What you need to know
Starmer’s key role in easing tensions
Sir Keir Starmer played a critical behind-the-scenes role in helping to ease tensions between President Trump and President Zelensky and secure a ceasefire agreement, according to a report in Politico.
As European leaders put out statements unequivocally supporting the Ukrainian leader after the disastrous Oval Office meeting last month, Starmer’s reaction “was to pick up the phone, not reach for Twitter”, according to a source.
He held calls with both Trump, who he had met days earlier at the White House, and Zelensky, and came up with a plan to bring the two parties back to the negotiating table.
Zelensky, who had refused to apologise to the Americans, relented and put out a conciliatory statement that was a crucial step towards a peace deal being reached.
The Politico report stated that Jonathan Powell, the UK national security adviser, travelled to Kyiv to draft the ceasefire agreement that was signed in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. Starmer continued to lobby Trump about the merits of the deal.
Finland joins ‘coalition of the willing’
Finland will definitely be part of any “coalition of the willing” that could help support Ukraine’s security, Elina Valtonen, the country’s foreign minister, told Times Radio.
Earlier this month, Sir Keir Starmer said Britain, France and some other nations would form a coalition to draw up plans to offer Ukraine support in the event of a peace deal to end Russia’s war.
She said: “We are definitely part of the coalition of the willing, and we are looking at the package of capabilities which we have to put to the table in order to help Ukraine in securing itself.
“We will, of course, have to secure the rest of Europe, too… there are many ways to participate and rest assured Finland will participate also.”
North Korean troops in Kursk
Oleksandr Syrsky also said that more than 10,000 North Korean troops are fighting for Russia in Kursk.
In a Facebook post, he added that 942 Russians had been taken as prisoners of war during fighting in the border region.
Ukrainian forces fight on in Kursk region
Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukraine’s top army commander, said his forces would continue to fight in the Kursk region for “as long as appropriate and necessary”.
“In the most difficult situation, my priority has been and remains saving the lives of Ukrainian soldiers,” Syrsky said in a statement. “To this end, the units of the defence forces, if necessary, manoeuvre to more favourable positions.”
Ukrainian troops have occupied part of the Russian region since August last year.
Earlier, Putin claimed that Russia had made major gains during his first visit to Kursk since the Ukrainian counter-offensive.
‘No reasonable approach’ from Putin, former envoy says
Kurt Volker, Trump’s former Ukraine envoy, said he didn’t believe that President Putin would agree to the ceasefire terms reached by the US and Ukraine in Saudi Arabia this week.
“Putin is Putin,” Volker told CNN in an interview on Wednesday. “Putin will not come up with a reasonable approach to dealing with Ukraine. He doesn’t want to live next door to an independent, free Ukraine. He doesn’t want Ukraine to be able to protect itself.”
Volker served as the US envoy to Ukraine from 2017 to 2019.
Soldiers captured in Kursk region
Russia has captured 430 Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the Kursk region, Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian general staff, told President Putin in a televised meeting on Wednesday.
Putin said the captured fighters should be “treated as terrorists, in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation,” suggesting they could face trials in Russian courts and be jailed for decades.
US team heading to Moscow
Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, spoke to his Russian counterpart on Wednesday, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters.
Leavitt also confirmed that Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, will travel to Moscow “later this week.”
“This is the closest we have been to peace in this war,” she added.
President Trump earlier said that US negotiators were “going to Russia right now”.
Europe will come ‘ever closer’
John Healey, the defence secretary, has said that European nations will come “ever closer” in the coming weeks.
Saying that European defence ministers would be “accelerating” work on creating a “coalition of the willing” to provide security guarantees for Ukraine, Mr Healey said: “In the coming weeks, you will see European allies coming ever closer together because our security is shared and our strength relies on that unwavering commitment to each other.
“Peace and security in Europe will only be achieved through strengthening Nato and standing with Ukraine.”
Putin calls for ‘liberated Kursk region’
President Putin ordered his army to “fully liberate” Russia’s Kursk region, after days of pushing back Ukrainian troops that have held territory there since August.
“I am counting on the fact that all the combat tasks facing our units will fulfilled, and the territory of the Kursk region will soon be completely liberated from the enemy,” Putin said in televised remarks during a visit to Russian troops.
President Putin visits Kursk region
President Putin has visited the Kursk region for the first time since it was attacked by Ukrainian forces, TASS, the Moscow state news agency, is reporting.
He was visiting troops involved in the counter-offensive, it reported. The visit comes not only after the US called for a 30-day ceasefire, but also as Russian troops made gains in Kursk in the past few weeks.
TASS said Russian forces had “liberated” more than 1,000 square kilometres of territory in the border region.
Slim majority found Trump ‘disrespectful’
A slim majority of Americans thought that President Trump was disrespectful to President Zelensky during their infamous Oval Office encounter, according to a poll.
The survey from The Economist and YouGov released on Wednesday found that 51 per cent of respondents said Trump was disrespectful to Zelensky, while 29 per cent said he wasn’t.
Meanwhile, 46 per cent of US adults surveyed said that Zelensky wasn’t disrespectful, while 32 percent said he was. About 20 per cent said they weren’t sure about both questions.
The results were split along party lines. More than seven in 10 of those who voted for Trump in the 2024 presidential election said Zelensky was disrespectful, while 85 per cent of voters for Kamala Harris said he wasn’t. The poll of 1,699 people was taken from March 9 to 11.
‘Pressure on Putin’, Healey says
John Healey, the defence secretary, has told President Putin “over to you” after discussions with his European counterparts in Paris.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday evening, Healey said: “I say to President Putin, over to you now.
“You say you want to talk. Prove it. Accept the ceasefire, start negotiations and end the war.
“Make no mistake, the pressure is now on Putin.”
Trump: ‘This could start World War Three’
President Trump said American officials were heading to Russia on Wednesday to discuss an agreement on the proposed 30-day ceasefire.
Trump said it was now up to Russia after Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire during more than eight hours of talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia.
“Hopefully we can get a ceasefire from Russia,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
“I’ve gotten some positive messages, but a positive message means nothing. This is a very serious situation, it could start World War Three.”
Ceasefire deal ‘blackmail’
The European Parliament has accused the US of attempting to “blackmail” Ukraine into accepting a forced ceasefire deal with Russia.
The legislature approved a joint declaration which stated that it “strongly deplores any attempts at blackmailing Ukraine’s leadership into surrender to the Russian aggressor for the sole purpose of announcing a so-called ‘peace deal’”.
It also hit out at the US for trying to sideline Europe and Ukraine from peace talks as “counterproductive and dangerous”.
President Putin was being “rewarded” for Moscow’s three-year invasion of Ukraine, the declaration added. It received the backing of more than 440 members of the 720-seat parliament.
German minister: ‘Now it is up to Putin’
The key message out of Paris is that the ball is in Russia’s court to end the war now that Ukraine and the US has agreed to a 30-day ceasefire.
Boris Pistorius, the German defence minister, said: “Now it is up to Putin. It is up to him to stop bombing… Russia must stop attacks on the Black Sea and along the front line.”
European defence ministers are keen to pile the pressure on the Russian president to come to the negotiating table. Although Russia has said it would not accept a European peacekeeping force on the ground in Ukraine, allies are continuing discussions on the assumption this will eventually be agreed by Putin.
One defence source said: “Putin can’t start taking negotiating positions if he is not willing to negotiate.”
European defence plans
Sébastien Lecornu, the French defence minister, has claimed that about 15 countries have expressed interest in discussing security architecture for Ukraine.
He was speaking after a meeting in Paris with the defence ministers of Britain, Germany, Italy and Poland.
Defence ministers discuss peacekeeping force
At the Val-de-Grâce chapel in Paris, defence ministers from the UK, France, Germany, Poland and Italy held talks for several hours on bolstering European security and plans for a peacekeeping force for Ukraine.
The elephant in the room was what the US would provide in terms of security guarantees.
One defence source said on the fringes of the summit that the critical minerals deal might be a security guarantee “depending on what guarantees it comes with”.
“What would they do to protect those interests,” said a source.
Putin is likely ‘eager to accept’, says former Ukrainian PM
President Putin “has to walk a very tight rope” but is likely “eager to accept this ceasefire proposal,” according to Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the former prime minister of Ukraine.
Speaking on Times Radio, he said: “Putin right now is sitting in a rabbit hole. On the one hand, he wants to reject the Trump proposal but on the other hand, he fully understands that it’s a window of opportunity for Putin. My guess is that Putin is more eager to accept this ceasefire proposal, but with conditions… because he will never buy this proposal at the face value. Otherwise, he will be under severe pressure in Russia.
“Russian forces are slowly advancing. In real terms, Russians gained just 0.5 per cent in the last year of Ukrainian territory, and they lost hundreds of thousands of their military personnel. They are out of tanks, of artillery, of hardware, and the rest of the stuff.
“So he has to walk a very tight rope. My guess is that he is (going) to accept the ceasefire proposal on the basis of conditions he is to unfold and then the next most dangerous stages appear. They will drag us into some kind of never-ending talks and negotiations.
“Putin is predictable. He is predictable in his bloodthirsty character, and he is predictable in his ultimate goal, which is to take over Ukraine and to dismantle both Nato, the European Union, and the free world to undermine everything.”
Human rights ‘central to plan’
The Council of Europe has published a 10-point road map for a “lasting and effective peace” in Ukraine, calling for human rights to be central to talks to end the fighting.
The Strasbourg-based Council, which monitors human rights and democracy on the continent, said rights had been “sidelined” in the recent geopolitical shifts and retreat from multilateralism.
“Ignoring human rights today means undermining peace tomorrow,” said Michael O’Flaherty, Human Rights Commissioner.
US senator says ‘hell to pay’ if Russia refuses ceasefire
Republican senator Lindsey Graham has congratulated President Trump on “getting Ukraine on board with a 30-day ceasefire proposal”, but said he “is extremely skeptical that Russia will accept the ceasefire”.
As a longtime supporter of Ukraine, Graham surprised many when he told President Zelensky he “needs to resign and send somebody over that we can do business with” after the disastrous Oval Office meeting.
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Today, however, he wrote on X: “Zelensky has passed the test of wanting peace. It is now up to Putin to show his cards.
“In order to move toward peace, I will be introducing bone-breaking sanctions [to the Senate] and tariffs against Russia before the end of the week. If they do not pursue the ceasefire with the same vigor as Ukraine, there will be hell to pay.”
Trump: ceasefire deal ‘makes sense for Russia’
President Trump has said that a deal “makes sense for Russia” but refused to assess the chance of a breakthrough with President Putin ahead of the meeting in Moscow later this week.
“I think it makes sense for Russia,” Trump said. “We’ve also discussed land.”
He suggested the US could impose “devastating” financial penalties on Moscow if they did not accept the proposed ceasefire deal. “There are things you can do that wouldn’t be pleasant in a financial sense. I can do things financially,” he said in the Oval Office.
Trump also criticised former presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, for failing to halt Russian expansion into Georgia and Crimea, culminating in the 2022 invasion.
Russian diplomats expelled
The Foreign Office said it was expelling a Russian diplomat and a diplomatic spouse in a tit-for-tat response to actions taken in Moscow earlier this week.
On Monday, a British diplomat and the spouse of another diplomat were expelled from Russia.
The UK Foreign Office has also summoned Andrei Kelin, the Russian ambassador to the UK, after an “increasingly aggressive and coordinated campaign of harassment against British diplomats”.
Ukrainian forces perform Haka for soldier
Ukrainian soldiers performed the Haka for a New Zealand soldier who was killed in fighting near Vuhledar, in the Ukrainian region of Donetsk.
Four soldiers performed the dance around the coffin of Dominic Bryce Abelen, 30, before it was repatriated.
Trump: ceasefire plan ‘up to Russia now’
President Trump has said it is “up to Russia now” after Ukraine agreed to a 30-day ceasefire.
“We have people going to Russia right now,” Trump told reporters at the White House during a meeting with Micheál Martin, the Irish taoiseach.
A US team, led by Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, is expected to meet Russian counterparts in Moscow later this week.
Trump said he is yet to speak to President Putin himself after a ceasefire agreement with Ukraine. Asked if he trusted the Russian president, Trump demurred: “We haven’t spoken to him yet.”
President Erdogan calls for ‘constructive’ response
President Erdogan of Turkey said he hoped Moscow would “respond constructively” to a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire as Donald Tusk, the prime minister of Poland, visited the country to discuss regional security.
“We consider Ukraine’s acceptance of a ceasefire as positive and important. We now hope Russia will respond constructively,” Erdogan told a news conference.
Speaking alongside Turkey’s president, Tusk said he hoped his meeting with Erdogan would help set a “positive tone” in Ukraine and Europe.
European defence ministers meet in Paris
The defence ministers of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Poland met in Paris today to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine.
Earlier in the day John Healey, Britain’s defence secretary, said Europe was “stepping up”, adding: “By deepening our defence cooperation, boosting spending and enhancing our collective strength, we send a clear message: we will not waver in standing with Ukraine and defending our shared values.”
Trump ‘hasn’t a clue’ about European history
Sir Winston Churchill’s grandson has claimed that President Trump “hasn’t a clue” about European history, accusing the White House of trashing America’s post-war alliances to side with Russia over the war in Ukraine.
Addressing US Republicans at the Lords International Relations select committee on Wednesday, Sir Nicholas Soames, 77, said it was “impossible…to take the president seriously” after the Trump administration twice voted with Moscow at the United Nations in recent days.
He lambasted the “repulsive defenestration” of President Zelensky at the disastrous Oval Office meeting with Trump and JD Vance, the US vice-president, two weeks ago. Lord Soames of Fletching suggested that Zelensky had been humiliated “in public as part of a television show”.
PM praised for diplomacy in Washington
Sir Keir Starmer is being praised in France for what observers say is his skilled handling of the Ukrainian crisis, Adam Sage and Tom Kington write.
Sébastien Maillard, special adviser at the Jacques Delors Institute in Paris, said: “I think many people are discovering [Starmer’s] name now. They can place him on the international stage.”
Michel Duclos, a former French diplomat told Sud Ouest newspaper: “He is staying in the traditional British diplomatic channel by positioning his country as a bridge between the US and Europe but you can see that day after day, it is getting closer to Europe and moving away from the European pillar. He has proved himself on the international scene and shown skill in Washington.”
He said the prime minister’s stance was going down well in France nine years after a Brexit referendum that left the country baffled. “It’s amazing how people — not just decision makers but ordinary people as well — are welcoming this. We all know that [Britain and France] are like-minded countries.”
Scepticism over ceasefire plan in Russia
Reacting to the 30-day ceasefire proposed by Washington, Liliya, a Russian living in Moscow, said she did not “trust the US”, adding: “Their position constantly changes.”
“If they [the US] really want it, then I think anything is possible,” she told the BBC. “Of course, I hope all this [war] ends soon, our people are dying there and I feel sorry for the other guys.”
Ben Tavenar told the broadcaster he had “really hope[d]” for a truce, but was sceptical it would lead to long-term peace.
“I see [a danger in this for Russia] given what I’ve heard today. There will be no shooting for 30 days and they will be supplied with weapons. What’s that? It’s the same thing, the same war, just slower.”
US stops grants protecting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure
The US has terminated an agreement providing $75 million (£58 million) to help counteract the impact of Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
Ukraine’s Energy Community Secretariat said the discontinuation of grants, provided through United States Agency for International Development (USAid), would “reduce the funds available for the purchase of necessary equipment for the energy sector”.
The Trump administration has cut more than 80 per cent of USAid programmes in an ongoing purge. Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, announced on Monday that 5,200 of USAid’s 6,200 global programs had now been axed.
Inside Ukraine’s mineral deposits — and why they’re so valuable
President Zelensky might have thought he was being smart last September by offering Donald Trump a deal involving mineral rights in return for continued backing for Ukraine in its war with Russia. By proposing a businesslike deal to the presidential candidate, he would be talking Trump’s language.
When President Trump leapt on that offer, seeing an opportunity for “winner takes all” negotiations, Zelensky’s plan seemed to have backfired. Trump said Ukraine should simply hand over half a trillion dollars worth of reserves with nothing in exchange.
As with so much Trump says, though, the end result looks certain to be very different. The details will be left murky and the winners and losers will be unclear.
• Read in full: What minerals does Ukraine have and why does Trump want them?
Russian ship strike ‘an attack on global food security’
Ukraine’s foreign minister said that a Russian missile attack on the Black Sea port of Odesa, which damaged a grain vessel and killed four Syrians, was an “attack on global food security”.
“It demonstrates how close this war is to Algeria, Syria, and other countries,” Andrii Sybiha posted on X, adding that the vessel was supposed to deliver wheat to Algeria.
The latest death toll for the war in Ukraine
After three years of the largest war in Europe since 1945, the scale of the death toll in Ukraine is not clear.
Both the Ukrainian and Russian governments have been less than forthcoming with official casualty statistics, while watchdogs and other foreign parties have released their own estimates.
The Times has gathered information from multiple sources to provide the latest death toll.
• Read in full: What is the Ukraine war death toll?
Ukrainian troops remain in key town, claims MP
Kyiv’s troops have not completely withdrawn from Sudzha, a key Russian town in the Kursk region, according to Roman Kostenko, a Ukrainian MP.
He said: “This morning I spoke with the fighters who are in that area of responsibility, they do not confirm our complete withdrawal from Sudzha.”
Meanwhile, President Zelensky said Russians were “clearly trying to put maximum pressure on our troops”, but added: “We are preserving the lives of our soldiers as much as possible.” He also warned of “strong information pressure” from Moscow.
Russian response is unpredictable, warns expert
While Ukraine appears to have got back on an “even keel” with the US, it is still unclear what it has had “to compromise behind the scenes”, Matthew Savill, the director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, said.
“We don’t quite know what terms and conditions the Russians will put on any ceasefire or how they will respond,” he told Sky News.
“So there’s a lot of the big driving issues behind the war that are being discussed as part of this, because this is essentially talks about getting to talks.”
He cautioned that Russia may “play around with the terms of any ceasefire” in the coming days.
Starmer pleased with progress in US-Ukraine talks
Sir Keir Starmer welcomed “progress” in talks between the US and Ukraine during today’s prime minister’s questions. “We must now redouble our efforts to get a lasting, secure peace,” he told MPs.
“On Saturday, I’ll convene international leaders to discuss how we can make further progress.”
The prime minister is due to host a virtual meeting on Saturday to build on a summit in London last month where he announced the formation of a “coalition of the willing” to support Ukraine.
No trust in Russia, says Zelenksy
President Zelensky said he had “no trust” in Russia over a potential 30-day ceasefire, but insisted that he was “very serious” about the truce.
“For me it is important to end the war … We are ready for a ceasefire for 30 days as proposed by the American side.”
Kyiv residents remain sceptical about ceasefire
Ukraine will refuse to recognise occupied land
Ukraine will “not recognise any territories occupied by Russia”, President Zelensky has said, describing the stance as “our main red lines” in any future peace talks with Russia.
“We will not recognise any territories occupied by Russia,” he said. “This is a fact. Our people fought for this, our heroes gave their lives.
“Therefore, no one will forget this. When I say that no one will forget, these are our main red lines.”
Today Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said the US and Ukraine “had conversations” about territorial concessions during yesterday’s talks in Saudi Arabia.
US will take ‘strong steps’ if Russia rejects truce
If Russia rejects proposals made during discussions in Saudi Arabia, Ukraine can expect the US to take “strong steps” to pressure Russia, Zelensky has told reporters.
“My understanding is that we can count on strong steps. I don’t know the details yet, but we are talking about sanctions and strengthening Ukraine,” Zelensky added.
“Everything depends on whether Russia is willing [agree to proposals], to install a truce, or if it is willing to continue killing people.”
Zelensky: Ukraine is ready to sign minerals deal
President Zelensky has said that Ukraine is ready to sign a framework mineral deal with the US.
Speaking for the first time since a 30-day ceasefire was proposed after negotiations in Saudi Arabia, Zelensky told a press conference that the talks were “constructive”.
“We want to end this war,” he says. “And we want the US president to see it. I want the Americans to see and to feel it.”
On signing a rare earth minerals deal, Zelensky said that he was “ready to sign a framework agreement”.
He told reporters: “As a first step, we have always talked about it. Honestly, I thought we would sign it earlier. There is nothing to talk about. There are no secrets behind the scenes. We are ready.”
Ukraine ‘abandons crucial Kursk town’
Ukrainian forces have fully withdrawn from the crucial town of Sudzha in Kursk, the Ukrainian open-source mapping project Deepstate has shown. Kyiv has not commented.
Sudzha is a key Ukrainian supply hub and was the only town it seized during last August’s incursion when its troops crossed the border into Russia. Moscow retaking the town would represent a significant setback for Kyiv’s forces.
“The enemy is retreating in panic and disorder without [having] received any orders,” a Russian serviceman, who identified himself as Zombie, told Kremlin-run television. “That’s it. It’s a collapse.”
US to discuss ceasefire with Moscow today
Marco Rubio has said that Washington will contact Moscow “today”.
“We’ll have contact with them today, there’s already been contact at different levels with counterparts, different members of the administration, and that will continue,” he told reporters in Ireland, where his jet has stopped to refuel after yesterday’s talks in Saudi Arabia on the way to G7 talks in Canada.
“If [Russia] says no, it will tell us a lot about what their goals are and what their mindset is,” he said.
William to visit British troops in Estonia
The Prince of Wales is scheduled to travel to Estonia next week to visit British troops involved in Nato operations.
The visit will show the UK’s commitment to the alliance’s eastern flank, Kensington Palace said, while William will meet local leaders in Tallinn, the capital, to learn about Estonia’s response to the conflict in Ukraine.
Britain has about 900 troops in Estonia and Poland as part of Operation Cabrit, the British army’s contribution to the Nato build-up of strength on its eastern flank following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The diplomatic move comes after Sir Keir Starmer apologised to the Baltic states — Estonia along with Latvia and Lithuania — after failing to invte them to a high-level summit in London last month, used to discuss Ukrainian and European security.
Rubio calls for Russia to stop fighting
Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, has urged Russia to cease hostilities in Ukraine “so people will stop dying, so bullets will stop flying”.
He told reporters on a trip to Ireland: “There is no military solution to this conflict … The only way we’re going to have peace is through negotiation.”
He said that Washington would bring the new ceasefire proposal to Moscow “directly”, adding: “The ball is truly in their court.”
Rubio declined to characterise a proposed mineral deal between Ukraine and the US as a security guarantee, but conceded there needed to be a “sufficient deterrent against future attacks”.
Steve Witkoff’s rise from Trump golf partner to Moscow envoy
When President Trump sends an envoy to Moscow for critical negotiations over the Ukraine war this week, it won’t be Marco Rubio, his chief diplomat.
The man Trump has trusted with this critical mission, including a second potential meeting with President Putin, is his friend, golf partner and fellow real estate tycoon Steve Witkoff, whose diplomatic portfolio continues to expand.
Witkoff, who was not present at Rubio’s meetings with Ukrainian officials in Jeddah on Tuesday, comes to Moscow with one critical question hanging in the air. Will Putin make any concessions in order to end the war? And will Witkoff even ask him to?
• Read in full: Can a real estate mogul — and Trump’s golf partner — broker peace in Ukraine?
Russian captures villages in eastern Ukraine
Russian troops seized the villages of Dniproenerhiia and Novomarkove in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the RIA state news agency reported, citing the defence ministry.
Moscow’s forces also hit a transport vessel carrying ammunition for Ukrainian forces, the agency said.
Territory losses boost risks for Ukraine
Jack Clover writes: Despite the advantages a 30-day ceasefire may offer Ukraine, there are still multiple risks it must consider.
Russia occupies a large swathe of the south and east of the country and there has been no talk yet of those territories being returned. The one territorial bargaining chip that they hold, in Russia’s Kursk region, seems to be slipping away as dramatic firefights for the city of Sudzha rage this morning.
Several Ukrainian media outlets reported today that Russia’s forces have entered Sudzha, helped by an attack on a supply route linking the town with the Sumy region of Ukraine.
Zelensky’s ‘key role’ in Saudi talks
President Zelensky “personally played a key role” in yesterday’s negotiations in Jeddah, the Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman has said.
Heorhii Tykhyi said the talks showed a “competent balance of flexibility and firmness”, with Zelensky managing the Ukrainian side remotely and “directed the delegation’s actions”.
“Negotiations lasted a total of more than eight hours — almost uninterrupted, except for lunch, during which work was generally going on,” he added.
Ceasefire lets Ukraine take back initiative
Last night’s acceptance of an immediate 30-day ceasefire marked a shift in Ukraine’s position after it previously warned that a full ceasefire would offer Russia time to regroup and attack with renewed strength, though they were open to a temporary halt to fighting in the air and at sea.
But the strategic advantage the Jeddah joint statement offered to Ukraine was too good to let slip away. It was a chance to seize back the initiative.
In the unlikely case Russia agrees and the ceasefire holds, the Ukrainians will be able to rest without the threat of death by missile for the first time in three years.
If Russia agrees to a ceasefire, then breaks it, Ukrainians may hope that the US will rally round Kyiv and offer more support than before. If Russia rejects the ceasefire outright, or obfuscates or makes maximalist demands, then they will hope that President Trump will see Moscow, not President Zelensky, as the obstacle to peace.
Four killed in Ukrainian blast at factory
Four people have been killed in Kursk and two injured after a Ukrainian attack on a factory, the Russian acting governor of the region, Alexander Khinshtein, has said.
“Four employees of the company were killed, among them three men and one woman,” Khinshtein said, adding that the attack hit an agricultural plant in the village of Kozyrevka, east of fierce fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces in Sudzha.
Polish PM heads to Turkey in hope of defence help
Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, will head to Turkey today to meet President Erdogan and discuss the “possible involvement of both Turkey and Poland when it comes to ensuring lasting peace and calm in the region”.
Erdogan is expected to ask for concessions in exchange for help with Europe’s rearmament, which could include visa-free travel or a new customs union with the EU.
Poland, a staunch ally of Ukraine, has called on Europe to increase defence spending and says it will explore acquiring nuclear weapons as a means to reduce dependence on the US. Turkey, meanwhile, has Nato’s second biggest army and has significantly developed its military technology over the past ten years.
Watch: Trump praises Ukraine for agreeing to ceasefire
Kyiv’s forces ‘retreat from captured Russian land’
The bulk of Ukrainian forces in Kursk appear to have evacuated the Russian region and taken up positions on the other side of the border, including some of Kyiv’s heaviest brigades, according to Forbes.
“My friends managed to leave Kursk, avoiding encirclement,” one Ukrainian source said. “It’s sad that it came to this. But it is what it is.”
In recent days, Moscow claims to have retaken a number of settlements in Kursk after Kyiv’s forces seized large parts of the region last August. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told reporters today that the “dynamic is good” for Russia’s military in Kursk.
It has led to fears that Ukraine may lose a crucial bargaining chip before potential peace negotiations with Russia.
Scholz: Ceasefire is now up to Putin
Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, has described the proposed 30-day ceasefire as an “important and correct step towards a just peace for Ukraine”.
“We stand with Ukraine and the US and welcome the proposals from Jeddah. Now it is up to Putin,” he added in a post on X.
Ukraine dismisses general as Russia advances in Kursk
The Ukrainian general responsible for the defence of the north of the country, including the capital Kyiv and the Sumy region — where fighting continues against Russian troops attempting to push over the border from Kursk — has been dismissed.
Dmytro Krasylnykov was dismissed on March 7, he confirmed to local media this morning. He will continue serving in the reserves.
Moscow has had relative success in recent weeks ejecting Kyiv’s forces from parts of the Kursk region captured by Ukraine in a cross-border incursion last August, with the Kremlin announcing it had retaken five settlements near the Ukrainian border in one day.
Kremlin waiting on US briefing over ceasefire
The Kremlin said it was “not getting ahead of ourselves” and insisted it needed to be briefed by the US before giving a detailed response to a proposed 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine.
In Russia’s first official reaction to yesterday’s talks in Saudi Arabia, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not rule out the possibility of a phone call between President Trump and President Putin, saying: “If necessary, it will be organised very quickly.”
“We assume that Secretary of State [Marco] Rubio and Adviser [Mike] Walz through various channels in the coming days will inform us on the negotiations that took place and the understandings reached,” he said.
Russia demands end to Nato expansion
Russia’s foreign minister has again rejected western calls for peacekeeping forces to be deployed in Ukraine in any future peace agreement.
“I am mostly amazed with this peacekeepers obsession,” Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with US bloggers.
Without explicitly referencing the ceasefire proposal that came after talks in Jeddah yesterday, he said that “any attempt to approach the Ukrainian crisis” should “concentrate on the root causes of the conflict”, adding: “And Donald Trump confirmed that one of the root causes was Nato expansion.”
Lavrov criticised the UK and Europe, claiming they were “preparing something to pressure the Donald Trump administration back into some aggressive action against Russia”.
Rouble drops on ceasefire breakthrough
The Russian rouble has fallen by nearly 1 per cent from a more than six-month high against the dollar.
The currency had strengthened after President Trump paused military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
“The Russian currency needs positive geopolitical news to continue its growth and this may be difficult in the near future,” Alexei Antonov, an analyst for Alor Broker, said. “Market uncertainty will likely remain until Moscow-Washington contacts take place.”
UK crucial in brokering ceasefire deal, say sources
Britain was “intimately involved” behind the scenes to help the US and Ukraine secure last night’s ceasefire breakthrough, according to UK government sources.
Jonathan Powell, the prime minister’s national security adviser, was dispatched to Kyiv to meet President Zelensky and his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, over the weekend to work on a written proposal to bridge the gap between the two sides.
Powell, a seasoned diplomat and political strategist, also worked with Mike Waltz, the US’s national security adviser, as well as French and German colleagues on preparations for the meeting in Jeddah including a plan for a peace process starting with a ceasefire.
The US announcement that intelligence sharing and military aid had restarted has been met with relief across European capitals ahead of talks in Paris today with John Healey, the defence secretary, and his French, German, Italian and Polish counterparts.
As leaders wait for Russia’s response to the proposal, Europe is keen to show that it is taking its commitment to guaranteeing Ukrainian security — and its own — seriously.
Ukraine intelligence sharing has resumed, US confirms
A pause in US intelligence sharing with Ukraine has ended, Tulsi Gabbard, the US’s national intelligence director, confirmed.
“Because of President Trump’s leadership, we are one significant step closer to ending the bloody war in Ukraine. Per the President’s direction, the pause on intelligence sharing with Ukraine has ended,” Gabbard said on X.
One killed in strikes on Zelensky’s hometown
A 47-year-old woman died and nine others were injured in overnight strikes on the city of Kryvyi Rih, President Zelensky’s hometown.
Elsewhere in the city, an infrastructure target was hit while emergency services were there attending a blaze from an earlier strike.
“Russian forces launched a missile strike on Kryvyi Rih, damaging an infrastructure facility,” the emergency services said. “The Russians launched a second strike on the emergency workers while they were dealing with the aftermath of the attack. Two fire appliances were damaged.”
Nineteen Russian drones were destroyed overnight in the Dnipropetrovsk region, which includes Kryvyi Rhi, local officials said.
Aid to Ukraine ‘back to previous levels’
Poland has confirmed that supplies of arms through Poland to Ukraine are back to “previous levels” after the US agreed to resume military aid for Kyiv.
Radoslaw Sikorski, the Polish foreign minister, speaking alongside his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha, said he was satisfied with the outcome from yesterday’s negotiations in Jeddah.
“I confirm that arms deliveries via Jasionka [an important logistics hub near the border with Ukraine] have returned to previous levels,” Sikorski added.
Time to see if Russia is playing for time, says Zelensky aide
The whole world will see who really wants peace, Andriy Yermak, President Zelensky’s chief of staff, said this morning after talks in Jeddah.
“Ukraine is ready to accept a 30-day ceasefire if Russia agrees. It is a necessary step for the start of work on real security guarantees and for the preparation of the final terms of a peace agreement,” he wrote on his Telegram channel this morning.
“But now the key is in Moscow’s hands — the whole world will see who really wants peace and who is simply playing for time.”
‘Difficult’ for Putin to accept ceasefire when Russia winning
Russian sources said it would be “difficult” for President Putin to accept a proposed 30-day ceasefire considering the upper hand Moscow’s forces currently have in Ukraine.
“It is difficult for Putin to agree to this in its current form,” one source told Reuters. “Putin has a strong position because Russia is advancing.”
Another senior Russian source said the ceasefire looked like a trap from Moscow’s perspective, with Putin finding it hard to halt the war without concrete guarantees.
A third source said the big picture was that the United States had agreed to resume military aid and intelligence sharing and had decorated that move with a ceasefire proposal.
China hopes for ‘lasting peace’
China’s foreign ministry, which has had to tread a delicate line in its attitudes to the Ukraine war, gave a non-committal response to the apparent breakthrough in Saudi Arabia, saying it “noted relevant reports” and hoped for “sustainable and lasting peace”.
Beijing has been reluctant to criticise the Russian invasion as President Xi has moved national policy closer towards an unofficial anti-American alliance with President Putin.
However, China is nervous of the consequences of Ukraine losing territory. National sovereignty is a clear principle Beijing demands that others respect when it comes to Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang. While it does not wish to see Putin defeated by pro-western forces, still less fall from power, China would also be nervous of a revanchist Russia for its own territorial and geographic reasons.
Some commentators have noted that Chinese television journalists, who up to now have reported exclusively on the war from the Russian side, last week appeared near the front lines on the Ukrainian side, including the Beijing-aligned Phoenix television station which reported alongside the Ukrainian army.
Healey to discuss peacekeeping force with allies
John Healey is set to meet counterparts from Europe’s main military powers in Paris today to draw up plans to bolster security on the continent.
The British defence secretary will join ministers from France, Germany, Italy and Poland at the Val-de-Grâce chapel to discuss plans for a peacekeeping force in Ukraine after the war ends.
“The UK remains steadfast in its support for Ukraine, and we will continue to lead alongside our European partners as we push for a just and lasting peace,” Healey said.
“European nations are stepping up. By deepening our defence co-operation, boosting spending, and enhancing our collective strength, we send a clear message: we will not waver in standing with Ukraine and defending our shared values.”
CIA boss speaks with Russia counterpart
Russian and US officials have appeared to made initial contact since Ukraine accepted a 30-day ceasefire.
Sergei Naryshkin, Russia’s foreign intelligence chief, held a phone call yesterday John Ratcliffe, the director of the CIA, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.
They discussed issues of co-operation between their respective intelligence agencies and crisis management. It is not clear if the ceasefire was discussed.
It came after a Russian ballistic missile strike overnight on the port city of Odesa killed four people and damaged a Barbados-flagged cargo ship, according to the Ukrainian authorities.
“Unfortunately, four people died — citizens of Syria,” Oleksii Kuleba, vice-prime minister for reconstruction, said. “At the time of the attack, the vessel was loading wheat for export to Algeria. It was a completely civilian vessel.”
Russia bombards Ukraine amid ceasefire talks
Air raid alerts sounded in 12 of Ukraine’s regions — about half the country — last night, minutes after news of the ceasefire agreement broke.
Over a dozen Russian drones flew into Ukraine as fighting also continued in Russia’s Kursk region amid reports that Russian forces were pushing into the town of Sudzha.
The Russian defence ministry said this morning that air defence units intercepted and destroyed 21 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Twelve of the drones were downed over the territory of the Bryansk region that borders Ukraine, the ministry said on Telegram, while the rest were destroyed over the Kursk and Kaluga regions, as well as over the Crimean Peninsula and the Black Sea.
Moscow will set ceasefire terms, says top Russian
An influential Russian lawmaker has said that any ceasefire proposal would be agreed on Moscow’s terms, not Washington’s, as Russia gains ground in Ukraine.
“Russia is advancing [in Ukraine], and therefore it will be different with Russia,” said Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the international affairs committee in the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia’s parliament.
“Any agreements — with all the understanding of the need for compromise — on our terms, not on American. And this is not boasting, but understanding that real agreements are still being written there, at the front. Which they should understand in Washington, too.”
Yesterday, Russia’s ministry of defence claimed to have captured 12 settlements in the Kursk region, killing 270 Ukrainian soldiers and destroying two Ukrainian tanks, two US-made Paladin artillery systems and several armoured vehicles.
Trump to Putin: ‘It takes two to tango’
President Trump said he would talk to President Putin to try and convince him to enact the 30-day ceasefire.
“I’ll talk to Vladimir Putin, it takes two to tango,” Trump said. “Now we have to go to Russia and hopefully Putin will agree to [the ceasefire] also and we can get this show on the road.”
Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, was due to meet his Russian counterpart in the coming days and Trump’s special envoy to the region, Steve Witkoff, plans to visit Moscow this week to meet Putin.
‘Ball in Russia’s court’
The United States and Ukraine accepted a proposal for an immediate ceasefire and Washington resumed military aid and intelligence sharing with Kyiv.
The 30-day ceasefire plan was drawn up by American and Ukrainian officials after more than eight hours of negotiations in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday.
In a rare joint statement, the US and Ukraine announced that Washington would “immediately lift the pause on intelligence sharing and resume security assistance to Ukraine”.
President Zelensky said in his nightly video address the US proposed taking a full interim ceasefire, stopping missile, drone, and bomb attacks, not only in the Black Sea, but also along the entire front line. “Ukraine is ready to accept this proposal we see it as a positive step and are ready to take it,” Zelensky said.
Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said the US would now take the jointly-signed offer to Russia, and that the “ball was in Russia’s court”.
Thus far, there has been no official response from the Kremlin.
