Trump right to ignore 'disgusting graft machine' Zelenskyy, Musk says

Trump-Putin meeting details 'yet to be worked out'

The Kremlin has said this morning that there is a mutual understanding about the need for a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, but that the details of such an encounter had yet to be worked out.

"There are no specifics yet regarding the meeting between Putin and Trump," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"There is an understanding of the need for this meeting, which was stated during the meeting of the Russian and American delegations in Riyadh. 

"There is a desire of the two presidents, which they expressed.

"And there is an instruction to prepare this meeting well so that it will be as productive as possible. During the preparation, all the nuances will be discussed."

We have been bringing you reports throughout the week about a possible meeting between the two leaders.

Following a call between the pair last week, the Kremlin said Trump and Putin could meet this month, although the first face-to-face encounter could take longer to prepare.

And on Tuesday, Trump said he would probably meet Putin this month and dismissed Ukraine's concern about being left out of US-Russian talks in Saudi Arabia.

Sweden investigating possible breach of undersea cable in Baltic Sea

Sweden is investigating a possible breach of an undersea cable off the country's southwestern coast in the Baltic Sea, the coastguard reports this morning. 

"We have received information about a suspected cable breach and the prosecution service has chosen to start a preliminary investigation," a coastguard spokesperson said. 

A coastguard vessel has been sent to the scene off the island of Gotland, the spokesperson added.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said the government was being briefed and that damage to any undersea infrastructure was particularly concerning amid the current security situation.

For context: The Baltic Sea region is on alert after a series of power cable, telecom and gas pipeline outages since Russia invaded Ukraine.

In December last year, NATO said it would enhance its military presence in the Baltic Sea after undersea power and internet cables were cut between Estonia and Finland.

The Kremlin has denied involvement in similar incidents in the past.

Rubio: Trump-Putin meeting 'will depend on whether progress can be made on ending war'

A possible meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin "will largely depend on whether we can make any progress on ending the war in Ukraine," the US secretary of state has said. 

Marco Rubio said he discussed such a meeting when he met Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, telling Lavrov and Russian officials: "There isn't going to be a meeting until we know what the meeting is going to be about."

Further to that, in an interview  on X, he added: "I think when that meeting happens will largely depend on whether we can make any progress on ending the war in Ukraine."

Following the talks in Saudi Arabia, Trump, who spoke on the phone with Putin last week, said on Tuesday that he would probably meet with the Russian leader before the end of the month. 

Rubio said: "I don't know the timing of it."

But he also said Trump wants to know if Russia is serious about ending the war in Ukraine.

"The only way is to test them, to basically engage them and say, 'Okay, are you serious about ending the war? And if so, what are your demands? Are your public demands and your private demands different?'" Rubio said.

"The only thing we agreed upon is that we're going to talk about peace. What they offer, what they're willing to concede to, what they're willing to consider, will determine whether they're serious about peace or not.

"We're just not at that stage yet."

Former Ukrainian president tells Zelenskyy to 'stop stadium behaviour'

Former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko has weighed in on the growing feud between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy and called for a softer approach to diplomacy with the US.

Poroshenko was president from 2014 to 2019 and is now the opposition leader in parliament. 

He remains a political rival to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who beat him by a landslide in a 2019 election.

Speaking on increasing tensions between Ukraine and the US, he said Zelenskyy should stop "stadium behaviour" in dealing with Trump.

"This form of combat does not work in Ukraine's favour, however eloquent the arguments may be," he said.

"Discussion with Trump requires diplomatic mastery, patience and calm so as not to react to his every statement.

"I am ready to go to Brussels or even Washington to save the situation."

As we reported yesterday, Zelenskyy told the US envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, that Ukraine was ready to work quickly to produce a strong and useful agreement on investments and security with the US.

But the pair's scheduled news conference was cancelled at the last minute.

Trump chosen to settle deal by 'getting closer to Putin'

Donald Trump has chosen to get a negotiation deal by "getting much closer to Vladimir Putin and bringing the Russians in from the cold", the former national security adviser has told Sky's Anna Jones this morning.

After Elon Musk's comments on Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in which he claimed he was "despised" by Ukrainians and "feeding off the dead bodies" of his people, Lord Ricketts said "everyone is taking their lead from the boss [Trump] at the moment".

"I think Trump has arrived in a hurry to deliver the deal he campaigned on, which is getting a settlement on the Ukraine war," he said.

"He's chosen to do that by getting much closer to Putin and bringing the Russians in from the cold where they have been for the last three years.

"He is trying to fix that in order to set up this negotiation.

"In the process he has decided Zelenskyy is the one that has to be pressured."

Asked about Sir Keir Starmer's response to Trump, the former national security adviser said the prime minister was "on a tightrope". 

"He is feeling his way in these new circumstances," he added.

"He had to call out what Trump was saying but he doesn't want to attract the thunderbolts by being too direct in his criticism.

"He wants to leave room for maneuverer in Washington and is anxious to avoid tariffs being applied to UK imports.

"I hope he will have in his back pocket an undertaking that Britain will increase its defence spending to 2.5% in a reasonably short timeframe and I think they've got to go beyond that."

Russia has 'no appetite' for peace, foreign secretary says

Tensions between the US and Ukraine over ending the conflict with Russia are growing after Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy traded a war of words this week.

The deepening feud comes in the week that US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia for initial talks on ending the conflict, without any Ukrainian representation.

But speaking after a G20 foreign ministers meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, yesterday, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has cast doubt on Moscow's willingness to negotiate seriously.

He said: "We've not got anywhere near a negotiated settlement, and I have to say when I listened to what the Russians and what [Russian foreign minister Sergei] Lavrov has just said in the chamber this afternoon, I don't see an appetite to really get to that peace."

Both Lammy and Lavrov gave speeches in a behind-closed-doors session in Johannesburg. 

The text of Lavrov's speech has not been released and it is understood the Russian foreign minister boycotted Lammy's speech.

According to a copy of Lammy's remarks posted on the Foreign Office's website, he accused his Russian counterpart of advancing "tired fabrications" and urged Moscow to abandon "tsarist imperialism".

The meeting of G20 foreign ministers is to continue today.

Musk backs Trump over attacks on Zelenskyy

Elon Musk doubled down on his criticism of Volodymyr Zelenskyy last night at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) - backing Donald Trump's attack on the Ukrainian leader this week.

The Tesla CEO questioned what troops in Ukraine were dying for and parroted the president's challenge to Zelenskyy to hold an election.

He said: "There's a whole bunch of people dead in trenches. For what? I'll tell you what for what - it's like for the biggest graft machine that I've ever seen in my life. That's for what."

Earlier, in a post on X, the billionaire claimed Zelenskyy was "despised" by Ukrainians and was "feeding off the dead bodies" of his people.

Musk went on to call Ukraine's president a "disgusting, massive graft machine feeding off the dead bodies of Ukrainian soldiers".

He added: "President Trump is right to ignore him and solve for peace independent [of Zelenskyy]."

During the conference, Musk was gifted a chainsaw by the Argentine President Javier Milei, who is known for wielding a chainsaw to illustrate his drastic policies slashing government spending.

"This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy," Musk said.

What did Donald Trump say this week? 

Trump called Zelenskyy a "dictator" in a scathing post on Truth Social this week.

The US president said his Ukrainian counterpart had done a "terrible job" and that he "better move fast or he is not going to have a country left".

Trump has also said several times that Zelenskyy has low approval ratings in Ukraine, suggesting last night he had just 4% approval.

The Ukrainian president's rating is actually around 50%, similar to Trump's. 

-SKY NEWS