Donald Trump has speculated on the prospect of a Ukraine-Russia peace deal – as talk over potential negotiations intensifies. 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.
Tuesday 11 February 2025 09:40, UK
North Korea has treated hundreds of Russian soldiers injured in Ukraine, according to a Russian official.
Alexander Matsegora, Moscow’s ambassador to Pyongyang, told state-run outlet Rossiyskaya Gazeta that North Korea had also refused an offer from Moscow to finance their treatment abroad.
He said it was “a clear example of such a brotherly attitude” between Russian and North Korea.
He said there were “hundreds” of wounded in rehabilitation “in Korean sanatoriums and hospitals”.
“When we offered to compensate our [North Korean] friends for at least part of their expenses, they were sincerely offended and asked us never to do it again,” he said.
These images come to us from the Donetsk region.
The city of Kramatorsk was badly hit in overnight strikes yesterday, and these pictures show the aftermath and cleanup operation.
As we reported earlier, Russia is continuing to target Ukrainian energy infrastructure with strikes on gas targets (see 7.18am post).
But Ukraine is also keeping up its own attacks on Russian oil.
This morning, local Russian officials reported a fire at an unspecified industrial facility in Saratov – a large city which lies on the Volga in southern Russia.
Ukrainian military officials said it was Saratov oil refinery, which supplies the Russian army with fuel, that was hit, but did not claim direct responsibility for attacking it.
“There are no casualties,” Roman Busargin, the governor of Saratov, who noted that a fire had started after Ukraine struck it with a drone.
The fire has since been put out, he said later.
Last month, a Ukrainian attack on an oil depot near a military air base in Engels in the Saratov region sparked a fire that took days to be put out.
Donald Trump has suggested that Ukraine could be Russian in the future – a statement that will set alarm bells ringing in Kyiv amid discussions over potential peace talks.
“They may make a deal, they may not make a deal. They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday,” Trump tod Fox News in an interview aired last night.
His comments come as Trump aides prepare to travel to Ukraine this week, while vice president JD Vance is set to meet with Zelenskyy on Friday.
Of US aid to Ukraine, Trump said: “We are going to have all this money in there, and I say I want it back.
“And I told them that I want the equivalent, like $500bn worth of rare earth and they have essentially agreed to do that, so at least we don’t feel stupid.”
He appeared to be referring to Zelenskyy’s offer to “make a deal” on rare earth and minerals, which you can read about here:
“Serious” members of Trump’s team will travel to Ukraine for the first time this week, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late last night.
He also confirmed plans to meet Vice President JD Vance at the Munich conference, which begins on Friday.
Zelenskyy said his team were attempting to organise a meeting with Trump.
“This week, some people from the Trump team, serious ones, will be in Ukraine – even before the Munich conference,” he said.
“Our teams are also working on dialogue and a meeting with President Trump,” he said.
Trump indicated on Sunday that he had been in contact with Putin, without specifying when. The Kremlin neither confirmed nor denied those contacts.
Poland has once again scrambled jets and ordered its air defences to a maximum state of readiness after Russian strikes on Ukraine neared its border.
“Due to the attack by the Russian Federation carrying out strikes on objects located in the territory of Ukraine, Polish and allied aviation has begun operating in our airspace,” the Polish air force said.
It added it had “activated all available forces and resources at his disposal, the on-duty fighter pairs were scrambled, and the ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems reached the highest state of readiness”.
Poland has scrambled jets on several occasions since Russia began its war in Ukraine, pledging to do so every time Moscow’s strikes near its borders.
In November 2022, fears were raised of an all-out NATO-Russia war after a suspected Russian missile landed in Poland and killed two people.
Ukraine’s energy minister has introduced emergency restrictions after Russia hit gas infrastructure overnight.
“Another attack on Ukraine’s energy system is under way,” German Galushchenko said in the early hours of the morning.
“At night, the enemy attacked the gas infrastructure. As of this morning, the energy sector is still under attack.”
Russia has consistently targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure in a bid to economically cripple Kyiv and bring down morale.
“In order to minimise possible consequences for the power system, the transmission system operator is urgently implementing emergency electricity restrictions,” Galushchenko continued, offering no further details.
Authorities have been forced to enforce temporary power cuts on several occasions after attacks such as these.
Good morning and welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Yesterday speculation mounted over when potential peace talks between Russia and Ukraine could begin.
It started when, at the end of last week, Donald Trump said he had spoken to Vladimir Putin – a conversation that resulted in “progress” on the matter, according to the US president.
But the Kremlin remained tight-lipped, refusing to confirm whether any conversation had taken place.
Then yesterday, a senior Russian politician said Moscow is yet to receive a “good offer” to start peace negotiations, despite those claims by Trump, while reports suggest the US president’s envoy in the region is preparing plans to present to Washington.
Later in the day we got something more concrete – Russia’s deputy foreign minister saying 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.
Taking a step back, our Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett suggested that and other recent media interviews given by Russian officials were effectively Moscow laying out its opening gambit ahead of any potential peace talks.
Follow all the developments right here throughout the day, and don’t forget to read our big picture – where we take you through everything you need to be aware of at the start of the week.
Thanks for following our live page today.
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.
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