politics after decades of fiscal caution.
The proposal requires a two-thirds majority in the Bundestag to pass, however, and is expected to be pushed through an extraordinary parliamentary session before a newly elected parliament convenes this month.
Ukrainian troops in Kursk face critical test as Russians close in
Dispatch from Jack Clover and Viktoria Sybir, Sumy region
On the northern front, the fate of hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers hinges on three fragile characters: H07. This is the name of the highway that snakes north from the city of Sumy, past small churches, a river and forested hills, towards the town of Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk region.
“The biggest problem now is the cutting off of the supply route around Yunakivka,” one Ukrainian soldier serving in the Sumy region said of the northern section of the H07 as it reaches the Russian border. Ukrainian forces face a cat and mouse race with overhead drones that are now in range and Russia’s lines move closer.
President Putin said there soon would be only two ways for Ukrainian forces to leave Kursk: “surrender or die”.
• Read in full: Surrender or die: Putin’s message to surrounded Ukrainian troops
Trump: Russia wouldn’t have invaded Ukraine if I had been president
President Trump has promised to “get us out” of the war in Ukraine as he repeated claims Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if he had been president.
“Crooked Joe Biden got us into a real ‘mess’ with Russia (and EVERYTHING ELSE!), but I’m going to get us out,” he wrote this morning on his Truth Social platform.
“Millions of people are needlessly dead, never to be seen again … and there will be many more to follow if we don’t get the Cease Fire and Final Agreement with Russia completed and signed. There would have been NO WAR if I were President.”
Trump also insisted again that the war between Israel and Hamas would not have broken out if he were in the White House.
G7 draft condemns ‘Russian acts of aggression’
Diplomats meeting at a G7 summit in Canada have reportedly reached a deal on a joint statement emphasising the need for robust “security arrangements” for Ukraine, despite previous US demands not to antagonise Russia.
A final draft statement, seen by Reuters, reads: “G7 members called for Russia to reciprocate by agreeing to a ceasefire on equal terms and implementing it fully.”
Diplomats added that the draft stipulated the need for “robust and credible security arrangements to ensure that Ukraine can deter and defend against any renewed acts of aggression”.
The statement has been approved by senior diplomats but still needs a green light from ministers, G7 officials said.
The meeting in Quebec brought together foreign secretaries from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, along with the European Union.
Beforethe meeting, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said he did not want to issue “statements that are abrasive in any way” with regards to Russia.
Minister and oligarch’s sister struck off sanctions list
Details have emerged of the individuals taken off sanctions lists after the EU extended its restrictions on Russians linked to the war in Ukraine.
Hungary was behind the delisting of the Russian sports minister Mikhail Degtyarev; the sister of the oligarch Alisher Usmanov; and Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor, the former president of the European Jewish Congress.
Budapest failed to remove a travel ban and asset freeze on three prominent Russian oligarchs, Mikhail Fridman, Alisher Usmanov and Petr Aven.
Vladimir Rashevsky, a Russian businessman, was removed because of a weak legal case for his blacklisting.
Russian approval of US doubles since Trump’s win
The proportion of Russians who look favourably on the United States has doubled since President Trump took office, a new survey suggests.
In September 2024, only 16 per cent of respondents said they had a positive attitude towards the US, but that rose to 30 per cent last month, the Levada Centre found.
The centre, an agency seen as independent but branded a “foreign agent” by the Russian authorities, polled 1,615 people across 50 Russian regions last month.
Positive attitudes towards the US were at 48 per cent in December 2013, but plunged to 18 per cent in May 2014, after worldwide condemnation of Russia’s annexation of Crimea. They climbed to 47 per cent in November 2019 but fell dramatically again after Russia’s full-scale invasion of eastern Ukraine in 2022, reaching 12 per cent in May 2023, the lowest figure since the survey began in 1997.
Putin’s ceasefire talk ‘a delaying tactic’
Germany has described President Putin’s reaction to a US-proposed ceasefire in Ukraine as “at best a delaying tactic”.
Kathrin Deschauer, the foreign ministry spokeswoman, told reporters this morning: “One must seriously question whether there is a genuine interest in working toward a lasting ceasefire and a resolution.”
Russia has shut 160 hospitals to fund military, says MoD
Russia has shut 160 public hospitals in 2024, according to the UK Ministry of Defence, saying that Moscow’s “prioritisation of funding the war in Ukraine has highly likely resulted in insufficient funding for healthcare”.
The ministry said the closures included 18 maternity facilities and at least ten children’s clinics.
“It is almost certain the scale of Russian casualties (over 500,000 Russian service personnel wounded so far) continues to strain the Russian military medical system,” it added.
“This negatively impacts care delivery and has likely led to the diversion of medical resources from the domestic civil population.”
Russian troops reclaim war-torn Kursk villages: watch
Wrong for Putin to demand truce terms, says Lammy
David Lammy, the foreign secretary, has warned it would be “wrong” for President Putin to place conditions on a Ukraine-Russia ceasefire.
Lammy, who is meeting with his G7 counterparts in Canada, said there was an “opportunity” for “a just and lasting peace” in Ukraine.
“The US and Ukraine have called for a full, immediate and unconditional 30-day ceasefire,” he told The Daily Mirror.
“This would be a first step so that talks can start on a full settlement that protects Ukraine’s security and sovereignty. President Zelensky has shown that Ukraine is the party of peace.
“It would be wrong for Putin to lay conditions. Our support for Ukraine, and that of other partners, remains ironclad.”
EU overcomes Hungary to extend sanctions on Russia
The EU has agreed to extend sanctions on Russia after days of stalemate in which Hungary and Slovakia attempted to block the asset freeze.
Hungary, one of the most pro-Putin countries in the EU, finally agreed to renew sanctions on more than 2,400 individuals and entities for a further six months. Four people were removed from the list, officials said.
EU leaders are discussing stripping Hungary of its voting powers, according to the Financial Times, but are wary the political challenges.
“Our determination to support Ukraine is decisive,” Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Council, posted on X after the extension was agreed.
Hungary had said it did not want to extend the sanctions, which include Putin and Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov — for fear of making negotiations between Russia and Ukraine more “difficult”.
Ukraine trophies sent to Moscow military theme park
Russian troops have been seizing trophy hardware from Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region for display in Patriot Park, a military-themed amusement park near Moscow.
The hardware includes a US Bradley fighting vehicle, a US M113 armoured personnel carrier and a Ukrainian Kozak armoured car, according to the Russian newspaper Izvestia, which published video.
“This is exclusively our work, the work of our fighters, our battalion. When these machines came in here they were knocked out,” said a fighter with the call sign Dostoyevsky, who was said to be from Russia’s Akhmat special forces unit.
Izvestia said that some of the hardware was expected to be sent to Patriot Park, which has interactive exhibits with military equipment and equates the Soviet fight against the Nazis with Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The park already has a collection of western vehicles and weapons captured in Ukraine, including a German Leopard tank and an American Abrams tank.
Russia denies sidelining ‘pro-Ukraine’ US general
Dmitry Peskov has denied a report that Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, was excluded from talks at Moscow’s request.
The Kremlin spokesman called the claim “absurd”.
Kellogg had been absent from high-level negotiations in Saudi Arabia between US and Russian officials and, more recently, between a US and Ukrainian delegation, despite both talks falling under Kellogg’s remit. Steve Witkoff, who met with Putin last night, is officially Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East.
NBC News reported that the war veteran and longtime Russia hawk had been sidelined at the Kremlin’s request. A Russian official told the news outlet: “Kellogg is a former American general, too close to Ukraine. Not our kind of person, not of the calibre we are looking for.”
This morning Peskov said: “We’re building relations on the basis of mutual respect. It’s their [Washington’s] decision who they appoint.”
Trump’s limited options for sanctioning Putin
President Trump has threatened to put economic pressure on Russia if it rejects a ceasefire in Ukraine. “I can do things financially that would be very bad for Russia,” he said this week.
After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the United States worked with fellow G7 countries to impose sanctions that denied Russian financial institutions access to international capital markets.
Russian-produced energy faced price ceilings designed to stop profits being spent on the war, while oligarchs’ yachts and villas were sold and bank accounts frozen, with most of the money now held in Europe. Yet Moscow has weathered these difficulties while continuing to fund the war and keep its domestic economy afloat. So what leverage does Trump have?
• Read in full: What happens if Putin rejects ceasefire? Trump’s options are limited
Putin has ‘solidarity’ with Trump on ceasefire
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, added that President Putin stands in “solidarity” with President Trump’s position on a ceasefire with Ukraine.
“There is a lot ahead to be done but Putin expressed his solidarity with Trump’s position,” he told local media, referencing the Russian leader’s meeting with the US envoy Steve Witkoff last night.
While Trump yesterday said a 30-day ceasefire needed to be agreed “fast”, Putin said there were “serious questions” around a US-proposed truce deal between Ukraine and Russia.
Putin arranged call with Trump in US envoy meeting
The Kremlin has confirmed that President Putin met with Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s special envoy, yesterday evening.
The Russian leader passed information and “additional signals” for Trump to Witkoff, according to the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Speaking to reporters this morning Peskov said that Witkoff and Putin had agreed Putin will speak with Trump, but that a time had yet to be agreed.
“But at the same time, after Mr Witkoff conveys all the information received in Moscow to the attention of his head of state, then we will determine the timing of the conversation,” Peskov said.
Speaking about a possible ceasefire, Peskov added: “Of course there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic.”
Russians seize another village in Kursk
Moscow’s forces have seized another village from Ukrainian soldiers in its Kursk region, the Russian defence ministry has said.
Troops took Goncharovka, one of the last settlements under Ukrainian control near the town of Sudzha, the ministry said.
Yesterday, the defence ministry said Russian troops had seized Sudzha, the main town that Ukraine occupied after a cross-border incursion that began in August last year.
Vance would be ‘shocked’ if Trump backed bombs in Poland
JD Vance, the US vice-president, said he would be “shocked” if President Trump supported extending the nuclear deterrent to Poland.
Poland’s outgoing president, Andrzej Duda, appealed to Trump yesterday to station American atomic weapons on Polish territory as a close-range deterrent against Russia. The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, has expressed interest in the country developing its own nuclear armaments.
Responding to their comments in a Fox News interview last night, Vance said: “I haven’t talked to the president [Trump] about that particular issue, but I would be shocked if he was supportive of nuclear weapons extending further east into Europe.”
• Read more: Could Poland and Germany acquire nuclear bombs?
Russia ‘dodges oil sanctions with bitcoin’
Russia’s oil trade uses bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to skirt western sanctions when trading with China and India, according to Reuters.
Some Russian oil companies are using digital currencies to smooth the conversion of Chinese yuan and Indian rupees to roubles and avoid trading in the US dollar.
The trade in cryptocurrencies is reportedly a small but growing part of Russia’s overall oil trade, which according to the International Energy Agency was worth $192 billion last year.
The trades work through offshore accounts. A Chinese buyer of Russian oil might pay a trading company in yuan into an offshore account, which converts the yuan into cryptocurrency and transfers it to another account. From there, it would be sent to a third account in Russia and converted to roubles.
Putin ‘wants total domination of Ukraine’
US intelligence reports cast doubt on President Putin’s claim to want to end the war in Ukraine and suggest he will stick to his goal of dominating the country, according to people familiar with the analysis.
One of the secret assessments distributed to policymakers in the Trump administration and dated March 6 says that Putin remains determined to hold sway over Kyiv, a person familiar with the document told the Washington Post.
US officials “acknowledged that there is no sign Putin has relented in his demand that Ukraine be brought into Russia’s security and economic orbit”, the newspaper reported. “He has a long-standing desire to restore ‘Mother Russia’,” one official said.
Even if he agreed to a temporary truce, Putin would use it to rest his troops — the same thing that the Russian leader alleged the Ukrainian army would use a ceasefire for.
A European intelligence official told the newspaper that officials in Moscow believe Trump is weak, lacks principle and may be open to manipulation.
Putin’s words a smokescreen, says Ukraine
Ukraine’s foreign minister has called yesterday’s remarks by President Putin a “smokescreen”.
Andrii Sybiha posted on X: “Ukraine said ‘yes’ to US ceasefire proposal. Because Ukraine wants peace. Putin, rather than saying ‘yes’, puts forward various conditions.
“Ukraine seeks an end to the war. Putin seeks to continue the war. The rest of his words are just a smokescreen.”
Putin said there were “serious questions” about a US-proposed ceasefire, dashing hope of a quick truce with Ukraine.
Wagner fighter found guilty of Ukraine war crimes
A Finnish court has found a Russian man affiliated with the Wagner mercenary group guilty of committing war crimes in Ukraine, sentencing him to life in prison.
Yan Petrovsky, who is also known as Voislav Torden, was arrested in Finland in July 2023 at the request of the Ukrainian government.
The Helsinki district court found Petrovsky guilty of “four different war crimes” committed in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine in 2014 and 2015, while a member of Rusich, a paramilitary sub-unit linked to Wagner.
Petrovsky faced allegations that he co-commanded a group of Rusich fighters that executed wounded soldiers, one of whom was allegedly mutilated.
Petrovsky denied all the charges, his lawyer Heikki Lampela told the Helsinki court last December.
No casualties in refinery fire, says Russia
Russian officials have given further details on a Ukrainian attack on an oil complex in the Russian town of Tuapse. Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of the southern Krasnodar region, said that the refinery supplies China, Malaysia, Singapore and Turkey.
“One of the gasoline tanks caught fire. The area of the fire is more than one thousand square meters, emergency services are working. According to preliminary data, there are no casualties,” He wrote on Telegram.
Gas compressor stations in two other Russian regions, Tambov and Saratov, were hit overnight by Ukrainian drones as well, Reuters reported.
The news agency said Ukrainian drones also struck a missile depot in the Belgorod region, detonating the ammunition.
Russia releases video of ‘attack on fleeing Ukrainians’
The Russian defence ministry has published aerial footage of drones attacking a queue of vehicles which it said contained Ukrainian troops fleeing from Russia’s Kursk region into Ukraine.
Ukrainian troops and transport were hit in the strikes using drones developed by the ministry’s Rubicon Centre for Advanced Unmanned Systems, it added.
The undated footage, which could not be independently verified, appeared to show at least six vehicles being hit, including a pick-up and a van. The vehicles appeared to be stationary in a line in the middle of a settlement.
Russia said yesterday that it had retaken Sudzha, the town in the Kursk region which Ukraine seized after an incursion that began in August 2024. President Putin said yesterday that Ukrainian detachments were almost surrounded there and could be obliged to “surrender or die”.
Saudi prince speaks with Putin
Saudi Arabia’s prime minister told President Putin over the phone that the country supports “all initiatives” to end the war in Ukraine after the US and Kyiv agreed on a 30-day ceasefire in the kingdom earlier this week.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reaffirmed Saudi Arabia’s “commitment to facilitating dialogue and supporting all initiatives aimed at achieving a political resolution” in a phone call with Putin, a foreign ministry statement said.
Putin told the prince that he “noted the importance of resolving the Ukrainian crisis and expressed readiness to continue to contribute in every possible way to the normalisation of Russian-American relations”, according to a Kremlin statement.
US ‘discussing’ territory concessions with Ukraine
Mike Waltz, the US national security adviser, said he was “discussing” with Ukraine it ceding parts of the Donbas region and giving up ambitions to join Nato.
In an interview with Fox News last night, Waltz was asked if the potential terms floated by Moscow were under consideration by Washington.”We’re discussing all of those things with both sides. We are having those discussions with our counterparts, with the Russians,” he replied.
He added that the US has “some cautious optimism” that a ceasefire was imminent. “Of course both sides are going to have their demands, and of course, both sides are going to have to make some compromises,” Waltz said.
Russian drone sets hospital alight in Kharkiv
Images appeared to show a hospital on fire in the Ukrainian region of Kharkiv after the country’s military said this morning that it had shot down 16 out of 27 drones launched by Russia overnight.
The Kharkiv region’s governor, Oleh Syniehubov, said seven people, including children, had been injured in the overnight attacks.
The roof of a hospital caught on fire in Zolochiv, Syniehubov added, with a member of its emergency team injured. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said the hospital was hit a second time, adding that all emergency workers were able to evacuate safely beforehand.
In total, 146 clashes between Ukrainian and Russian forces were recorded yesterday, the Ukrainian General Staff said on Facebook this morning.
EU states ‘should aim for €40bn in Ukraine aid’
EU countries should go as far as doubling their military aid to Ukraine and provide up to €40 billion (£34 billion) this year, the bloc’s diplomatic service has suggested in a discussion paper seen by Reuters.
The paper, an updated version of an earlier proposal, adds that each EU country participating in the effort should contribute “in line with its economic weight”.
Ukrainian drones shot down over Moscow
Russian air defences repelled an attack by four drones flying towards Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, the mayor of the capital, said this morning.
“Emergency services are working at the site where debris came down,” Sobyanin wrote on Telegram.
The governor of the wider Moscow region Andrei Vorobyov said that three of the drones were brought down over his region.
The debris had fallen on a construction site and there had been no casualties, Vorobyov added.
Sobyanin did not mention Ukraine. The drones came a few days after Russia shot down 337 unmanned aircraft across the country in a large overnight attack by Kyiv.
Fire swallows Russian oil refinery
A fire covering more than 1,000 square meters has engulfed an oil refinery in Tuapse, on Russia’s Black Sea coast, after a Ukrainian attack overnight, according to Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of the Krasnodar region.
“Tonight, the Kiev regime attacked the oil complex in Tuapse. One of the gasoline tanks caught fire,” the governor claimed on Telegram.
Kondratyev added that 121 emergency services personnel were involved in extinguishing the fire.
US toughens sanctions on Russian energy
The Trump administration has toughened sanctions on Russian oil, gas and banks by adding more restrictions on their access to US payments systems.
A 60-day exemption under the Biden administration had allowed certain energy transactions involving sanctioned banks in Russia to continue. President Trump last night let this exemption expire, according to a treasury spokesman.
Letting it expire means the Russian banks now are blocked from accessing US payment systems to conduct major energy transactions.
Zelensky: Putin will reject ceasefire
Putin is preparing to reject the ceasefire proposal, President Zelensky claimed last night.
Zelensky accused Putin of being scared to tell the White House directly and that the Kremlin was setting conditions on the truce to delay it, or make it not happen at all.
“He is in fact preparing a rejection at present because Putin is of course scared to tell President Trump that he wants to continue this war, that he wants to kill Ukrainians,” Zelensky said.
“That’s why in Moscow they are imposing upon the idea of a ceasefire these conditions so that nothing happens at all, or so that it cannot happen for as long as possible.”
Witkoff’s plane ‘has left Moscow’
President Trump’s special envoy is reported to have left Russia, according to a flight tracking website.
After landing at Moscow around lunchtime local time yesterday, Steve Witkoff’s plane left Vnukovo airport at about 2am today and arrived in Baku, Azerbaijan, two and a half hours later, Russian media reported.
He was said to have left after spending at least an hour at the US embassy in Moscow.
Witkoff was due to hold closed talks with President Putin at the Kremlin that evening, but it has not been confirmed whether the meeting took place.
Trump said last night: “Envoy Witkoff is having serious conversations in Russia. I’ve heard things are going well there. Hopefully, today we’ll have an idea of how things are going for us.”
Truce will only come on our terms, insists Russia
President Putin yesterday dampened hopes of an immediate 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, warning that Russia would not back a deal which allowed Kyiv’s forces to rearm and regroup.
Putin suggested that Russia supported the notion of a temporary truce but that “serious questions” remained over any deal.
Read more: Hopes of an immediate ceasefire fade as Putin highlights sticking points
Moscow ‘snubs US envoy’ in Ukraine talks
The Kremlin was reported to have said it does not consider the American envoy for the Middle East to be a mediator for the war in Ukraine, in an apparent snub to the Trump administration.
Steve Witkoff landed in Moscow after flying in from Qatar, where he had been involved in indirect talks between Israel and Hamas.
He was expected to have a face-to-face meeting with President Putin, while the Kremlin confirmed only that there would be talks with US officials.
Yuri Ushakov, the Russian leader’s aide, suggested that Moscow did not consider Witkoff the right go-between for discussions about the Ukraine war. Uskakov told the military channel, Zvezda, that the US had identified a mediator in negotiations with Russia, “and this is not Steve Witkoff”.
Trump’s envoy arrives in Moscow
Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s envoy, arrived in Moscow before a potential meeting with President Putin at the Kremlin’s Senate Palace on Thursday evening but it is not clear if that meeting took place.
Neither the US and Russia have commented on any talks, and some reports suggest the Kremlin snubbed the US envoy soon after he landed.
Yuri Ushakov, a top Kremlin aide, said Witkoff would meet Putin when the president “gives the signal”, Russian news agencies reported.
