“Ukraine – Russia”

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Monday declared a three-day ceasefire in Ukraine on May 8-10 to mark the World War II Victory Day, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration decides whether a deal to end the more than three-year war is within reach.

The Kremlin said that the truce will start at 0000 on May 8 (2100 GMT May 7) and last through the end of May 10, adding that Putin ordered the full cessation of hostilities on “humanitarian grounds” to mark the May 9 holiday celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany.

President Trump has held an extra­ordinary one-to-one meeting with President Zelensky on the fringes of the Pope’s funeral before accusing President Putin of stringing him along over ending the war in Ukraine.

A Ukraine-Russia peace deal appeared to be inching closer after the intense exchanges in St Peter’s Basilica. Zelensky said that their 15-minute conversation had the “potential to become historic”, while the White House described it as “a very productive discussion”.

An American man identified as the son of a deputy director of the CIA was killed in eastern Ukraine in 2024 while fighting under contract for the Russian military, according to an investigation by independent Russian media.

Michael Alexander Gloss, 21, died on 4 April 2024 in “Eastern Europe”, according to an obituary published by his family. He was the son of Juliane Gallina, who was appointed the deputy director for digital innovation at the Central Intelligence Agency in February 2024.

Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Donald Trump for a “potentially historic” one-on-one meeting in St Peter’s Basilica on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral.

The two leaders met for private talks amid speculation “funeral diplomacy” could bring a breakthrough on their differences over ending the war in Ukraine.

They were pictured hunched over and facing each other on two simple red chairs inside the Italian high renaissance church, moments before the ceremony began.

h/t Mauser

A senior Russian military commander was killed on Friday in a car explosion in a suburb of Moscow, investigators said.

The Investigative Committee of Russia, the country’s equivalent to the F.B.I., issued a statement identifying the officer as Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a senior figure in the Russian General Staff who was directly involved in planning operations. The investigators said that they had opened a criminal inquiry into the explosion, which took place in the town of Balashikha, east of Moscow.

BREAKING:

Looks like Ukraine’s military intelligence has eliminated one of Russia’s top-level war criminals.

Deputy Chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the Russian General Staff, Major General Yaroslav Moskalik, was killed in a car bomb explosion in Moscow this morning pic.twitter.com/mUPLv1UAP5

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) April 25, 2025

Donald Trump has accused Volodymyr Zelenskyy of jeopardising what he claimed was an imminent peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, as he gave the clearest hint yet that the US would be willing to formally recognise Russia’s seizure of Crimea as part of any agreement.

The US president claimed a deal to end the war – largely negotiated between Washington and Moscow – was close, while the vice-president, JD Vance, said the agreement would include a proposal to freeze the conflict roughly along the current frontlines.

It was unclear how Ukraine and its European allies, who were meeting in London on Wednesday, would respond to a plan largely constructed in their absence. Zelenskyy countered by proposing a simple ceasefire without conditions on both sides, though this did not immediately gain any traction from the US.

President Putin’s Easter truce ended with explosions this morning as missiles hit a port city in the south of the country, signalling the start of a potentially crucial week for floundering peace talk efforts.

“With the end of the ceasefire, the armed forces of the Russian Federation continued to conduct the special military operation,” the Russian defence ministry said after Putin’s 30-hour truce expired at midnight.

Putin’s truce was widely seen by analysts as an attempt to convince President Trump that Moscow remains serious about a lasting peace, despite a wealth of evidence to the contrary.

Ukraine’s military has reported Russian drone attacks on several regions overnight, just hours after the end of a 30-hour “Easter truce” declared by Moscow.

Air raid alerts were issued by Ukraine’s air force for the Kyiv region, as well as Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia.

In the southern city of Mykolaiv, Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said “explosions were heard”. It was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties.

The US is open to recognising the annexed Crimea peninsula as Russian territory as part of a wider Ukraine peace deal.

On Thursday, Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy, presented allies with proposals in Paris that would freeze current battle lines and leave most Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory under Moscow’s control.

The potential concession comes as Donald Trump, the US president, signalled on Friday that his administration would abandon peace-brokering efforts without quick progress.

Vladimir Putin has declared an “Easter truce” in his invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian president said all military operations in Ukraine would cease from 6pm local time on Saturday (4pm UK) until midnight on April 21.

Ukraine has not responded, although Putin said he expected President Zelensky to “follow our example”.

WASHINGTON — The US and Ukraine will finally sign a long sought-after mineral rights agreement next week after months of negotiations, according to officials from both countries.

President Trump announced in the Oval Office Thursday that an agreement had been reached, estimating that it would be formalized April 24 at a location to be determined later.

In a little-noticed series of X posts early Wednesday, Ukrainian Minister of the Economy Yulia Svyrydenko announced that “a positive new step has been made in the ongoing progress with the United States on the Economic Partnership Agreement and the creation of an investment fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine.”

Two Chinese citizens captured fighting against Ukraine said they were “fed lies” by Russia and that Vladimir Putin’s forces were not as strong as they claimed.

In an evening press conference organised by the Ukrainian security service, Wang Guanjung and Zhang Renbo said: “All Russia fed us are lies. They’re fake. Russia isn’t as strong as they claim, and Ukraine isn’t as backward as they say.”