Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump envoy says Kyiv ready for demilitarised zone controlled by peacekeeping force

Vladimir Putin will maintain talks with Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro in Moscow on Wednesday, the place the 2 will signal a strategic partnership.

The deal will likely be “weighty, substantial and essential framework doc”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov instructed reporters.

Moscow has been trying to strengthen ties with different international locations world wide which share its want to counter the affect of what it calls the “collective West”.

Venezuela has a fraught current historical past with the US, marked by damaged diplomatic relations, sanctions and accusations of felony exercise and coup-plotting.

Mr Maduro will even be part of the commemorative occasions to mark the eightieth anniversary of VE Day on Friday.

Vladimir Putin will journey to China on the finish of August, reciprocating Chinese language chief Xi Jinping’s anticipated go to to Russia this week, the Kremlin has introduced.

Mr Putin’s international coverage adviser Yuri Ushakov instructed reporters that the go to will likely be a part of a “good custom”, by which Mr Xi visits Moscow to attend celebrations of Russia’s defeat over Nazi Germany, and Mr Putin travels to China to attend occasions marking the Allied defeat of Japan.

“This was the case 10 years in the past, in 2015, and this would be the case this yr,” Mr Ushakov stated. In September, Beijing is ready to host an occasion marking the eightieth anniversary of the top of the Second World Warfare, which China refers to as “the Warfare of Resistance towards Japanese Aggression”.

In 2015, China marked the seventieth anniversary of its position within the defeat of Japan with an enormous navy parade involving greater than 12,000 troops, 500 items of navy tools and 200 navy plane.

Defence secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly blocked navy help flights to Ukraine inside days after US president Donald Trump entered workplace with out the administration understanding.

An order from the US navy instructed freight airways at Dover Air Power Base in Delaware and a US base in Qatar to halt 11 flights loaded with artillery shells and different weapons certain for Ukraine, in keeping with Reuters.

The verbal order reportedly got here from Mr Hegseth’s workplace, in keeping with US Transportation Command data reviewed by Reuters.

His directions sparked mass confusion throughout Washington, DC and in Kyiv, underscoring what officers and critics have warned is a Pentagon in disarray and pushed by haphazard decision-making.

The pause in help was beforehand reported, however Mr Hegseth’s obvious direct position in making the decision to halt the flights carrying navy help was not. The flights resumed a number of days later after then-national security adviser Mike Waltz intervened, in keeping with Reuters.

Alex Woodward reviews from New York:

Chinese language president Xi Jinping has left Beijing for his state go to to Russia, in keeping with China’s state information company Xinhua.

He will likely be welcomed as Vladimir Putin’s “visitor of honour” for Moscow’s commemorations to mark the eightieth anniversary of victory over the Nazis and, in keeping with Beijing, Mr Xi will deepen his “mutual belief” with the Russian president.

Mr Xi, whose nation buys extra Russian oil and gasoline than every other, and which has thrown Moscow an financial lifeline that has helped it navigate Western sanctions imposed over its conflict in Ukraine, is because of arrive on Wednesday night.

He’s probably the most highly effective world chief anticipated to attend a navy parade on Moscow’s Pink Sq. on Friday to mark the eightieth anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies over Nazi Germany.

The Kremlin has described tried Ukrainian drone assaults on Moscow as displaying Kyiv’s tendency to commit “acts of terrorism” – regardless of Moscow’s personal assault on the Ukrainian capital which killed a mom and son.

Russian air defence forces downed 14 Ukrainian drones on Wednesday, the town’s mayor stated, as Kyiv focused the Russian capital for the third consecutive day.

The drones compelled many of the Russian capital’s airports to shut hours earlier than Chinese language president Xi Jinping was as a result of fly in for a go to that Kyiv has made clear it opposes.

In a name with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated: “The Kyiv regime continues to display its essence, its propensity for terrorist acts.”

“All vital measures are being taken by our intelligence companies and our navy to make sure that the celebration of the Nice Victory is held in a relaxed, steady and peaceable setting,” he added.

A ballot has proven that 47 per cent of Ukrainians have a reasonably constructive expectation of the US essential minerals deal, as of early Could.

Carried out by the Kyiv Worldwide Institute of Sociology, the survey additionally discovered that 22 per cent of respondents anticipate the deal may have detrimental penalties, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

One other 19 per cent imagine it’s going to don’t have any affect on Ukraine, whereas 12 per cent had been undecided.

The deal was signed final week after months of intense negotiations, and can see Washington and Kyiv share earnings from the long run sale of Ukraine’s mineral and power reserves.

Earlier, we reported that two folks had been killed in Russia’s intense in a single day drone assault on Kyiv.

It has now emerged {that a} mom and son had been the 2 individuals who died, in keeping with Ukrainian authorities.

A minimum of seven folks, together with 4 youngsters, had been additionally injured within the assaults, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky stated, including that Russia fired 4 ballistic missiles and 142 drones at Kyiv and 5 different areas.

Residents evacuated their residence buildings nonetheless in evening gown, and waited outdoors the broken as emergency staff battled blazes of their residence blocks.

Russian drones continued to circle the Ukrainian territory at 11am (9am BST) on Wednesday, greater than 9 hours after the primary air raid sirens sounded over the area.