Latest Updates on Ukraine peace talks

Belarus's Alexander Lukashenko has sought US sanctions relief and aircraft repairs, while Washington has secured mass prisoner releases and hopes Minsk can serve as a channel to Vladimir Putin

Initial drafts of US proposals for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia meet many of Kyiv's demands, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday, although he suggested that neither side in the almost four-year war is likely to get everything it wants in talks on reaching a settlement. Overall, it looks quite solid at this stage, the Ukrainian leader said of recent talks with US officials who are trying to steer the neighbouring countries toward compromises. There are some things we are probably not ready for, and I'm sure there are things the Russians are not ready for either, Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv. US President Donald Trump has for months been pushing for a peace agreement. However, the negotiations have run into sharply conflicting demands from Moscow and Kyiv. But US envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday he held productive and constructive talks in Florida with Ukrainian and European representatives. Zelenskyy said that nearly 90% of Ukraine's demands have been .

Two NATO-nation intelligence services suspect Russia is developing a new anti-satellite weapon to target Elon Musk's Starlink constellation with destructive orbiting clouds of shrapnel, with the aim of reining in Western space superiority that has helped Ukraine on the battlefield. Intelligence findings seen by The Associated Press say the so-called zone-effect weapon would seek to flood Starlink orbits with hundreds of thousands of high-density pellets, potentially disabling multiple satellites at once but also risking catastrophic collateral damage to other orbiting systems. Analysts who haven't seen the findings say they doubt such a weapon could work without causing uncontrollable chaos in space for companies and countries, including Russia and its ally China, that rely on thousands of orbiting satellites for communications, defence, and other vital needs. Such repercussions, including risks to its own space systems, could steer Moscow away from deploying or using such a weapon,

The icy ground crackling under their feet, members of an elite Ukrainian drone-hunting team set up for a long night. Antennas and sensors are clipped to a light stand. Monitors and controls are pulled from hard cases, and a game-changing new weapon is readied for deployment. The Sting, shaped like a flying thermos, is one of Ukraine's new homegrown interceptors. The unit's commander says the interceptors can effectively counter Russia's fast-evolving suicide drones, which are now flying faster and at higher altitudes. Every destroyed target is something that did not hit our homes, our families, our power plants, said the officer, known only by the call sign Loi, in line with Ukrainian military protocol. The enemy does not sleep, and neither do we. Nightly attacks on Ukrainian cities and power infrastructure have forced Kyiv to rewrite the air defense rule book and develop cut-price drone killers costing as little as $1,000. Interceptors went from prototype to mass production in j

The negotiations were held between Russia and the United States as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Washington to increase pressure on Moscow

President Zelenskyy, in a post on X, said that the European Council has allocated Euros 90 billion for 2026-27, along with assistance packages from Norway and Japan

A White House envoy said Sunday he held productive and constructive talks in Florida with Ukrainian and European representatives to end the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine. Posting on social media, Steve Witkoff said the talks aimed at aligning on a shared strategic approach between Ukraine, the United States and Europe. Our shared priority is to stop the killing, ensure guaranteed security, and create conditions for Ukraine's recovery, stability, and long-term prosperity. Peace must be not only a cessation of hostilities, but also a dignified foundation for a stable future," US President Donald Trump's envoy said. The talks are part of the Trump administration's monthslong push for peace. Trump has unleashed an extensive diplomatic push to end the war, but his efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv. Putin has recently signalled he is digging in on his maximalist demands on Ukraine, as Moscow's troops inch forward on the battlefield ...

A Kremlin envoy says peace talks on a US-proposed plan to end the nearly four-year war in Ukraine were pressing on "constructively in Florida. The talks are part of the Trump administration's monthslong push for peace that also included meetings with Ukrainian and European officials in Berlin earlier this week. The discussions are proceeding constructively. They began earlier and will continue today, and will also continue tomorrow, Kirill Dmitriev told reporters Saturday, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. Dmitriev met with US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner in Miami, the agency reported. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that much will depend on the US posture after discussions with the Russians. This came a day after Ukraine's chief negotiator said his delegation had completed separate meetings in the United States with American and European partners. Trump has unleashed an extensive ...

Eight people were killed and 27 wounded in a Russian missile strike on port infrastructure in Odesa, southern Ukraine, late on Friday, Ukraine's Emergency Service said on Saturday morning. Some of the wounded were on a bus at the epicentre of the overnight strike, the service said in a Telegram post. Trucks caught fire in the parking lot, and cars were also damaged. The port was struck with ballistic missiles, said Oleh Kiper, the head of the Odesa region. Elsewhere, Ukrainian forces hit a Russian warship and other facilities with drones, Ukraine's General Staff said in a statement on Saturday. The nighttime attack on Friday hit the Russian warship Okhotnik, according to the statement posted to the Telegram messaging app. The ship was patrolling in the Caspian Sea near an oil and gas production platform. The extent of the damage is still being clarified, the statement added. A drilling platform at the Filanovsky oil and gas field in the Caspian Sea was also hit. The facility is .

EU leaders were under intense pressure to agree to the massive loan for Ukraine at the make-or-break summit after months of talks failed to break the deadlock over the contentious plan

India's oil imports were worth $9.9 billion, largely unchanged Y-o-Y in November, as global prices slid

In November, a train carrying almost 500 people came to a sudden halt in eastern Poland. A broken overhead line had smashed several windows, and the track ahead was damaged. Elsewhere on the line, explosives detonated under a passing freight train. No one was hurt in either case and the damage was limited, but Poland, which blamed the attack on Russia's intelligence services, responded forcefully: It deployed 10,000 troops to protect critical infrastructure. The sabotage in Poland is one of 145 incidents in an Associated Press database that Western officials say are part of a campaign of disruption across Europe masterminded by Russia. Officials say the campaign waged since President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 aims to deprive Kyiv of support, create divisions among Europeans and identify the continent's security weak spots. So far in this hybrid war, most known acts of sabotage have resulted in minimal damage nothing compared to the tens of thousands of lives l

European Union leaders are gathering Thursday for a summit aimed at agreeing on a massive loan to cover Ukraine's military and other financial needs for the next two years. The leaders will also discuss migration, the bloc's enlargement policy, trade and economies, but working out how to fund most of the 137 billion euros (USD 160 billion) the International Monetary Fund says war-ravaged Ukraine needs is top priority. It is up to us to choose how we fund Ukraine's fight. We know the urgency. It is acute. We all feel it. We all see it," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told EU lawmakers on the eve of the summit. European Council President Antonio Costa, who is chairing Thursday's meeting in Brussels, has vowed to keep leaders negotiating until an agreement is reached, even if it takes days. Many leaders will press for tens of billions of euros in frozen Russian assets held in Europe to be used to meet Ukraine's economic and military needs. Such a decision has neve

Brent crude futures fell $1.11, or around 1.8 per cent, to $59.45 a barrel at 1023 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was trading at $55.71 a barrel, down $1.11, or nearly 2 per cent

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European leaders are expected to cement support for Ukraine Monday as it faces Washington's pressure to swiftly accept a US-brokered peace deal. After Sunday's talks in Berlin between US envoys and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian and European officials are set to continue a series of meetings in an effort to secure the continent's peace and security in the face of an increasingly assertive Russia. Zelenskyy sat down Sunday with US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner in the German federal chancellery in the hopes of bringing the nearly four-year war to a close. Washington has tried for months to navigate the demands of each side as Trump presses for a swift end to Russia's war and grows increasingly exasperated by delays. The search for possible compromises has run into major obstacles, including control of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, which is mostly occupied by Russian forces. Zelenskyy on Sunday voiced

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Zelenskyy said on Sunday that the US, and European and other partners' security guarantees instead of NATO membership were a compromise on Ukraine's side

Russia on Saturday said the EU's decision to indefinitely freeze Russian sovereign assets is a targeted attack on peace efforts to resolve the Ukraine conflict, adding that Moscow would shortly take retaliatory steps. On Friday, the European Union Council decided to "prohibit, on a temporary basis, any transfers of Central Bank of Russia assets immobilised in the EU back to Russia." In a statement, it said the decision was taken as a "matter of urgency to limit damage to the Union's economy." Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in a press statement said that the timing of the EU decision shows that Brussels is seeking to undermine efforts to settle the Ukraine conflict, by delivering a direct blow to the peace initiatives of US President Donald Trump. Brussels is carefully concealing the fact that it will be citizens of EU countries who will ultimately pay for these political ambitions. Our retaliatory actions will follow shortly, Zakharova said. Responding to var

At least two people were killed in a drone attack in Russia's southwestern Saratov region and parts of Ukraine were without power, local authorities said Saturday, as US-led peace talks on ending the war press on. The drone attack damaged a residential building, and several windows were also blown out at a kindergarten and clinic, Saratov regional Gov. Roman Busargin said. Russia's defence ministry said on Saturday it had shot down 41 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight. In Ukraine, parts of the Kherson region, including the regional capital, also called Kherson, were without power Saturday following Russian strikes on energy infrastructure, regional head Oleksandr Prokudin said. Kyiv and its Western allies say Russia is trying to cripple the Ukrainian power grid and deny civilians access to heat, light and running water for a fourth consecutive winter, in what Ukrainian officials call weaponising the cold. The latest round of attacks came after Kremlin adviser Yuri