Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy met for a “very productive” assembly in Rome earlier than the funeral of Pope Francis, the White Home has mentioned, a day after the US president mentioned Russia and Ukraine have been “very near a deal” on ending the warfare. Ukraine confirmed the assembly however offered no particulars.
Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow on Friday to debate Washington’s peace plan. The US president mentioned after the three-hour assembly that it was day of talks and known as for a high-level assembly between Kyiv and Moscow to shut the deal. “Many of the main factors are agreed to,” Trump mentioned within the publish on his Reality Social platform, with out giving any particulars.
Trump made his feedback regardless of the Ukrainian president’s repeated rejections of a proposal that Kyiv cede Crimea to Russia. Trump mentioned in an interview with Time revealed on Friday that Crimea – which Russia annexed in 2014 – “will stick with Russia”. Washington has not revealed particulars of its peace plan however has urged freezing the frontline and accepting Russian control of Crimea in change for peace.
An American man recognized because the son of a deputy director of the CIA was killed in eastern Ukraine in 2024 whereas combating underneath contract for the Russian army, based on an investigation by impartial Russian media.
The Kremlin has blamed Ukraine for a automobile bomb that killed a senior Russian normal close to Moscow on Friday, hours before the Witkoff-Putin meeting. Kyiv has not commented on the blast that killed Yaroslav Moskalik, the most recent in a collection of Russian army officers and pro-war figures to be killed through the warfare. “There are causes to consider that Ukraine’s particular providers have been concerned within the homicide,” Russia’s international ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova mentioned, with out offering any proof.
Zelenskyy mentioned he may miss Pope Francis’s funeral on Saturday, which Trump is attending, resulting from vital “army conferences”. The Ukrainian chief had earlier mentioned he would attend the Vatican funeral, the place he needed to fulfill Trump. “If I’m not [there] in time, Ukraine can be represented at a correct stage,” Zelenskyy mentioned as he visited the positioning of a Russian strike on Kyiv on Thursday that killed 12 individuals and wounded at the very least 90.
Ukraine has detained a international vessel in its territorial waters that it alleges was concerned within the unlawful commerce of stolen Ukrainian grain, the SBU state safety service mentioned on Friday. “The investigation discovered that the arrested vessel was a part of Russia’s ‘shadow’ fleet, which the Kremlin makes use of to promote looted Ukrainian grain to 3rd nations,” it mentioned on Telegram. Kyiv has accused Russia of buying and selling stolen Ukrainian grain for the reason that 2022 warfare started – allegations Russia denies – however ship seizures have been uncommon.
Two civilians have been killed and one critically injured after a Ukrainian drone assault on a automobile in Russia’s Belgorod area on Friday, native governor Vyacheslav Gladkov mentioned.
Russia’s safety providers mentioned on Friday that they had arrested a Romanian citizen on suspicion of spying on army websites for Ukraine. The FSB safety company alleged the suspect had “collected and transmitted details about the places of air defence techniques within the metropolis of Sochi”. Romania’s international ministry mentioned the Romanian citizen was initially detained within the Abkhazia area 4 months in the past and subsequently transferred to Sochi.
