A senior Russian politician has said Moscow is yet to receive a good offer to start peace negotiations – but it appears to have made its opening gambit. Follow the latest on the war in Ukraine here – and submit your questions on any aspect of the conflict below for our experts to answer.
Monday 10 February 2025 15:44, UK
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Before we go, here’s a round-up of the key developments today:
The possibility of extending the final pact between the US and Russia regarding nuclear arms does not look likely, Moscow has warned.
The New START treaty caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the US and Russia can deploy.
The deployment of land and submarine-based missiles and bombers to deliver them is due to run out on 5 February next year.
“The situation does not look very promising,” said deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov.
He also said that Donald Trump has expressed an interest in holding denuclearisation talks between Russia, the US and China.
But Vladimir Putin wants Britain and France included in any talks, too.
“The US is proposing a three-way talks format and we want a five-way format. We are going round in circles,” he said.
These images show servicemen of Ukraine’s 5th Separate Heavy Mechanised Brigade operating Leopard tanks in the Donetsk region.
The area has seen some of the fiercest fighting of the war, with Russia gaining the upper hand in recent months.
Moscow said on Friday it had captured the city of Toretsk, which opens up the possibility of further gains including the key logistics hub of Pokrovsk.
Over the weekend, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania officially disconnected their electricity systems from Russia’s as the Baltic countries seek closer ties with the European Union and better national security.
The move symbolises their desire to sever all ties with, and gain energy independence from, Moscow.
Officials switched off the Soviet-era grid’s transmission lines on Saturday, they said.
After the Baltic Power System operated independently for 24 hours, the countries joined the European energy networks yesterday afternoon through several links with Finland, Sweden and Poland.
Read the full story here.
These images show the aftermath of recent shelling in Makiivka, eastern Ukraine.
The area is Russian-held, and Moscow claims the shelling was carried out by Ukrainian forces.
Russia’s opening gambit ahead of expected peace talks has been laid out in the media, says our Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett.
“There has been a lot of talk about potential meetings and contact between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump,” he says.
Despite the US president saying the pair had spoken, there is still “nothing concrete”, Bennett says.
But we heard this morning from Sergei Ryabkov, who oversees US relations and arms control for Moscow, and who laid out exactly what Russia wants from talks (see our last post or watch the below video).
He said the conditions outlined by Putin in June last year must be met if any negotiations are to take place – namely Ukraine dropping its NATO ambitions and withdrawing its troops from occupied regions.
“That’s clearly Russia’s opening gambit ahead of these expected peace negotiations,” Bennett says, adding that through the media, Russia has laid out its “red lines” for talks.
“But we still don’t know when [talks] might happen or where.”
Russia’s deputy foreign minister says all of Vladimir Putin’s conditions for peace must be met if the US wants to end the war in Ukraine.
Adding to the growing frenzy of commentary on a peace deal, Sergei Ryabkov – who oversees US relations and arms control – said the conditions laid out by the Russian leader in June last year must be met if any negotiations are to take place.
Those terms are:
Donald Trump said over the weekend that “progress” has been made in talks to end the war.
He told reporters he had spoken with the Russian president, the first officially acknowledged conversation between Putin and a US president in around three years.
Donald Trump’s Ukraine envoy has reportedly told American allies that he is preparing options for ending the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Semafor cites officials as saying Keith Kellogg will speak to representatives from every NATO country before presenting options to Trump.
It comes amid widespread speculation over the future of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia and suggestions that Trump has been speaking to Vladimir Putin about “progressing” peace talks.
But a senior Russian politician has said that Moscow is yet to receive a good offer to start peace negotiations.
German Chancellor Olaf Schlolz and his main rival in the upcoming elections, Friedrich Merz, agreed during a debate yesterday that Berlin must continue supporting Ukraine.
“We must help Ukraine have a strong army. Because its economy will not be able to finance an army of the size it needs for defence,” Scholz said.
Merz, who some analysts feared may take a harsh stance on supporting Ukraine, called instead for a united stance from Europe and the US on the conflict and warned against excluding Ukraine from negotiations.
Merz’s conservative alliance is the clear favorite for the snap elections, which take place on 23 February.
Vladimir Putin will meet with the Russian-installed governor of the occupied Ukrainian region of Donetsk later today, state media reports.
It’s not clear what the president and Denis Pushilin will discuss but it’s likely the pair will talk about recent Russian gains in the area, including the capture of the city of Torestk.
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