#PUTIN

U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff held talks with President Vladimir Putin on Friday in St. Petersburg about the search for a peace deal on Ukraine as Trump told Russia to “get moving”.

The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine has suggested a provisional UN administration in Russia, beginning in a city in the Arctic region that was once a labor camp.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would support a U.S. proposal for both sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict to stop attacking energy infrastructure, adding that he hoped to speak to Donald Trump about his phone call with Vladimir Putin.

The two heads of state are due to discuss conditions for peace in Ukraine.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he plans to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday about ending the war in Ukraine, after what has been described as “positive” talks between U.S. and Russian officials in Moscow.

Witkoff is hopeful of real progress to end the conflict.

Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, said on Friday he would guarantee the safety of Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region if they surrendered, after U.S. President Donald Trump urged the Kremlin to spare the soldiers.

President Donald Trump has said there is a "very good chance" the war between Russia and Ukraine could end after “productive discussions” between a U.S. envoy and Vladimir Putin.

Putin caveated support for a ceasefire seems designed to signal goodwill to the U.S.

Putin’s visit to Kursk is the first since Ukraine’s invasion seven months ago.

Ukrainian and U.S. officials have indicated that crunch peace talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday are making progress amid efforts to find a path towards ending the war with Russia.

Russia's FSB security service said on Friday it had arrested two church figures suspected of plotting to kill a priest close to President Vladimir Putin, on the orders of a Ukrainian spy agency.

The U.S. secretary of state refuted claims that Ukraine and Europe have been excluded from peace talks with Russia, saying, “we’re just not at that stage yet.”

The Ukrainian president has said that Kyiv has reliable intelligence indicating Russia plans to send troops to Belarus this summer, warning that Moscow could use Minsk as a military launchpad to destabilize the EU.

Donald Trump said Russia’s release of an American jailed for trying to enter the country with marijuana could be a step toward ending the war in Ukraine.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone about ending the war in Ukraine, the New York Post reported, the first known direct conversation between Putin and a U.S president since early 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to revive a Soviet-era alternative to the Eurovision Song Contest, with Moscow set to host the event later this year.

Ukraine is prepared to take part in negotiations to end its war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, but he stressed that both the United States and Europe must be present in any talks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hopes Europe and the United States will be involved in any talks about ending his country's war with Russia, he told reporters on Saturday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that he and Donald Trump should meet to talk about the Ukraine war and energy prices, issues that the U.S. president has highlighted in the first five days of his new administration.