Ukraine war latest: Trump prepared to meet Putin despite Russian's refusal to see Zelenskyy - as US deadline for Kremlin arrives

'Certain signals' that pause in war could be close, Polish PM says

Poland's prime minister, Donald Tusk, has said told a news conference he believes a pause in the Ukraine conflict could be close.

Speaking after talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he said: "There are certain signals, and we also have an intuition, that perhaps a freeze in the conflict - I don't want to say the end, but a freeze in the conflict - is closer than it is further away.

"There are hopes for this."

Putin deceiving Trump over peace talks, analysts say

Vladimir Putin has this week repeated suggestions that Moscow is prepared to engage in peace negotiations with Ukraine, claiming a meeting between him and Volodomyr Zelenskyy was "possible".

Experts, however, have expressed fresh scepticism over the remarks.

"The Kremlin has attempted to set the pace and sequence of negotiations about temporary ceasefires and a permanent peace in Ukraine since the start of the US effort to hold negotiations to end the war in February 2025," analysts at the Institute for the Study of War thinktank said.

They added: "Putin's efforts to posture himself as amenable to US peace proposals and meaningful negotiations while refusing to meet with Zelenskyy in the near term are attempts to obfuscate the reality that Putin remains uninterested in ending his war and is attempting to extract bilateral concessions from the United States without meaningfully engaging in a peace process."

Finland urges Trump to follow through with sanctions on Russia

As we have reported, today marks the deadline imposed by the White House for Moscow to show progress towards ending the war in Ukraine or suffer more economic sanctions.

Finland's foreign minister Elina Valtonen this morning said she hoped Donald Trump would move forward with the measures, arguing it would help bring an end to the conflict.

"I certainly hope that President Trump will move forward with those sanctions," Valtonen told Reuters.

"What we do see - and suspect now as well - is that the reason that Russia has again shown some willingness to talk, is that the increased arms deliveries (to Ukraine) are definitely piling up the pressure on Russia to find a way out of the war."

Finland, its fellow Nordic countries and the Baltics have been among the staunchest supporters of Ukraine.

The 2022 invasion prompted Finland, which shares a 833-mile border with Russia, to join NATO two years ago, reversing decades of non-alignment.

Russia launched 104 attack drones in overnight attacks on Ukraine - officials

Russia launched 104 drones in strikes across Ukraine overnight, with explosions rocking Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Sumy.

Ukraine shot down 82 of 108 aerial targets, including 104 Shahed attack drones and 4 high-speed UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), according to the country's armed forces.

The Kyiv Post reported that despite air defences downing most of the aircraft, those that made it past the defences caused fires, destroyed homes, and injured civilians.

Russian state TV 'rejoices' that Zelenskyy being excluded from Trump-Putin talks

Donald Trump's comments indicating he would meet Vladimir Putin even if the Russian president maintains his refusal to speak to Volodymyr Zelenskyy will not go down well in Kyiv - but they are being welcomed in Russia.

According to Julia Davis, who runs Russian Media Monitor, state TV "rejoiced that Ukraine is being excluded and said that Trump has learned his lesson, since he is no longer demanding a ceasefire or seeking any concessions from Moscow".

In coverage posted online, one Russian analyst on the 60 Minutes show, Sergey Strokan, said: "I don't think we could have even anticipated that everything would start spinning so fast, that there would be all these statements and contacts."

He suggested Trump had climbed down on previous conditions and adopted a stance that was more favourable to Russia.

"Listen, where has his maximalism gone? He says nothing about an immediate ceasefire."

White House deadline for Russia arrives

Today marks a deadline set by the White House for Moscow to show progress towards ending the war in Ukraine or suffer additional economic sanctions.

Asked yesterday if his deadline would hold, Donald Trump said of Vladimir Putin: "It's going to be up to him. We're going to see what he has to say. It's going to be up to him. Very disappointed."

The White House had warned that Russia's oil customers would face secondary tariffs if Moscow failed to meet the deadline.

Two White House officials and a senior administration official have told Sky News that secondary sanctions on Russia are still expected to be implemented on Friday - despite ongoing discussions about a Trump-Putin meeting.

Putin has signalled that Russia is prepared to weather any new economic hardship imposed by the US and its allies.

Eugene Rumer, a former US intelligence analyst for Russia who directs the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Russia and Eurasia Program, said there was a "close to zero chance" Putin will agree to a ceasefire due to Trump's threats of tariffs and sanctions.

"Theoretically, if you cut off Indian and Chinese purchases of oil, that would be a very heavy blow to the Russian economy and to the war effort. But that isn't going to happen," he said, adding that the Chinese had signalled they will keep buying Russia's oil.

Russia launches drone strikes on Kyiv

Russian forces are reported to have attacked the Bucha district of the Kyiv region with drones overnight, leaving three people injured.

The head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration, Mykola Kalashnyk, said three women aged 16, 56, and 80 were injured in the attack, adding that the wounds were minor.

He said the attack also caused fires in the private sector and damaged houses.

Trump says he is prepared to meet Putin despite Russian leader's refusal to speak to Zelenskyy

As mentioned in our previous post, Donald Trump has said he would meet with Vladimir Putin even if the Russian leader will not meet with Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The comments indicate Washington and Moscow could soon hold a summit.

The remarks followed a statement from Putin earlier on Thursday that he hoped to meet with Trump next week, possibly in the United Arab Emirates.

But they also served to rubbish speculation that any such meeting was conditional on Russia's leader first meeting his Ukrainian counterpart.

When asked by a reporter if Putin would need to meet with Zelenskyy in order to secure a meeting with the US, Trump said: "No, he doesn't. No."

A White House official had told The Associated Press earlier that a US-Russian summit would not happen if Putin did not agree to meet with Zelenskyy, but the official later said it only made the summit less likely.

A meeting with Trump would be a coup for Putin, who has spurned previous offers of a face-to-face meeting with Zelenskyy and has been isolated globally since the invasion. He has long suggested a meeting with Trump to discuss ending the fighting. Trump, too, has repeatedly boasted that he and Putin could make a deal to end the war.

Any direct talks between them about the conflict would also renew questions about the risk of excluding Ukraine from peace efforts.

Putin's announcement came on the eve of a White House deadline for Moscow to show progress toward ending the war in Ukraine or suffer additional economic sanctions.

When asked yesterday at the White House whether his deadline for Friday would hold, Trump said of Putin: "It's going to be up to him. We're going to see what he has to say. It's going to be up to him. Very disappointed."

The president also touched on the killing that has continued on both sides and added: "I don't like long waits. I think it's a shame."

Speaking of possible direct talks with Zelenskyy, Putin said he has mentioned several times that he was not against it, adding: "It's a possibility, but certain conditions need to be created" for it to happen.

Ukraine fears being sidelined by direct negotiations between Washington and Moscow, and Zelenskyy said he had phone conversations with several European leaders yesterday amid a flurry of diplomatic activity. European countries have pledged to back Ukraine for as long as it takes to defeat Russia's invasion.

-SKY NEWS