Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump sets Putin ‘two week’ deadline after fresh peace talks offer from Moscow in Istanbul – UK Times

The US branded the comments by the often-inflammatory Dmitry Medvedev “reckless”, as the war of the words between the two global powers continues to ramp up.

However, diplomatic efforts appear to be ongoing despite the public clashes and in a rare move US embassy officials were seen attending a security meeting in Moscow on Wednesday.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio doubled down on president Donald Trump’s calls for “good faith dialogue” between Ukraine and Russia as the only path to ending the war when he spoke with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov yesterday, the department said.

“Secretary of state Marco Rubio spoke with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. Secretary Rubio welcomed Russia and Ukraine’s exchange of “1,000-for-1,000” prisoners over the weekend,” a statement by the State department said.

It added: “The Secretary reiterated president Trump’s calls for constructive, good faith dialogue with Ukraine as the only path to ending this war.”

German chancellor Friedrich Merz has said continued Russian drone strikes on Ukraine, including on the capital Kyiv, “are not the language of peace” as he vowed continued support for the invaded country.

Mr Merz said yesterday that Germany would continue to pressure Russia with sanctions while bolstering assistance for Kyiv.

His comments came during the announcement of a £4bn military support package for Ukraine, and followed another night of Ukraine and Russia trading drone strikes, with Moscow claiming to have downed nearly 300 drones across 13 regions of Russia, while Kyiv said it had fended off dozens of attacks.

The Kremlin has said the next direct talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials could again be held in Istanbul, where negotiations were staged on earlier this month.

Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the Turkish city was “absolutely” being considered as the venue following the previous round of talks, which resulted in an exchange of 1,000 prisoners but no outcome on a ceasefire.

Earlier, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow had suggested Russian ally Belarus as the next location for peace talks, which he said would be impossible for Ukraine to agree to.

Russian air defence units downed three Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow, the city’s mayor said early this morning.

Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said one of the drones hit a dwelling on a major thoroughfare in the south of the city, but caused no casualties or serious damage.

It comes after Russia’s military said it downed nearly 300 drones in several Russian regions on Tuesday night. Mr Sobyanin noted more than two dozen drones were repelled on their way to Moscow during that bombardment.

The US branded the comments by the often-inflammatory Dmitry Medvedev “reckless”, as the war of the words between the two global powers continues to ramp up. However, diplomatic efforts appear to be ongoing despite the public clashes and in a rare move US embassy officials were seen attending a security meeting in Moscow on Wednesday.

The latest tit-for-tat began at the weekend when Trump called the Russian leader “crazy” following an airstrike on Kyiv. He doubled down on the criticism on Tuesday, in a post on Truth Social: “What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!”

Germany has pledged to help Ukraine develop its own long-range missile systems that would be free of any Western-imposed limitations on range and target options, as the government in Kyiv fights to repel Russia’s invasion.

Some of the advanced weapons systems that Ukraine’s Western partners have supplied during the more than three-year war were subject to range and target restrictions.

The limits have been a fraught political issue, stemming from fears that if the weapons struck Russia, the Kremlin might retaliate against the country that provided them and suck Nato into Europe’s bloodiest conflict since the Second World War.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said he is ready for a three-way meeting with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, according to a report by Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne.

“We are ready to meet at the level of leaders. The American side knows this, and the Russian side knows this. We are ready for the ‘Trump, Putin, and me’ format, and we are ready for the Trump-Putin, Trump-Zelensky format, and then the three of us,” Mr Zelensky said.

The report comes after Mr Zelensky challenged the Russian president to meet him in Istanbul for direct talks earlier this month, a dare shunned by Mr Putin, who instead sent a junior delegation to negotiate with Ukrainian officials.

The Kremlin later said a personal meeting between the two leaders was possible but it should be “the outcome of negotiations between Moscow and Kiev on various issues”.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia has gathered 50,000 troops near Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, but added that Kyiv had taken steps to prevent Moscow from conducting a large-scale offensive there.

His warning comes after he flagged Kyiv had “ample evidence” Moscow was planning a summer offensive on Ukraine rather than pursuing peace, as he continues to accuse Russian president Vladimir Putin of manipulating the west.

Sumy lies across the border from Russia’s Kursk region where Ukraine previously seized and held a pocket of land for months, before being almost fully pushed out last month, although it says it still holds some areas there.

“Their largest, strongest forces are currently on the Kursk front,” Mr Zelensky told reporters yesterday.

He said Moscow’s aim was to “push our troops out of the Kursk region and to prepare offensive actions against the Sumy region.”

US president Donald Trump has suggested he is giving Vladimir Putin a two-week deadline to decide if the Russian leader is serious about ending the war in Ukraine.

On being asked in the Oval Office yesterday if he thought Mr Putin wanted to end the war, Mr Trump said: “I can’t tell you that, but I’ll let you know in about two weeks”.

“Within two weeks. We’re gonna find out whether or not (Putin is) tapping us along or not,” he told the reporters. “And if he is, we’ll respond a little bit differently.”

Mr Trump also said that he was not yet prepared to impose new sanctions on Russia because he did not want the penalties to scuttle a potential peace deal.