Ukraine war latest: Senior Trump envoys head to Paris for Ukraine talks with Europe (2025)

The former governor of Russia's Kursk region has been detained, according to state media.

TASS says Alexei Smirnov, who resigned over his handling of the Ukrainian invasion of the region in December last year, is "suspected of fraud".

It cited law enforcement as saying both he and his former first deputy have been detained as a result.

No further details have been shared.

Smirnov was head of the western Russian region when Ukrainian troops came across the border in August2024. A long and bloody Russian and North Korean offensive has pushed most of theUkrainian forces out since then.

Russia has broken the US-backed energy ceasefire more than 30 times, according to Ukraine.

In March, a Washington-brokered agreement saw both Ukraine and Russia commit to not targeting oil fields, power stations and other key energy infrastructure on both sides of their shared border.

But Ukraine's foreign ministry spokesperson, Heorhyi Tykhyi, told a news briefing that Russia attacked energy facilities in Kherson and Mykolaiv in the south and Poltava in the centre of the country over the past 24 hours alone.

"We consider that the energy ceasefire began on 25 March,"he said.

"Unfortunately, we can see that Russia is violatingthis agreement almost on a daily basis. Not even one month haspassed since the agreement was made, but Russia has alreadyviolated this agreement over 30 times."

Russia has also accused Ukraine of breaking the deal.

While US envoys head to Paris for talks on Ukraine with Europe, Russia's president has announced he will speak to partners in the Middle East.

Vladimir Putin and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani will discuss efforts to find a possible peace deal when they meet in Moscow tomorrow.

Qatar has tried to mediate talks in the past to no avail, but Doha along with other states in the Middle East (like the UAE and Saudi) have worked to secure prisoner swaps and the return of children throughout the conflict.

"There will definitely be an exchange of views between Putin and the Emir of Qatar on Ukrainian affairs," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Kyiv remains in contact with Beijing over the capture of two Chinese nationals Ukraine says were fighting for Russia.

Kyiv summoned a Chinese diplomat last week to discuss the matter which could hurt bilateral relations, Ukrainian foreign minister Heorhii Tykhyi told a news briefing today.

China is an ally of Russia and has been accused of helping its war in Ukraine, though Beijing has repeatedly denied allegations that it has supplied Kremlin forces with weapons.

Catch up on the capture of those two Chinese nationals in this story...

Kyiv and Washington have made "substantial progress" in their talks to finally sign a minerals deal, a senior Ukrainian official has said.

You may remember talks between the US and Ukraine on the deal fell through after that disastrous meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump in the Oval Office.

Remind yourself of that moment here...

But now, Ukraine's first deputy prime minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, has said that the deal is well on the way to being signed.

Svyrydenko said on Facebook the future agreement would help support economic growth both in Ukraine and the US and that talks had progressed well.

Talks were thought to have expanded a few weeks ago, with reports suggesting that the US was now demanding more from Ukraine.

Read more on that here...

But reports this morning suggested that Washington had lowered its demands (see 7.14am post).

Donald Trump's peace envoy and his secretary of state will head to Paris today for talks with European partners over the future of Ukraine, the State Department has said.

The talks are set to last until Friday, with Steve Witkoff and Marco Rubio actively engaging with leaders from the continent on the issues regarding the conflict.

Talks have thus far largely excluded the European continent, which says it has a vested interest in any peace deal.

"Secretary of state Marco Rubio and ambassador Steve Witkoff will travel to Paris, France, 16-18 April for talks with European counterparts to advance President Trump's goal to end the Russia-Ukraine war and stop the bloodshed," the statement said.

"While in Paris, he will also discuss ways to advance shared interests in the region."

It's been another busy week in Ukraine, marked by a Russian attack that killed at least 35 people in the Sumy region.

Ukraine captured two Chinese nationals fighting for Russia -and claimed there were 155 more.

And Vladimir Putin and Trump envoy Steve Witkoff held a meeting in St Petersburg, Russia, as the White House pursues a peace settlement.

Security and defence analyst Michael Clarkeis back to answer your questions.

Hundreds of you have got in touch, and we will aim to rattle through as many questions as we can, including:

• What is Putin telling the world with the most recent attacks on Ukraine?
• Has Donald Trump backed himself - and Kyiv - into a corner by boasting about how quickly he could secure a deal?
• Why is the US president blaming Ukraine for starting the war?

Head to this dedicated page to follow along:

Vladimir Putin will discuss Ukraine with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani when they meet in Moscow today, the Kremlin says.

"There will definitely be an exchange of views between Putin and the Emir of Qatar on Ukrainian affairs," Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"There will also be an exchange of views on regional affairs.

"The region is replete with conflict potential. And Qatar plays a very big and important role in attempts to resolve many situations," Peskov said.

Qatar has made a series of attempts to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, and has helped arrange the return of children from both countries who were separated from their parents during the war.

"We highly appreciate the potential and current level of our trade and economic cooperation and, of course, our confidential dialogue on many topics, including the most sensitive ones."

Vladimir Putin and other Kremlin officials are routinely using "vague language to obfuscate Russia's most extreme demands" in any peace settlement, according to a leading thinktank.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has outlined how these demands would see the West acknowledge Russia's illegal annexation of occupied Ukraine, force Ukraine to concede more territory and give up its future sovereignty and ability to defend itself.

Demilitarisation

Russia has previously demanded Ukraine shrink its military below pre-2022 levels and commit to never fielding a military capable of defending the country against future Russian aggression, explained the ISW.

Its Istanbul Protocol draft agreement, pitched in talks during March 2022, would have ensured Ukraine's army was confined to:

• 85,000 active-duty personnel
• 15,000 National Guard personnel
• 1,400 tanks and armoured vehicles

Regime change

Russian officials have repeatedly used language like "Russophobia" and "denazification" to obscure their calls for the installation of a pro-Russian proxy government in Kyiv, the ISW said.

NATO

Dressed in the language of "neutrality", Moscow has demanded Ukraine amend its constitution to remove its commitment to joining NATO and to ban Ukraine from joining military alliances or hosting foreign military personnel or systems.

Cede territory

Vladimir Putin not only wants Russia to take the land it occupies in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia, the ISW said.

Kremlin officials have invented an amorphous, fictional location, "Novorossiya", in an attempt to legitimise their claims to all of southern and eastern Ukraine, including Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, and Odesa.

Ukraine's parliament has voted to extend martial law until 6 August, a senior politician has said.

An overwhelming majority of 357-1 deputies supported theextension, which allows the country to continue mobilisingtroops and suspends the election cycle.

Parliament has extended the duration of martial law and general mobilisation 14 times since it was first introduced after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.