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The attacks comes less than 24 hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin met with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss details of the American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in the war with Ukraine. Putin told a press conference on Thursday that he supported a truce in principle but set out a host of details that need to be clarified before it is agreed. Kyiv has already endorsed the truce proposal, although Ukrainian officials have publicly raised doubts as to whether Moscow will commit to such a deal. Speaking to reporters in Kyiv on Saturday, after virtual talks between Western allies hosted by U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Zelenskyy voiced Ukraine's support for the 30-day full ceasefire proposal to discuss a longer-term peace plan, but said Russia would attempt to derail talks with conditions and «buts». Starmer has told allies to «keep the pressure» on Putin to back a ceasefire in Ukraine, hailing Ukraine as the «party of peace.» Starmer said Putin will «sooner or later» have to «come to the table.

According to State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce, the top diplomats «agreed to continue working towards restoring communication between the United States and Russia.» The statement gave no details on when the next round of US-Russia talks, which are being hosted by Saudi Arabia, would begin. Rubio also updated Lavrov on military activity in the Middle East, where US forces carried out deadly strikes Saturday against Huthi rebel targets in Yemen, the statement said. Despite recent tensions between President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, Kyiv has agreed in principle to a US-brokered 30-day unconditional ceasefire if Moscow halts its attacks in eastern Ukraine.

Meeting at a rustic hotel in rural Quebec, G7 foreign ministers also backed Ukraine's fight for its «territorial integrity» and spoke of Russia's «aggression,» terminology earlier eschewed by Trump as he reached out to Moscow. The consensus on Ukraine came despite mounting tension within the G7 — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States as Trump slaps punishing tariffs on allies and questions the very sovereignty of host Canada. A G7 statement backed a US-led call for a 30-day truce embraced by Ukraine and «called for Russia to reciprocate by agreeing to a ceasefire on equal terms and implementing it fully.» «They discussed imposing further costs on Russia in case such a ceasefire is not agreed, including through further sanctions, caps on oil prices, as well as additional support for Ukraine, and other means,» such as using frozen Russian assets.

Russia's foreign intelligence service calling Britain «a warmonger.» And a threat from a top ally of Vladimir Putin to seize UK assets inside Russia. As the U.S. under Donald Trump seeks to reset ties with Moscow and broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, Britain has been granted the status of Russia's public enemy number one. It's a mantle it has held on and off over the past two centuries. «London today, like on the eve of both World Wars of the last century, is acting as the main global 'warmonger',» Russia's foreign intelligence service said in an unusually charged public statement on Monday. It accused London of trying to derail Trump's efforts to broker peace in Ukraine. «The time has come to expose them and send a clear message to 'perfidious Albion' and its elites: you will not succeed,» the agency, known as SVR, said.

Russian oil supplies to top buyers India and China fell sharply following the January 10 sanctions by the former Biden administration targeting Russian producers Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz as well as insurers and more than 100 vessels to curtail Moscow's oil revenue. While Russian shipments to the two Asian countries have rebounded after more non-sanctioned tankers joined the trade, China's state-run Sinopec and Zhenhua Oil halted purchases of March-loading Russian oil due to concerns over dealing with the sanctioned firms, sources with knowledge of the matter said. The scaled-back buying by Chinese state players has weighed on Russian oil prices, eating into Moscow's revenue and putting additional pressure on Russia ahead of a possible ceasefire deal with Ukraine. A Beijing-based state oil source said his company ceased Russian oil deals as it undertakes more compliance checks and waits for a «clear picture» on a possible Russia-U.S. deal to end the Ukraine war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of manipulating the ceasefire proposal, stating that Moscow is crowding the idea with preconditions designed to delay or derail progress. In a post on X, Zelenskyy said, «Right now, we have all heard from Russia Putin's highly predictable and manipulative words in response to the idea of a ceasefire on the front lines--at this moment he is, in fact, preparing to reject it.» He argued that while Ukraine has accepted the US-backed proposal for an unconditional ceasefire on land, at sea, and in the air, Russia continues to create obstacles to avoid a resolution. Zelenskyy asserted that Putin is reluctant to admit his desire to continue the war and is instead using tactics to complicate negotiations. «Of course, Putin is afraid to tell President Trump directly that he wants to continue this war and keep killing Ukrainians.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Russia said its forces were in the final stages of ousting Ukraine’s army from the Kursk region, where Kyiv had taken Russian territory that it had hoped to use as a bargaining chip in peace negotiations. The Russian military said Thursday it had retaken Sudzha, the biggest town held by Ukraine in the Kursk region, after recapturing a string of villages in recent days.

Donald Trump has warned his Russian counterpart of «doing things» if the nation refuses for a ceasefire deal with Ukraine. He suggested that financial measures could be used to pressure Moscow but emphasised his priority was achieving peace. While responding to the question about pressuring Russia, Trump said, «I can do things financially, that would be very bad for Russia. I don't want to do that because I want to get peace.» He has said that a ceasefire in Ukraine would benefit Russia but warned of potential downsides, without providing further details. According to Reuters, Trump confirmed that US officials were set to visit Russia to discuss a proposed 30-day halt in hostilities and the possibility of peace talks. After extensive discussions in Saudi Arabia, Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire, leaving the next move to Russia. «Hopefully we can get a ceasefire from Russia,» Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, adding that he had received positive signals but remained cautious about the situation. The Kremlin, meanwhile, stated that it was awaiting details from Washington before responding to the proposal.

It is not clear what exactly Moscow included on its list or whether it is willing to engage in peace talks with Kyiv prior to their acceptance. Russian and American officials discussed the terms during in-person and virtual conversations over the last three weeks, the people said. They described the Kremlin's terms as broad and similar to demands it previously has presented to Ukraine, the U.S. and NATO. Those earlier terms included no NATO membership for Kyiv, an agreement not to deploy foreign troops in Ukraine and international recognition of President Vladimir Putin's claim that Crimea and four provinces belong to Russia. Russia, in recent years, also has demanded the U.S. and NATO address what it has called the «root causes» of the war, including NATO's eastward expansion.

US arms deliveries to Ukraine resumed Wednesday, officials said, a day after the Trump administration lifted its suspension of military aid for Kyiv in its fight against Russia's invasion, and Ukrainian officials signalled that they were open to a 30-day ceasefire backed by Washington. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that it's important not to «get ahead» of the question of responding to the ceasefire proposal. He told reporters that Moscow is awaiting «detailed information» about it from the US and suggested that Russia must get that first before it can take a position. Arms deliveries to Ukraine have already resumed through a Polish logistics centre, the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Poland announced Wednesday. The deliveries go through a NATO and US hub in the eastern Polish city of Rzeszow that's has been used to ferry Western weapons into neighboring Ukraine about 70 km away. The American military help is vital for Ukraine's shorthanded and weary army, which is having a tough time keeping Russia's bigger military force at bay. But for Moscow, more American aid spells potentially more difficulty in achieving its war aims and likely will be a tough sell in Moscow for Washington's peace efforts. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that Washington will pursue «multiple points of contacts» with Russia to see if President Vladimir Putin is ready to negotiate an end to the war. He declined to give details. «The ball is truly in their court,» Rubio said at a refueling stopover in Shannon, Ireland on his way to talks in Canada with other Group of Seven leading industrialised nations.

The recovery of Russian oil flow to the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer is easing a supply crunch and cooling prices for rival Middle East grades. Russian oil supplies to India and China fell sharply earlier this year following U.S. sanctions on January 10 that targeted producers, insurers, ships and middlemen to curtail Moscow's oil revenue. In March, India's imports of Russian oil, mainly Urals crude, are back at 1.54 million barrels per day (bpd), after falling to 1.1 million to 1.2 million bpd in the previous three months due to concerns about sanctions, data from analytics firm Kpler showed.

Ukrainian soldiers holding the front line in the war-battered east of the country, the prospect of a 30-day ceasefire with Russia brought little relief — only distrust and suspicion. Senior Ukrainian and US officials walked away from high-stakes talks in Saudi Arabia late Tuesday agreeing to present Russia with a proposal to halt more than three years of fighting for several weeks. But in eastern Ukraine, there was little hope that even if Moscow agreed to a pause, the Kremlin would make good on promises to stop fighting. A 44-year-old serviceman with the call sign «Malchik» («Boy») said Russia would claim to adhere to a ceasefire and then find ways to keep attacking. «They'll say in public that there's no fighting and no shelling. But this scum has always harassed us and it will continue to,» he told AFP in the frontline city of Kramatorsk.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that it's important not to «get ahead» of the question of responding to the 30-day ceasefire proposal. He told reporters that Moscow is awaiting «detailed information» about it from the US and suggested Russia must get that before it can take a position. The Russian missiles killed four Syrian men between the ages of 18 and 24 on a ship docked at the southern port of Odesa late Tuesday, where it was loading Ukrainian wheat for Algeria, Infrastructure Minister Oleksii Kuleba said. Another missile killed a woman in Kryvih Rih, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown in central Ukraine, authorities said. The American help is vital for Ukraine's shorthanded and weary army, which is having a tough time keeping Russia's bigger military force at bay. But for Moscow, more American aid spells potentially more difficulty in achieving its war aims and likely will be a tough sell in Moscow for Washington's peace efforts.

Trump's tariff wars. Ukraine said on Tuesday it is willing to accept a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, a deal that Washington will now put to Moscow.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India has long been counted among the world’s top importers of arms. So, any slip in our worldwide rank grabs attention.

Speaking at Moscow's Higher School of Economics, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov cautioned against people getting excited about the prospect of Elon Musk cutting off the Ukrainian military from his Starlink communications system or about Trump's decision last week to suspend military aid to Kyiv. «Don't rush to put on rose-tinted spectacles,» Peskov told the audience. «We always need to hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. And we must always be ready to defend our interests.» Peskov issued his warning as U.S. officials prepared to meet with a Ukrainian delegation in Saudi Arabia later on Tuesday, in part to determine whether Ukraine is willing to make material concessions to Russia to end the war. Peskov said that Russia was achieving its aims on the battlefield in Ukraine, regardless of what decisions the U.S. was taking. He said the amount of weapons circulating in Ukraine was so large that Kyiv had enough to keep fighting for many months despite the suspension of U.S. deliveries.

Trump news updates LIVE: US President Donald Trump is set to deliver remarks to the media shortly, with expectations high regarding potential statements on key policy issues and ongoing developments in his administration.While the White House has not disclosed specific topics, Trump’s address comes amid rising economic concerns, including weaker-than-expected job growth in February, the impact of his federal workforce cuts, and new trade tariffs.Also, Trump’s remarks may touch on foreign policy matters, particularly the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and his recent statement on potential new sanctions against Moscow.The media briefing follows a period of heightened political and economic activity, and analysts will be closely watching for any policy shifts or announcements that could shape the administration’s next steps.US President Donald Trump has announced that he is "strongly considering" imposing large-scale economic sanctions on Russia in response to its intensified military offensive in Ukraine. In a post on Truth Social, Trump emphasised the urgency of diplomatic negotiations while threatening severe financial measures."Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely 'pounding' Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED," Trump wrote."To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Days before the fall of President Bashar al-Assad, Russia said the Syrian rebels advancing on Damascus were terrorists. Now, with those rebels in power, Moscow senses an opportunity to both expand its economic footprint in Syria and hold on to its military bases there.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Soon after Donald Trump won the presidential election in November, Xi Jinping asked his aides to urgently analyze the Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. His concern, according to people who consult with senior Chinese officials, was that as President Trump gears up for a showdown with Beijing, China could get isolated like Moscow during that era.

Romania on Wednesday ordered two senior Russian diplomats expelled, the foreign ministry said, a day after accusing Moscow of "interference" and slamming Russian secret services' criticism of the indictment of far-right presidential candidate Calin Georgescu. «The Romanian authorities have decided to declare persona non grata on the territory of Romania the military, air and naval attache of the Russian Federation in Bucharest, as well as his deputy,» the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. BEIJING : As President Trump ratchets up the political and economic pressure on China, Beijing has responded with a clear message: China will resist U.S. efforts to constrain its rise.