Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin bombs own gas pipeline to sabotage Trump ceasefire deal, Kyiv says – UK Times

Donald Trump has said he expects a “full ceasefire” in Ukraine to be agreed “pretty soon”.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday, the US president said the full ceasefire will be followed up by a “contract” to divide Ukrainian land between Moscow and Kyiv.

“The contract is being negotiated, the contract in terms of dividing up the lands, it’s being negotiated as we speak,” added Mr Trump, who has spoken with both Russian president Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in the last week.

A fire has erupted at a gas pumping station in the Russian region of Kursk bordering Ukraine, after a huge explosion rocked the site.

The station has been a critical hub for Russian gas transit to Europe via Ukraine, before Kyiv refused to extend the agreement in January this year.

Once it passed through the station, it entered Ukraine’s pipeline system into Slovakia, before going onto the Czech Republic and Austria.

In 2023, almost half of all Russian gas exports to Europe were pumped through the station.

• Three were injured and fires broke out after Russia launched a mass drone attack on Ukraine’s Black Sea port in Odesa on Thursday night.

• Ukraine accused Russia of bombing its own gas infrastructure in an effort to undermine ceasefire talks.

• Putin’s top security adviser met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and discussed Ukraine.

• The US is said to be seeking new terms for US access to minerals in Ukraine to include control over Kyiv’s nuclear power plants, the Financial Times reported.

• Britain is set to accelerate plans next week for a potential peacekeeping force in Ukraine, including a discussion about how it can operate and the structure.

Serbia’s deputy prime minister has said Russia’s spy services helped authorities respond to months of anti-government protests.

Students, backed by teachers, farmers and workers, have maintained daily protests across Serbia since last November, when 16 people died in a roof collapse at a train station in the northern city of Novi Sad, which they blame on corruption.

“I am very grateful to Russia’s special services, which always support us in our fight against colour revolutions, primarily with information,” Deputy Prime Minister Alexandar Vulin said in an interview with Russia’s RIA state news agency.

“They know what danger hangs over Serbia,” RIA quoted Vulin as saying.

A military court has jailed a Soviet-era anti-war activist for 16 years.

The court in St Petersburg convicted Alexander Skobov of “justifying terrorism,” the Prosecutor General’s office said,

It said he had repeatedly posted information on social media “justifying carrying out terrorist acts, including calls to carry out illegal activity” and that he had taken part in the activities of a “terrorist organisation.”

Skobov, who was jailed in the Soviet Union for his opposition to the authorities, publicly condemned President Vladimir Putin’s decision to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022 and has repeatedly said that Moscow should return any territory it had taken during the conflict.

Russian authorities have jailed outspoken critics of what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine, drawing fierce condemnation from Western human rights groups who say the crackdown amounts to a repressive clamp-down on free speech.

Ukraine does not consider a UN mission an alternative to the deployment of foreign troops or security guarantees to end the war with Russia, Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday.

“With all due respect, the UN will not protect us from the occupation or Putin’s desire to come back,” Zelenskiy said at a joint press conference with Czech President Petr Pavel in Kyiv.

His comments come after reports Emmanuel Macron is looking to the UN for alternatives to putting European troops on the ground.

The Telegraph reported that the French president was considering the possibility of a UN-led mission.

Homeland defence is not some abstract concept to the countries bordering Russia, nor is the nuclear threat, says defence analyst Francis Tusa.

So, if the US could use a ‘kill switch’ to stop the UK from using Trident should an attack happen, how ready would we be?

Read the In Focus article here:

Ukraine is continuing to hold talks with the United States about a minerals deal, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Friday.

The White House said on Wednesday it had moved beyond “just the economic minerals deal framework” and was focused on peace between Ukraine and Russia.

It added Donald Trump said on Thursday that the US would sign the minerals and natural resources deal with Ukraine shortly.

Earlier, it was reported by the financial times that Trump was seeking to extend the terms of the mineral deal to include control over Kyiv’s nuclear power plants.