Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin finds US-Kyiv ceasefire deal ‘difficult to accept’

US Vice President JD Vance said talks with Russia over the peace deal were happening through multiple channels.

“Well, we’ve got some conversations that are happening on the phone and in person with some of our representatives over the next couple of days,” he said.

“As the President said, we think that we’re in a very good place where the Ukrainians have agreed to a ceasefire, and we’re now going to see whether we can get the Russians to agree to a ceasefire too and we’ll certainly have news on that when we when we find out that news.”

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.

The Foreign Office said it has summoned Russian ambassador to the UK Andrei Kelin today following an “increasingly aggressive and coordinated campaign of harassment against British diplomats”.

Britain said the accusations were “malicious and baseless”.

Following a proposed immediate 30-day ceasefire agreed to by Ukraine during peace talks yesterday, US President Donald Trump said American officials were on their way to speak with Russia about a halt to fighting.

“People are going to Russia right now as we speak. And hopefully we can get a ceasefire from Russia,” he said.

US President Donald Trump said the peace talks in Saudi Arabia were a “great success” and a final deal was “up to Russia now”.

Asked whether he had a meeting planned with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump said: “But we had a great success yesterday. We have a full ceasefire when it if it kicks in.”

He continued: “And we have to see it’s up to Russia now, but we’ve had a good relationship with both parties, actually, and we’ll see … people are going to Russia right now as we speak. And hopefully we can get a ceasefire from Russia.

“And if we do, I think that would be 80 per cent of the way to getting this horrible blood bath. Blood is taking place over there. On average, two to 3000 young people a week are being killed, and that stupid war that would have never happened if I were president. So we have people going over there.”

Ukrainians who have suffered “uncertainty and anguish” over the unknown fate of missing loved ones who have disappeared during the war with Russia can now make claims of compensation.

As of today, the Council of Europe has launched a new category under which Ukrainians can claim compensation over damage caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The council said parents, children, spouses and civil partners of people who have gone missing since February 24, 2022 can now file claims.

Executive Director of the Register, Markiyan Kliuchkovskyi, said the launch of a new claims category was “a crucial step in recognising the immense suffering endured by families of those who have gone missing due to Russia’s aggression”.

“The uncertainty and anguish of not knowing the fate of a loved one is a profound hardship, and while no compensation can erase that pain, this process offers a path towards acknowledgment and redress.”

Chief political commentator John Rentoul writes:

Jonathan Powell, the UK national security adviser, was “intimately involved” in helping Ukraine and the US reach a ceasefire deal to put to Russia, according to government sources reported by the BBC, travelling to Kyiv at the weekend to talk to Volodymyr Zelensky and to help the Ukrainian team draft a written proposal.

The prime minister told the Commons today that his team started work the moment Donald Trump suspended military support for Ukraine: “a huge amount of hard work, discussions and diplomacy was used with all of our allies and others to ensure that we could get yesterday [in Jeddah] to go as well as we hoped it would.” Powell was central to that effort.

When Starmer turned to Powell, 68, as one of several retreads from the Blair government, some people had their doubts. But Powell has already proved his worth – and he is a large part of the prime minister’s growing confidence on the international stage.

French Minister of Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu has greeted UK Secretary of State for Defence John Healey ahead of the E5 Defence ministers’ meeting on Ukraine in Paris this afternoon.

The Defence ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Britain are meeting to discuss support for Ukraine following the Russian military invasion and European defence.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has outlined the country’s three key demands following peace talks with the US in Saudi Arabia.

In a video posted on social media after the talks ended yesterday, he listed Kyiv’s main priorities: a ceasefire in the air, a ceasefire in the sea, and the release of prisoners of war and detainees.

The US and Ukraine peace talks have wrapped up with a 30-ceasefire agreement between Washington and Kyiv, but fighting on the ground has continued.

In an update from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine this afternoon, the Ukrainian army said Russia was continuing its efforts to advance into Ukrainian territory.

“So far, the enemy has attacked the positions of the Defense Forces 66 times,” the army said in a post on social media, adding the attacks were most active in the Pokrovsk and Toretsky areas.

“The border areas of our country were affected by Russian artillery shelling, in particular the settlements of Oleksandrivka, Baranivka, Starikove, Komarivka of the Sumy region; Archipivka of the Chernihiv region,” the post continued.

UK Defence Secretary John Healey has joined his European counterparts in Paris this afternoon to discuss ongoing support for Ukraine.

The defence leaders will use the meeting to discuss security arrangements including potential European peacekeepers should a ceasefire take place.

There will be a press conference following the meeting at 5.30pm.