Into the final preparations for talks between Russia and Ukraine are surrounded by tactical play, says conflict researcher Peter Wallensteen: No one wants to be left holding the bag and be the one who says no.
ConflictsThe USA wants to freeze the front lines and let Russia hold on to a large part of Ukraine to get an end to the war. But Ukraine and its European allies are said to have told the USA that it first requires a ceasefire and clarity on security guarantees before negotiations on territories can become relevant, sources tell Bloomberg.
ConflictsRussia's president Vladimir Putin has offered the USA to freeze the current frontline in Ukraine, according to several sources to Financial Times.
ConflictsFrance's President Emmanuel Macron emphasizes the importance of the talks about Ukraine's future that are taking place in Paris. A Ukrainian delegation is meeting there with representatives from the USA and Europe.
ConflictsKeith Kellogg, the US special envoy to Ukraine, joins the chorus of condemnations of Russia's attack on Ukrainian Sumy, where over 30 people were killed. The attack "crosses all boundaries of decency", he writes on X.
WorldBritish and French soldiers could maintain different control zones in Ukraine, suggests US Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg. He compares his idea with how Berlin was divided after the Second World War.
ConflictsDiplomat Keith Kellogg is no longer the US's special envoy to Russia. The former general is now only an envoy to Ukraine, announces President Donald Trump.
WorldPoland's president and commander-in-chief Andrzej Duda asks his American counterpart Donald Trump to move nuclear weapons to Poland, as a deterrent against future Russian attacks, he says in an interview with the newspaper Financial Times.
World politicsUSA's envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, says that the meeting on Thursday with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyj involved "positive" talks with a "brave" Ukrainian president.
WorldUkraine is to approve an agreement with the USA on Ukrainian natural resources "shortly", according to the White House.
ConflictsUkraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says that Thursday's meeting in Kyiv with Donald Trump's envoy Keith Kellogg restores hope.
WorldUkraine is ready to enter into a security agreement with the USA. This is written by President Volodymyr Zelenskyj on X after having met Donald Trump's envoy in Kyiv.
WorldIn 1986, he bought a hot dog for Donald Trump who had forgotten his wallet – and the friendship was a fact. Now Steve Witkoff is going to resolve some of the world's toughest conflicts. At the center of the USA's foreign policy stands a golf-playing real estate billionaire with close ties to President Trump, but without diplomatic experience.
World politicsDonald Trump lives in a disinformation bubble with Russian lies, says Volodymyr Zelenskyj. The Ukrainian president has, according to the measurements, still got the people on his side, which does not prevent Trump from portraying Zelenskyj as a "dictator".
World politicsPoland's President Andrzej Duda says that he has received assurances from the USA that American forces will not be reduced in Poland or other locations along NATO's eastern flank.
WorldLook at what the USA does – not what is said. This is the message from Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard (The Moderate Party) who urges calm and coolness after an extraordinary meeting about the situation in Ukraine. I have a decent-sized ice lump in my stomach.
Swedish politicsSweden can imagine easing the EU's budget rules so that more can invest in defense. But joint EU loans are still disliked by the Finance Minister.
BusinessNato's Secretary General Mark Rutte has met with President Donald Trump's Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg in Brussels. "We have a lot to do", notes the Nato chief.
World politicsThe USA is expected to initiate peace negotiations about Ukraine as early as next week – but European leaders are not invited. It is hard to shake off the feeling that the Trump administration wants to try to make a deal with Russia, and then let Europe take the blame for not solving the problem, says war researcher Oscar Jonsson.
ConflictsEurope will not be sitting at the negotiating table in the planned peace talks between the USA, Russia, and Ukraine, according to the USA's special Ukraine envoy. Sweden's government expresses concern and criticizes the message.
ConflictsMuch indicates that the USA will reduce its military presence in Europe, according to Defense Minister Pål Jonson. Europe must prepare itself for a time when it takes a significantly greater responsibility for its own security, he says.
WorldUkraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyj is participating in a major security conference in German Munich this weekend – where he will meet the US Vice President JD Vance.
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