Ukraine war briefing: Trump claims deal to end war ‘very close’ after Putin talks
www.theguardian.com
Sat, 26 Apr 2025 06:22:28 +0300
Trump says most of the major points agreed, though he gave no details and differences between Kyiv and Moscow remain.
What we know on day 1,158See all our RussiaUkraine war coverageDonald Trump has said Russia and Ukraine are very close to a deal on ending the war after his envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian president Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday to discuss Washingtons peace plan.
The US president said after the threehour meeting that it was a good day of talks and called for a highlevel meeting between Kyiv and Moscow to close the deal.
Most of the major points are agreed to, Trump said in the post on his Truth Social platform, without giving any details.Trump made his comments despite Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyys repeated rejections of a proposal that Kyiv cede Crimea to Russia.
Trump said in an interview with Time published on Friday that Crimea which Russia annexed in 2014 will stay with Russia.
Washington has not revealed details of its peace plan but has suggested freezing the frontline and accepting Russian control of Crimea in exchange for peace.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.The Kremlin has blamed Ukraine for a car bomb that killed a senior Russian general near Moscow on Friday, hours before the WitkoffPutin meeting.
Kyiv has not commented on the blast that killed Yaroslav Moskalik, the latest in a series of Russian military officers and prowar figures to be killed during the war.
There are reasons to believe that Ukraines special services were involved in the murder, Russias foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said, without providing any evidence.Zelenskyy said he might miss Pope Franciss funeral on Saturday, which Trump is attending, due to important military meetings.
The Ukrainian leader had earlier said he would attend the Vatican funeral, where he wanted to meet Trump.
If I am not there in time, Ukraine will be represented at a proper level, Zelenskyy said as he visited the site of a Russian strike on Kyiv on Thursday that killed 12 people and wounded at least 90.Ukraine has detained a foreign vessel in its territorial waters that it alleges was involved in the illegal trade of stolen Ukrainian grain, the SBU state security service said on Friday.
The investigation found that the arrested vessel was part of Russias shadow fleet, which the Kremlin uses to sell looted Ukrainian grain to third countries, it said on Telegram.
Kyiv has accused Russia of trading stolen Ukrainian grain since the 2022 war began allegations Russia denies but ship seizures have been rare.Two civilians were killed and one critically injured after a Ukrainian drone attack on a car in Russias Belgorod region on Friday, local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.Russias security services said on Friday they had arrested a Romanian citizen on suspicion of spying on military sites for Ukraine.
The FSB security agency alleged the suspect had collected and transmitted information about the locations of air defence systems in the city of Sochi.
Romanias foreign ministry said the Romanian citizen was initially detained in the Abkhazia region four months ago and subsequently transferred to Sochi.
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