Trump tells the New York Post that he has a plan to end the war but declined to go into details
Donald Trump has said he held talks with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, over a negotiated end of the three year Russia-Ukraine war, indicated that Russian negotiators want to meet with US counterparts.
Trump told the New York Post that he had spoken to Putin, remarking that “I better not say” just how many times.
Continue reading...Baku reportedly preparing to appeal to ‘an international court’ unless Moscow takes responsibility for crash
Azerbaijan is escalating its rare standoff with the Kremlin as the fallout from the downing of an Azerbaijani passenger jet continues, highlighting Russia’s diminishing influence across the former Soviet Union.
Thirty-eight people were killed when an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed on 25 December near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after rerouting across the Caspian Sea from southern Russia.
Continue reading...US attorney general issues memo to break up effort started after 2022 Ukraine invasion to target those close to Kremlin
The US justice department under Donald Trump is disbanding an effort started after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine to enforce sanctions and target oligarchs close to the Kremlin.
A memo from the attorney general, Pam Bondi, issued during a wave of orders on her first day in office but not previously reported, said the effort, known as Task Force KleptoCapture, will end as part of a shift in focus and funding to combating drug cartels and international gangs.
Continue reading...Tribunal’s creation was first proposed days after the full-scale invasion, but lawyers have struggled to find the right courtroom for nearly three years
International lawyers have “laid the foundations” for a special tribunal to try Russia for the crime of aggression, the EU has said, hailing a significant step towards holding Vladimir Putin and his top officials accountable for the invasion of Ukraine.
In a statement late on Tuesday, the EU executive declared a breakthrough that it said would mean the Russian political and military leaders “who bear the greatest responsibility” would be held to account.
Continue reading...Putin ally projected to easily secure seventh term in election that US and EU have said could not be free or fair
Alexander Lukashenko was firmly on track to win a seventh five-year term as Belarusian president in an election western governments have rejected as a sham.
An exit poll broadcast on state television projected that Lukashenko would take 87.6% of the vote. The close ally of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, had earlier defended his jailing of dissidents and declared: “I don’t give a damn about the west.”
Continue reading...Autocrat makes comment about support for ‘older brother’ Putin as Belarusians vote in ‘sham’ presidential election
Belarusian autocrat Alexander Lukashenko said he had “no regrets” about allowing Russia to use his country to invade Ukraine, amid condemnation of the “sham” presidential vote almost certain to extend his 31 years of authoritarian rule.
Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said on Sunday that the vote was a “bitter day for all those who long for freedom and democracy”.
Continue reading...The latest protests come after private meeting between Robert Fico and Vladimir Putin in December
The Slovakian prime minister, Robert Fico, has rejected calls for his resignation after tens of thousands demonstrated against his government’s policy shift closer to Russia.
About 60,000 people protested in the capital, Bratislava, on Friday and approximately 100,000 turned out for rallies in cities across the country, the largest demonstrations since Fico returned to power in 2023.
Continue reading...Russian president strikes noticeably favourable tone, downplaying Trump’s economic threats
Vladimir Putin has said he is ready to discuss the war in Ukraine with Donald Trump and suggested it would be a good idea for them to meet.
In his first comments since Trump issued threats to inflict economic damage on Russia if it failed to end the war in Ukraine, Putin struck a favourable tone towards the US president.
Continue reading...Ukrainian president tells Davos that Europe must establish itself as an ‘indispensable’ player on the global stage
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that “at least 200,000” allied troops would be needed to enforce any peace deal in Ukraine as he urged Europe to “take care of itself” as Donald Trump returns to power in the US.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Zelenskyy said European leaders should not ask themselves what Trump would do next, and said that they instead needed to take collective steps to defend their continent at a time when it was under aggressive attack by Russia.
Continue reading...Timing may show two leaders want to coordinate approach in engaging with new US administration over Ukraine
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, held a video call with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in a symbolic display of unity just hours after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the US.
Speaking from his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Putin highlighted the close ties between the two countries, stating that their relations were based on “shared interests, equality, and mutual benefit“, calling Xi his “dear friend”.
Continue reading...Some in Kyiv think deal touted by US president is unrealistic but others have he will help end the war
People in Kyiv expressed a mixture of hope and scepticism on Tuesday that Donald Trump can end the war in Ukraine, as Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the US president as a “decisive” leader who would bring about a “just peace”.
Trump described himself as a “peacekeeper” who would avoid entangling the US in damaging foreign wars in his inauguration speech, but did not mention Ukraine, or explain how he might persuade Vladimir Putin to engage in negotiations almost three years after his full-scale invasion.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our Ukraine war coverage here
Russian forces have retaken 63.2% of the territory captured by Ukraine in the Kursk region of western Russia, the Russian defence ministry said on Friday.
Reuters could not independently verify the ministry’s statement, which said Russia had recaptured four settlements in the first two weeks of January.
Continue reading...The president defended his record on Ukraine, Gaza and Afghanistan but foreign policy successes have been few
On paper, few US presidents could boast the foreign policy bona fides of Joe Biden, a veteran statesman with nearly a half-century of experience before he even stepped into office.
But as his term comes to an end, critics have said that the president will leave a legacy of cautious and underpowered diplomacy, as even allies have conceded that the administration is still grasping for a cornerstone foreign policy success.
Continue reading...Authorities now have access to cockpit dialogue from Azerbaijan Airlines plane that went down on Christmas Day
Brazil’s air force has extracted the data from two black box recorders belonging to a crashed Azerbaijan Airlines plane that Baku claims was downed by Russia on Christmas Day, killing 38 of the 67 people on board.
The Brazilian-made Embraer 190 crash-landed in Kazakhstan after being diverted from a scheduled landing in the Chechen capital, Grozny, in southern Russia. Azerbaijan believes the plane was shot down by Russian air defences, which Moscow says were operational in the area at the time.
Continue reading...Footage purports to show Ukrainian armoured columns advancing towards village of Bolshoe Soldatskoe
Ukrainian armed forces began a surprise offensive in Russia’s Kursk region on Sunday, in an apparent attempt to regain the initiative on the battlefield before Donald Trump’s imminent return to the White House.
Video showed Ukrainian armoured columns advancing across snowy fields towards the village of Bolshoe Soldatskoe, north-east of the Ukrainian-held Russian town of Sudzha. Vehicles could also be seen driving through empty rustic settlements.
Continue reading...The US president-elect’s policy on the conflict may prove decisive, but appeasing both sides will be a challenge
A new year in Ukraine began in much the same way as the old one finished: with deadly Russian drone attacks across the country. In Kyiv, one person was killed and at least six others were injured in the first few hours of 2025.
It is Ukraine’s third new year since Russia’s invasion. If 2023 began with hopes high that Ukrainian battlefield gains would push Russia back and lead to an outright victory, by the start of 2024 the Ukrainian army and population were already settled in for the long haul and had few illusions about a quick victory.
Continue reading...Finnish real estate company says deal for sports and entertainment venue will restore it to its former glory
Helsinki’s main sports and entertainment arena is expected to reopen in the spring after getting caught in a Russian sanctions drama that left it disused, without power and starting to smell.
Helsinki Halli, formerly the Hartwall Arena, has been closed since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, when its Russian oligarch owners were subjected to sanctions from the EU and US, which meant they were boycotted by the entertainment industry, and banks and insurance companies refused to provide essential services. The last events to be held at the 14,000-capacity venue were an ice hockey game and the televised Finnish sport gala in January 2022.
Continue reading...President Aliyev says Moscow must ‘admit its guilt’ after downing plane, albeit unintentionally, with loss of 38 lives
Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev said the Azerbaijani airliner that crashed last week was shot down by Russia, albeit unintentionally, and criticised Moscow for trying to “hush up” the issue for days.
“We can say with complete clarity that the plane was shot down by Russia … we are not saying that it was done intentionally, but it was done,” he told Azerbaijani state television.
Continue reading...Zelenskyy describes cruise and ballistic missile strikes, which caused blackouts in several regions, as ‘inhuman’
Christmas morning in Ukraine was overshadowed by a massive Russian aerial attack using cruise missiles to target energy infrastructure across the country, which Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned as “inhuman”.
“Today, Putin deliberately chose Christmas to attack. What could be more inhuman? More than 70 missiles, including ballistic missiles, and more than a hundred attack drones,” the Ukrainian president said on Telegram.
Continue reading...Assault on Syria’s second-largest city by Islamist militants may tarnish Russia’s reputation as a global player
The walls of the military office in Aleppo were adorned with pictures of the Kremlin, flanked by Russian and Syrian flags hanging side by side. On the desks, documents detailing the cooperation between the two nations lay abandoned – telltale signs of Bashar al-Assad’s forces’ hasty retreat as rebels closed in on Syria’s second-biggest city over the weekend.
The short clip circulating online was recorded in the office of Russian advisers at Aleppo’s military academy after it was taken by rebels in a surprise offensive. It highlights the escalating threat to the Assad regime and, by extension, to Moscow’s strategic foothold in Syria and the broader region.
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