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In a post on Truth Social, the US President said Putin had been ‘lost’ to China
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Donald Trump has become increasingly “pessimistic” about ending the war on Ukraine, according to sources close to the President.
In a post on Truth Social, the US President posted a picture of the Russian leader with after Putin met with China’s President Xi and India’s Prime Minister Modi, and added Putin had been “lost to deepest, darkest China”.
It comes as the Kremlin said there are no preparations underway for any confirmed future talks between Trump and Putin.
As European leaders continue to push for a peace deal, Vladimir Putin has said that foreign troops stationed in Ukraine would be a legitimate target for Russian forces.
His comments came after French president Emmanuel Macron said that 26 countries had agreed to provide military assistance for Ukraine on land, sea and in the air.
Moscow has ruled out Nato membership for Ukraine as part of a peace agreement and said that the deployment of western troops would be a red line. Kyiv stresses that Russia will attack again without a deterrent.
President Donald Trump has said there is no prospect of US troops being deployed in Ukraine but that Washington may provide air assistance.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had held “substantive” talks with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico during his visit to Ukraine’s western city of Uzhhorod on Friday.
“It is important that we have this dialogue. We will continue it,” Zelensky was quoted as saying by Ukrinform agency.
The pair were meeting with the President of the European Council to discuss the phasing out of Russian oil to Slovakia.
Trump is undermining Europe’s world order – and that’s to Putin’s advantage, writes world affairs editor Sam Kiley.
Following the news that 26 countries have joined the “coalition of the willing”, who are prepared to deploy forces to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal, he says the US president’s actions are only making it harder for Europe.
“No peace deal is on the table. But Europe is trying to build a new order, outside the chaos caused by Trump,” Sam Kiley writes. “Its every move, though, is dogged by the Oval Office.”
Ukraine can “count on” the support of the EU, European Council President Antonio Costa has said in a post on X.
Costa is meeting with President Zelensky and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico today as the trio seek to reach an agreement on phasing out Russian oil deliveries to Slovakia.
In our 11:42 post we brought you the news that, the US is weighing up taking a lead role in a buffer zone between Ukraine and Russia, if and when a peace deal is reached, according to an NBC News report.
Our White House correspondent Andrew Feinberg has more below.
Russian forces took control of the settlement of Markove in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Friday, citing the Defence Ministry.
The Independent could not independently verify the battlefield report.
President Zelensky is meeting with European leaders on Friday to discuss phasing out the use of Russian oil.
The talks, between the Ukrainian president and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, as well as European Council President Antonio Costa, are expected to have focused on a phase-out of Russian oil deliveries via Ukraine to Slovakia.
Slovakia is heavily reliant on supplies of oil from Russia via the Druzhba pipeline, whose infrastructure Ukrainian drones have attacked recently, causing repeated disruptions.
Earlier on Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump told European leaders that countries in the continent must stop buying Russian oil, claiming that it is helping Moscow fund its war against Ukraine, a White House official said.
Ukraine’s military says it hit Russia’s Ryazan oil refinery overnight.
The refinery is one of the largest in the country and belongs to the Russian state-owned company Rosneft.
President Zelensky has met with António Costa, the President of the European Council, today in Uzhhorod in western Ukraine.
In a post on X, he said the pair discussed Ukraine’s progress towards becoming an EU member, sanctions policy, and “above all, our children”.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the deployment of foreign troops is being discussed as part of post-war security guarantees for Ukraine.
“It is important that we are discussing all this. Yes, it will definitely be in the thousands, not just a few. And this is a fact,” he said in the western Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod.
Earlier on Friday, Vladimir Putin said that foreign troops stationed in Ukraine would be legitimate targets for Russian forces.
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