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The US and Russian presidents are set to speak at 3pm in a fresh bid to end the conflict started by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago
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Donald Trump is holding crunch talks with Vladimir Putin today to speed up ceasefire efforts after Western leaders demanded an immediate truce.
The 3pm phone call to end the “bloodbath” comes after Trump last week vowed to meet Putin “as soon as we can” during a diplomatic fiasco prompted by the Russian president shunning peace talks in Turkey.
The US president’s renewed effort to end the war in Ukraine will also include calls to Nato leaders and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, but the Trump administration has insisted Russia and the US are the only ones who can bring an end to the conflict.
“I will be speaking, by telephone, to President Vladimir Putin of Russia on Monday at 10am. The subjects of the call will be stopping the ‘bloodbath’ that is killing, on average, more than 5000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week, and trade,” Trump wrote on TruthSocial.
A flurry of diplomatic activity began when Zelensky met with US vice president JD Vance, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and European leaders in Rome yesterday, as he intensified his efforts ahead of Trump’s call with Putin.
Meanwhile, Kyiv’s military intelligence agency has warned Russia could test-launch its intercontinental ballistic missile in a drill to intimidate Ukraine. Russia also carried out its largest drone attack on Ukraine since the start of the war on Sunday and fired at least 273 drones, killing one woman.
Russian forces have seized the villages of Novoolenivka and Marine, Moscow’s defence ministry claimed according to state news agency RIA.
Novoolenivka is in the Donetsk region, where Russian forces have been steadily advancing for months. The vast majority of Ukrainian villages seized by Russia in the past year have been in the region.
Marine is in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, which Moscow began pushing into after ousting Kyiv’s forces from Russia’s neighbouring Kursk region.
The Independent could not verify the battlefield report.
The Kremlin has confirmed the phone call set to be held between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin later today, RIA state news agency reported.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has now suggested the prospect of US-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine could be brought up.
If US mediation in the talks would help Russia achieve its goals in Ukraine through peaceful means, Mr Peskov said, then Moscow would support the move.
He added that the discussions will take into account the results of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul – the first such direct talks in more than three years.
The call will take place at 5pm Moscow time (3pm BST).
Donald Trump is set to speak directly with Vladimir Putin later today, three days after the first direct Russia-Ukraine talks in years failed to bear fruit.
The last two days have been busy in the realm of US diplomacy. Secretary of state Marco Rubio and vice president JD Vance paid a visit to the Vatican for Pope Leo’s first formal mass, while Mr Trump spoke with a handful of European leaders ahead of today’s phone calls.
The US president is also set to speak with Volodymyr Zelensky – with whom he spoke over the phone on Friday, shortly after the Russia-Ukraine talks concluded. He will call other Nato leaders.
On the table for his phone call with Putin will be the ongoing “bloodbath” in Ukraine and trade, he said.
This suggests Mr Trump could look to use financial incentives to push Moscow towards bringing about a ceasefire in Ukraine – something which Kyiv says Putin is not serious about.
The phone call will also cover last week’s talks, likely looking to address the wide gap in position between Russia and Ukraine.
Mr Trump has phoned the Russian president a handful of times since his second presidency began in January, without prompting any significant breakthroughs towards peace. He will hope today can finally bring the progress he has so keenly sought.
Russian forces attacked Ukraine with 112 attack and decoy drones overnight into Monday, Ukraine’s air force has said.
Air defences downed 76 of the Russian drones over Ukraine’s eastern, northern, southern and central regions. A total of 35 disappeared from radar, likely due to Kyiv’s use of electronic warfare.
The Kharkiv, Sumy, Donetsk, Cherkasy and Kirovohrad regions were all attacked by Russian drones, the air force added according to Ukrainska Pravda.
Anti-aircraft missile units and aircraft were used by Ukrainian forces to repel the attacks.
Finland will supply more than £75m (90 million euros) worth of ammunition to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets, the defence ministry announced on Monday.
„Finland has been selected as one of the states implementing European Union measures to supply Ukraine with defence materiel using proceeds from frozen Russian assets,“ it said in a statement.
The ammunition will be procured from Finnish suppliers, with the funding channelled through the European Peace Facility (EPF)
Minister of Defence Antti Häkkänen said according to Defence Industry Europe: “Finland’s support for Ukraine is unwavering and strong even in other respects. This new package alongside our national EUR 660 million support programme will forge closer links between the Finnish industry and Finland’s support for Ukraine.
“This is a great example of the Finnish defence industry’s abilities, and it shows that our investments into ammunition production capacity are paying off,” he added.
Ukraine’s security service says it has destroyed Black Sea gas infrastructure belonging to Russia using unmanned drones.
The target of the strikes was “Russian radar equipment installed on Ukrainian gas extraction platforms,” the SSU said.
A Neva radar station, gas storage points and a residential block on the platform were damaged in the attack, the SSU said.
“As part of the same special operation, SSU specialised officers used two types of drones, demonstrating the effectiveness of joint deployment. Once again, we reminded the enemy that there is no place for Russian junk in the Black Sea,” it added.
Dozens of Abrams tanks are set to make their way to Ukraine from Australia despite private objections from US officials, the Australia’s ABC news reported.
Anthony Albanese, the Australian prime minister, confirmed the delivery of 49 retired tanks when meeting Volodymyr Zelensky in Rome on Sunday at Pope Leo XIV’s first formal Sunday mass.
The shipments of the retired tanks have been delayed partly due to resistance from Washington, ABC reported back in April.
This resistance has not subsided, with a US official questioning how useful they are on battlefields in Ukraine. With weak roofs which make them vulnerable to drones, an anonymous Australian defence official even questioned whether Kyiv is interested in the vehicles.
Pope Leo XIV and US vice president JD Vance met on Monday morning ahead of a flurry of US-led diplomatic efforts to make progress on a ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Mr Vance’s motorcade was seen entering Vatican City just after 7:30am, one day after the Catholic convert joined Sunday’s formal Mass opening the pontificate of the first American pope.
Joining Mr Vance at the Vatican was secretary of state Marco Rubio, also a Catholic, the vice president’s spokesperson said.
Having been largely sidelined during the first three years of Russia’s war, the Vatican has offered to host any peace talks while continuing humanitarian efforts to facilitate prisoner swaps and reunite Ukrainian children taken by Russia.
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Ukraine latest: Trump to push Putin to end Ukraine ‘bloodbath’ in call – The Independent
