Russian security service alleges Ukrainian agent Ignat Kuzin rigged car with homemade explosives; Trump meets Zelenskyy and expresses doubt that Putin wants a ceasefire. What we know on day 1,159

Russia’s FSB secret service said on Saturday that it had detained a man it suspects of killing a senior general with a car bomb outside Moscow . Russia has accused Kyiv of being behind the blast on Friday, which killed Gen Yaroslav Moskalik. The FSB alleged a Ukrainian agent it named as Ignat Kuzin rigged a Volkswagen Golf in the city of Balashikha with a homemade explosive device from a Ukrainian secret service stash in the Moscow area and that the bomb was then detonated remotely from Ukraine. A video released by the FSB showed a man identified as Kuzin, and what was said to be his arrest taking place on a forest road. Kyiv has not commented on the blast, which bore the hallmarks of previous attacks on military figures and high-profile backers of the Kremlin’s offensive.

Donald Trump has said he doubts Vladimir Putin wants to end his war in Ukraine and expressed scepticism that a peace deal can be reached soon. The comments come only a day after Trump said Ukraine and Russia were “very close to a deal”. As William Christou writes, Trump said on Saturday that “there was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days … It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along.”

Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, sat down for a face-to-face talk in the Vatican basilica to discuss a possible ceasefire . The White House described Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy as “very productive”, while Zelenskyy said the talk with the US president was symbolic and had the “potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results”. Trump suggested after the meeting that he might put secondary sanctions on Russia and/or ratchet up banking restrictions.

Andrew Roth writes that for months, Zelenskyy and European leaders have struggled to get through to Trump that Putin does not want to stop the war . Now they might see hope for a change, but, Roth writes in his analysis, “This could, of course, all come to naught. The US president is notoriously mercurial.” A possible second Trump-Zelenskyy meeting in Rome did not take place.

Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday, after a “very positive” exchange with Zelenskyy, that Ukraine was ready for an unconditional ceasefire with the help of the US and Europe, and that the so-called “coalition of the willing” led by France and Britain would continue working on achieving that , as well as on “ending the war in Ukraine. That is an objective that we share in common with President Trump.” Zelenskyy also met the British prime minister, Keir Starmer; Italy’s PM, Giorgia Meloni; and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen.

Ukraine’s military on Saturday denied Russian claims that Ukrainian troops had been forced out of their last footholds in Russia’s Kursk region . The Ukrainian military’s general staff said its forces were continuing their operations in some districts of Kursk region, and its incursion into another part of Russia, Belgorod region, was still under way.

The Trump administration is letting a Russian Gazprom subsidiary continue operating in Serbia without sanctions for at least the next two months, according to Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic. NIS, majority-owned by Russia’s Gazprom, runs the only oil refinery in Serbia. Joe Biden put it under sanctions in January as he was leaving office, giving Gazprom 45 days to exit ownership of NIS. Since then it has received several waivers of sanctions related to the Russian war in Ukraine.