Ukraine war latest: Kremlin says peace talks with Zelenskyy still on - but unclear if Putin will go

German chancellor calls for Western unity ahead of Ukraine peace talks

Friedrich Merz has been giving his first major speech to parliament since becoming German chancellor, and he's spoken about the war in Ukraine.

He said the West must not allow itself to be divided on Ukraine, calling for unity between European and US partners on how to end the war.

Merz said the West cannot accept a dictated peace in Ukraine or a submission to the facts achieved on the ground by Russia's military.

"We hope and are working hard to ensure that this clear stance is upheld not only through Europe, but also by our American partners," he said.

Russian MP hints at when delegation for peace talks could be made public

With uncertainty growing over who will be part of Russia's delegation for the proposed peace talks in Turkey tomorrow, a senior Russian MP has given an insight into when we could find out.

Leonid Slutsky, who leads Russia's Liberal Democratic Party, told the SHOT Telegram channel "you'll know in the evening".

He went on to explain what could be on the table in talks.

"If we really exchange everyone for everyone [prisoners of war] - this is a question that can be considered."

Analysis: Will Trump's business-first approach work to bring peace to Ukraine?

If you want to make the world a better place, just do business and make deals. 

That is the essence of Donald Trump's foreign policy laid out unashamedly this week. And in the Middle East, it might just pay dividends. 

Can it work elsewhere, most of all to end Russia's war with Ukraine? Or will it make matters worse?

Where Trump thinks US has been going wrong

For his critics, Trump's Middle East tour has been purely transactional and amoral. No lectures to the autocrats of the region about human rights. No pressure to make them more like America.

But that's the point. That was where previous US presidents went wrong, Trump said. 

Trump the showman, Trump the dealmaker, is back on the world stage. 

Own your story, and say you're winning, always. We are used to how Donald Trump operates - as much a real estate developer as he is a president.

His Riyadh speech, for instance, was littered with half-truths, outright falsehoods and exaggerations. But it also wove a narrative of success. 

Pushed hard enough, that can acquire its own momentum. Others want in on it.

Ask the Syrians. 

Trump wants Syria to help transform the region

Ahmed al Sharaa - former Jihadi, once one of America's most wanted and now Syrian leader - has been actively courting the US president. 

Reported offers of a Trump Tower in Damascus and a minerals deal like the one with Ukraine appear to have paid off.

Persuaded by both Saudis and Turks, the US president is lifting all US sanctions on Syria. But Trump wants more. He wants Syria to join his biggest diplomatic achievement, the Abraham Accords.  

They are the normalisation agreements brokered by the Trump administration in its first term between Israel and Gulf nations.

That would utterly transform the region. There are obstacles. Israelis will need persuading to say the least. But if Trump wants it, they may find it hard ultimately to stand in his way.

Lucrative deals could be shaping Trump's Ukraine approach

Will the same business-first approach work to bring peace to Ukraine?

On the one hand, it seems to have already helped Ukraine. The minerals deal it has signed with Trump is understood to have made him far more sympathetic to their cause.  

This reportedly coincides with growing impatience with Vladimir Putin's refusal to agree to a ceasefire.

However, long term Russia may offer more attractive prospects for deals with the Trump administration. 

Putin's officials have reportedly been making much of those prospects. Russia has enormous mineral and hydrocarbon wealth to offer.

Trump has, at times and utterly unfairly, seemed to resent Ukraine standing in the way of progress towards a lucrative rapprochement with Moscow. The minerals deal may have made him more even-handed. 

The hope is that it will motivate the US to be firmer with both sides and do more to pressure them to end this war. 

Kyiv wants clarity on Putin's attendance before deciding 'next steps'

Ukraine's leadership will make a decision on its next steps for the proposed peace talks in Turkey once there is clarity on whether Vladimir Putin will attend.

A Ukrainian diplomatic source told Reuters that everything will depend on whether Putin "is scared of coming to Istanbul or not".

They added that Kyiv will decide on what steps it takes after it knows Putin's response.

Earlier, the Kremlin once again refused to say whether Putin will be part of the talks, and repeated that the make-up of Russia's delegation will be disclosed once Putin gives the order to do so.

Trump unsure if Putin will attend peace talks

Back to those proposed Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Turkey tomorrow.

We've just told you that the Kremlin still won't say if Vladimir Putin will attend (see 10.31 post) and that has also led Donald Trump to question whether the Russian president will be there.

The US president told reporters during his tour of the Middle East that he doesn't know if Putin will show up for the talks tomorrow.

Before setting off on that trip, Trump had said he was "thinking about flying over" to be part of the talks.

While it's still unclear if he will attend, sources have told Reuters that Trump's senior envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg will travel to Turkey for the proposed talks, while Trump said US secretary of state Marco Rubio will also be there.

NATO military chief insists Ukraine support will remain 'ironclad' so it can negotiate 'from a position of strength'

Earlier this morning, the head of NATO's military committee spoke at the opening of a session in Brussels.

Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone said NATO's support to Ukraine "shall remain ironclad" so that Kyiv will be able to sit at the negotiating table "from a position of strength".

"All this requires investing time and resources because peace and stability cannot be taken for granted and comes with a price, but the cost of security is nothing compared to the cost of fighting war and recovering from it," he said.

But he finished with a warning that the alliance exposes itself "to an increased risk of instability" if it doesn't continue to invest in what was described as a "vaccine of deterrence".

Russia jails head of 'undesirable' independent election watchdog for five years

Away from those proposed peace talks for a moment, and the head of Russia's only independent election watchdog has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of the Golos movement, was found guilty of working for an "undesirable organisation", according to Russian state news agency TASS.

He was arrested in August 2023 and pleaded innocent at his trial, rejecting the charges as politically motivated.

Golos monitored and exposed violations in every major election in Russia since it was founded in 2000, and has faced pressure from authorities in the country.

Kremlin still won't say if Putin will go to Istanbul for peace talks

We've just received some lines from the Kremlin, which has once again offered no signs of clarity over who will be at the proposed peace talks in Turkey tomorrow.

The Kremlin said Vladimir Putin's offer of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul still stands.

It added that the make-up of Russia's delegation for the talks will be disclosed as soon as Putin gives the order to do so - similar to its message yesterday.

However, the Kremlin insisted that the delegation will be in Istanbul tomorrow waiting for Ukraine's delegation.

At least four killed and 26 injured in Russian attacks, Ukraine says

Earlier, we told you that Russia said 16 people have been injured in Ukrainian drone attacks on Belgorod (see 8.11 post).

Ukrainian authorities are reporting that at least four civilians have been killed and 26 are injured after Russian attacks.

Ukraine's Air Force said Russian forces launched an Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missile from Russia-occupied Crimea and 145 drones from areas including Kursk and Bryansk.

Air defences are reported to have shot down 80 drones, while another 42 disappeared from radars without causing any damage.

The last time Zelenskyy and Putin met

Back to the prospect of a face-to-face meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin in Turkey tomorrow.

While the last direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv were held in 2022, the last time the two leaders met was on 9 December 2019 at the Elysee Palace in Paris.

Zelenskyy, looking considerably younger than he does now, met French President Emmanual Macron, Putin, and former German chancellor Angela Merkel.

The meeting was called to look at ways to end five years of fighting in eastern Ukraine.

Zelenskyy has said he will meet Putin in Turkey after Donald Trump told him to accept the Russian leader's proposal of direct talks.

However, the Kremlin has since offered no signs of clarity over whether Putin will attend the talks.

EU agrees 17th sanctions package on Russia

French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot has said the European Union has approved a 17th sanctions package on Russia.

Barrot told French television network BFM TV that the bloc will now turn to working on further, tougher sanctions with the US.

The package was agreed during a meeting of ambassadors this morning and is expected to be formally approved by foreign affairs ministers next week.

The latest package is once again expected to target Russia's so-called "shadow fleet", consisting of old-age ships deployed around the world transporting embargoed Russian oil products.

153 tankers from the "shadow fleet" have been targeted by the EU, but the latest package is expected to bring the total number of sanctioned vessels to more than 350.

Mapped: The latest situation on the battlefield

As the build-up to tomorrow's proposed peace talks in Turkey continues, the war on the battlefield rages on.

Scroll through the maps below to view different parts of the battlefield, including the situation in key regions such as Luhansk, Donetsk, Kursk and Belgorod.

Brazil's president to ask Putin to go to Turkey for talks

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a world leader on decent terms with Vladimir Putin, has weighed in on the proposed peace talks in Turkey tomorrow.

He said he will ask the Russian president to attend the talks.

Lula was in Moscow last week for a major military parade marking the 80th anniversary of Victory Day in World War Two.

He also held a bilateral meeting with Putin, and said: "Brazil shares political, commercial, cultural, scientific and technological interests with Russia."

"We are two great nations on opposite continents," he added.

"We have an opportunity to significantly expand our commercial relationship at this historic moment."

Ukrainian drone attacks leave 16 injured in Russia's Belgorod, local governor says

While much of the focus is on tomorrow's proposed talks in Turkey between Russia and Ukraine, overnight attacks continue.

The regional governor of Russia's Belgorod said a series of Ukrainian drone attacks have left at least 16 people injured.

Meanwhile, Russia's defence ministry reported that it destroyed 12 drones launched from Ukraine overnight, with three of them over the Belgorod region.

Ukraine has not yet commented on these reports.

Take a look at the map below to see how close Belgorod is to Russia's border with Ukraine.

'This is his war': Zelenskyy piles pressure on Putin to attend talks in Turkey

Volodymyr Zelenskyy continued to pile pressure on Vladimir Putin to attend proposed talks in Turkey tomorrow.

In his nightly address, the Ukrainian president said "every call for a long-lasting and unconditional ceasefire matters" before adding "calls for direct negotiations at the highest level are equally important".

He described Putin as "the one who determines everything in Russia" and said he is the one who "has to resolve the war".

"This is his war, therefore the negotiations should be with him," he added.

-SKY NEWS