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US president Donald Trump will use his influence over Russia to negotiate a peace deal, his spokeswoman has insisted, as his special envoy Steve Witkoff held talks with President Vladimir Putin.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said: “We believe we have leverage in negotiating a deal to a peace deal, and we're going to use that leverage, and the president is determined to see this through.”
Earlier, Mr Trump warned on social media that “Russia has to get moving” on a ceasefire.
He posted: “Russia has to get moving. Too many people ere DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war.”
Top US diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff has been in talks with Mr Putin for more than two hours. The pair shook hands when they first met in St Petersburg.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Western allies have agreed a record £18 billion (€21bn) of military support for Kyiv, Britain has announced.
UK defence secretary John Healey opened the meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG) in Brussels with a plea to his fellow defence ministers to “step up our support for Ukraine in the fight”. Mr Healey added: “2025 is the critical year for the war in Ukraine, and this is the critical moment.”
Peace ‘appears out of reach’ as Putin ‘drags his feet’
Jane Dalton11 April 2025 23:25
World must remember Russia's crimes, says Zelensky, honouring 19 dead
President Volodymyr Zelensky has paid tribute to the 19 people killed, including nine children, when a Russian ballistic missile landed next to apartment buildings and a children's playground in his home town.
After laying toys and flowers in their memory at the site in Kryvyi Rih, he wrote: “We have no right to forget the crimes Russia has committed against Ukrainians. And everyone in the world should remember as well – for Russia, human life means nothing.”
Jane Dalton11 April 2025 22:15
Partition Ukraine like post-war Berlin, says Trump envoy
Ukraine could be partitioned like Berlin after the Second World War as part of a peace deal, President Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia has suggested.
Retired lieutenant general Keith Kellogg said UK and French troops could adopt zones of control in the west of the country, forming a “reassurance force”.
Russia’s army could remain in the occupied east, and between the two would be Ukrainian forces and a demilitarised zone, said Gen Kellogg, who was previously national security adviser to vice-president Mike Pence.
The Anglo-French-led force west of the Dnipro river, which bisects Ukraine from north to south, would “not be provocative at all” to the Kremlin, he told The Times.
Jane Dalton11 April 2025 20:52
Witkoff and Putin talk for more than four hours
Talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US special envoy Steve Witkoff have ended after more than four hours, Russian media reported.
The Interfax news agency said Mr Witkoff had left the site of the talks, the presidential library in St Petersburg, Russia's second largest city.
Jane Dalton11 April 2025 20:36
Chinese fighting for Russia are mercenaries, say US sources
More than 100 Chinese citizens fighting for the Russian military against Ukraine are mercenaries who do not appear to have a direct link to China's government, US sources say.
Chinese military officers have, however, been behind Russia's lines with Beijing's approval to draw tactical lessons from the war, a former Western intelligence official told Reuters.
The head of US forces in the Indo-Pacific, Admiral Samuel Paparo, confirmed on Wednesday that Ukrainian forces had captured two men of Chinese origin after Volodymyr Zelensky said about 155 Chinese citizens were fighting on Russia's behalf.
China says it is not a party to the war.
Two US officials familiar with American intelligence said the Chinese appear to have minimal training and are not having any discernable impact on Russia's operations.
The CIA, the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the National Security Council did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
The former Western intelligence official told Reuters there were about 200 Chinese mercenaries fighting for Russia with whom the Chinese government has no link.
Observers expect new Russian offensive
Ukrainian officials and military analysts believe Russia is preparing to launch a fresh military offensive in coming weeks to ramp up pressure and strengthen the Kremlin's hand in the negotiations.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said his country would provide Ukraine with four IRIS-T (infrared imaging system) short- to medium-range systems with missiles, as well as 30 missiles for use on Patriot batteries.
The Netherlands plans to supply a Hawkeye air defence system, an airborne early warning aircraft.
Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said his country was monitoring the world armaments market and saw opportunities for Ukraine's backers to buy more weapons and ammunition.
Mr Pevkur said he believed Putin might try to reach some kind of settlement with Ukraine by May 9 — the day that Russia marks victory during World War II — making it even more vital to strengthen Kyiv's position now.
"This is why we need to speed up the deliveries as quickly as we can," he said.
Jane Dalton11 April 2025 19:35
Trump 'will use leverage to get peace deal'
US president Donald Trump will use his influence to negotiate a peace deal, his spokeswoman has insisted.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Mr Witkoff’s talks with Vladimir Putin were “another step in the negotiating process towards a ceasefire and an ultimate peace deal in Russia and Ukraine”.
She said: “As these negotiations are ongoing, I obviously will not get ahead of the President or his team, but I think the President has been quite clear that he's been continually frustrated with both sides of this conflict, and he wants to see this fighting end.
“He wants the war to end.
“We believe we have leverage in negotiating a deal to a peace deal, and we're going to use that leverage, and the President is determined to see this through.”
Jane Dalton11 April 2025 18:37
Putin-Trump phone call 'possible in theory'
A phone conversation between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, following Mr Putin's meeting with special envoy Steve Witkoff, is "theoretically possible", Interfax news agency reported, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Mr Peskov did not provide a possible timing for the call.
Jane Dalton11 April 2025 18:28
Putin-Witkoff meeting has lasted more than two hours
The meeting between Russian president Vladimir Putin and the US leader’s special envoy Steve Witkoff is still going on, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said, according to news agency Tass.
The meeting has already lasted more than two hours, it reported.
The beginning of the meeting, the Kremlin spokesman emphasised, was "businesslike, it is after all a working meeting."
"It is stretched in time, quite lengthy," he said, according to Tass.
Mr Peskov did not say whether Mr Witkoff would stay in Russia overnight. "I am not Witkoff's press secretary," he pointed out.
Jane Dalton11 April 2025 18:22
Zelensky discusses buying more air defence systems with Trump
President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine is ready to buy more air defence systems, which he has discussed with US President Donald Trump.
"Ukraine is not just asking - we are ready to buy appropriate additional systems," Mr Zelensky said in his evening address to the nation.
The government would also strengthen air defences with additional funds for electronic warfare, he said.
Jane Dalton11 April 2025 17:51
English (US) ·