US Russia

Putin told Bush that uranium of Pakistani origin had been found in Iranian centrifuges, pointing to possible illegal transfers

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

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 ...

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

At least five vessels carrying about 3.4 million barrels were idling in the Yellow Sea as of Wednesday, double the volume of last week and the highest level for the grade in that region

The US has already sanctioned four top Russian producers and, along with other Group of Seven nations, hundreds of tankers involved in transporting Moscow's oil

Earlier Thursday, Zelenskyy floated the prospect of allowing Ukrainians to vote on whether to hand the Donbas region to Russia

President Donald Trump on Sunday claimed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy isn't ready to sign off on a US-authored peace proposal aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war. Trump was critical of Zelenskyy after US and Ukrainian negotiators completed three days of talks on Saturday aimed at trying to narrow differences on the U.S. administration's proposal. But in an exchange with reporters on Sunday night, Trump suggested that the Ukrainian leader is holding up the talks from moving forward. I'm a little bit disappointed that President Zelenskyy hasn't yet read the proposal, that was as of a few hours ago. His people love it, but he hasn't, Trump claimed in an exchange with reporters before taking part in the Kennedy Centre Honours. The president added, "Russia is, I believe, fine with it, but I'm not sure that Zelenskyy's fine with it. His people love it it. But he isn't ready. To be certain, Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn't publicly expressed approval for the White Hous

The US Treasury Department has imposed a USD 7.1 million fine on a New York-based property management firm, accusing it of violating sanctions by managing luxury real estate properties for oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control said Gracetown Inc. had received 24 payments between April 2018 and May 2020 totaling USD 31,250 on behalf of a company owned by Deripaska. OFAC says it gave Gracetown notice that dealings with Deripaska were prohibited, but the firm proceeded anyway. Justice Department filings from 2022 connect Gracetown Inc. with UK businessman Graham Bonham-Carter, who was arrested in October 2022 for conspiracy to violate US sanctions imposed on Deripaska as well as for wire fraud connected to funding Deripaska's US properties and efforts to expatriate the oligarch's artwork to New York. A lawyer who has represented Deripaska previously didn't immediately respond to a request for comment

Peskov said that Russia was grateful to Trump for his efforts but that the Kremlin would not be giving a running commentary on discussions with the US as publicity was unlikely to be constructive

Talks between Russia and the US on ending the nearly four-year war in Ukraine were productive, but much work remains, Yuri Ushakov, a senior adviser to President Vladimir Putin, told reporters on Wednesday. Putin met US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner in the Kremlin in talks that began late Tuesday as part of a renewed push by the Trump administration to broker a peace deal. Both sides agreed not to disclose the substance of the talks. Ushakov called the five-hour conversation rather useful, constructive, rather substantive, but added that the framework of the US peace proposal was discussed rather than specific wording. Putin's aide also said that so far, a compromise hasn't been found on the issue of territories, without which, he said, the Kremlin sees no resolution to the crisis. Some of the American proposals seem more or less acceptable, but they need to be discussed. Some of the wording that was proposed to us doesn't suit us. So, th

The United States and Russia have both recently threatened to resume nuclear testing, alarming the international community and jeopardising a global norm against such tests. Experts say these threats from the world's two largest nuclear powers put pressure on nonproliferation efforts and endanger global peace and security. Because of other countries' testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis, US President Donald Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site at the end of October. That process will begin immediately. Moscow quickly responded. Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Security Council that should the US or any signatory to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty conduct nuclear weapons tests, Russia would be under obligation to take reciprocal measures. Here's a look at what a resumption of nuclear testing could mean. The treaty established a norm against nuclear ...

Macron told reporters that only Ukraine could decide on its territories in peace negotiations with Russia

US and Ukrainian officials completed roughly four hours of talks Sunday aimed at finding an endgame to the war between Russia and Ukraine. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters afterward that the session was productive but work remains in the search for a peace deal. It's not just about the terms that ends fighting, Rubio said. It's about also the terms that set up Ukraine for long-term prosperity. ... I think we built on that today, but there's more work to be done." The high-level negotiations in Florida came days before President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, will be in Moscow to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Rubio, Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, represented the American side in the talks, held at a sensitive time as Ukraine continues to push back against Russian forces that invaded in 2022 while dealing with a domestic corruption scandal. Diplomats have focused on revisions to a proposed US-authored plan that was developed in

Money is as central to Europe's vital support of Ukraine as ammunition and intelligence. Yet, the bloc's most viable funding mechanism involves seizing billions of dollars worth of Russian assets that US President Donald Trump has proposed taking over. The first draft of Trump's 28-point peace plan called for an investment scheme for Ukraine's reconstruction controlled by the US but financed by USD 100 billion in frozen Russian assets matched by another USD 100 billion from the European Union with 50 per cent of profits sent back to Washington. The plan surprised Europeans, who have spent years fiercely debating the fate of Russia's frozen fortune. Those funds are central to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's plan to both maintain pressure on Russia and increase support for Ukraine as mysterious drone incursions and sabotage operations rattle European capitals. "I cannot see any scenario in which the European taxpayers alone will pay the bill," she said Wednesday

Trump said on Tuesday Witkoff would meet Putin and that Jared Kushner, who helped negotiate the deal that brought about an uneasy ceasefire in the Gaza war between Israel and the Palestinian

Speaking to reporters in Geneva this week, Rubio acknowledged receiving "numerous written non-papers and things of this nature," without elaborating.

The soil surrounding the gas facility in Ukraine was once pitch-black before it was burned to a rusty red by a massive Russian drone and missile assault. Scattered remnants of Shahed drones littered the reservoir designated for storing tanks of liquefied propane gas. Nearly a month after the October 30 attack, several tanks lay empty and in ruins. It hurts to look at all this (damage) because I saw firsthand (the facility's) establishment, construction and development, said Victor, who has worked there for 28 years and who cannot be named in full for security reasons. But we have, what we have and we must continue to work. The Associated Press gained exclusive access to Naftogaz's gas extraction fields in central Ukraine last week. The AP is the first and only news outlet to be allowed to film and photograph war damage at the facilities. Due to strict security protocols, the AP cannot name the facility or its exact location. Russia has targeted Ukrainian gas extraction this year in

In an Oct 14 phone call that lasted a little over five minutes, Witkoff advised Yuri Ushakov, Putin's top foreign policy aide, on how the Russian leader should broach the issue with Trump

Russia launched a wave of attacks on Ukraine's capital Kyiv early Tuesday, striking residential buildings and energy infrastructure, according to video footage and local authorities. A residential building in the central Pechersk district and another in Kyiv's eastern district of Dniprovskyi were badly damaged, Mayor Vitalii Kitschko said. Video footage posted to Telegram showed a large fire spread through multiple floors of the nine-story building in Dniprovskyi. At least four people were injured, the head of Kyiv city administration, Tymor Tkachenko, said. Ukraine's energy ministry said that energy infrastructure had been hit, without specifying what type or the extent of the damage. The Russian attack followed talks between US and Ukraine representatives in Geneva on Sunday about a US-Russia brokered peace plan. Oleksandr Bevz, a delegate from the Ukrainian side, told The Associated Press on Monday that the talks had been "very constructive" and the two sides were able to discu