{"id":134028,"date":"2025-04-17T10:27:20","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T10:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-war-latest-top-trump-official-in-paris-for-ukraine-talks-in-possible-sign-of-ceasefire-hope-sky-news\/"},"modified":"2025-04-17T10:27:20","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T10:27:20","slug":"ukraine-war-latest-top-trump-official-in-paris-for-ukraine-talks-in-possible-sign-of-ceasefire-hope-sky-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-war-latest-top-trump-official-in-paris-for-ukraine-talks-in-possible-sign-of-ceasefire-hope-sky-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine war latest: Top Trump official in Paris for Ukraine talks – in possible sign of ceasefire hope – Sky News"},"content":{"rendered":"

US secretary of state Marco Rubio and envoy Steve Witkoff are in Paris for talks on ending the war with Emmanuel Macron. Catch up on analyst Michael Clarke’s latest Ukraine war Q&A below as he discusses: Why does it increasingly look like Vladimir Putin is manipulating Donald Trump?
Thursday 17 April 2025 11:26, UK
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By Adams Parsons<\/a>, Europe correspondent<\/b>
Emmanuel Macron will welcome his American guests to Paris but, behind the scenes, the talks about Ukraine could be tetchy.
The French president, like many across Europe, believes Team Trump went far too far in opening talks with Russia and has achieved little in return. 
In fact, there is a feeling that Vladimir Putin may now feel emboldened by the idea that Ukraine has agreed to a ceasefire while he is continuing attacks without any apparent reprisals.
That’s why Macron, along with Sir Keir Starmer, kicked off the so-called “coalition of the willing” as an attempt to wrestle back some of the initiative. 
Macron will want to see signs of progress and also an assurance that, despite Steve Witkoff’s remarkably fond words about Vladimir Putin, the Americans still see Russia as the problem – not Ukraine. 
Remarkably, we are at a point where the French president’s main question might well be – whose side is America actually on?
We didn’t see him on the tarmac alongside Marco Rubio earlier (see 9.05am post), but US special envoy Steve Witkoff is indeed in Paris for talks with European officials.
We’ve just seen him sitting opposite Emmanuel Macron’s diplomatic adviser, Emmanuel Bonne, as well as several other officials.
A little earlier and just a stone’s throw away on the steps of the Elysee Palace, more European officials posed for a picture.
Bonne appeared alongside Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, foreign minister Andrii Sybiha and defence minister Rustem Umerov.
Jonathan Powell, the UK national security adviser, and his German counterpart Jens Plotner were also in attendance. 
As US and European officials meet in Paris today, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Ukraine’s allies to “put pressure on the killers” after further Russian attacks overnight left three people dead.
Posting on Telegram, Ukraine’s president mourned the loss of the three people who were killed in Dnipro after Russia’s drone strike there.
He said that every defence package for Ukraine was “literally protecting lives” as “Russia uses every day and every night to kill”.
“We must put pressure on the killers and help life to end this war and guarantee a reliable peace,” he said.
“I want to thank all partners who use their capabilities in this way. Wars are stopped by force – force against the aggressor, force in the defence of life.”
Today’s talks between US and Europe officials in Paris will no doubt be fraught with ill-feeling.
As Europe correspondent Adam Parsons<\/a> explains, relations between the US and Europe are “pretty lousy” at the moment as “a lot of European leaders don’t trust the White House”.
He says Donald Trump’s recent sweeping tariff announcements have added to the souring relationship, as have his attempts to negotiate with Russia without Europe without any results.
“There is a feeling that he is a capricious president, making decisions off the cuff and excluding European leaders,” Parsons says.
He adds that French President Emmanuel Macron will want to seek clarity from US secretary of state Marco Rubio over where America’s loyalties are at.
“They’re very worried that the US is cosying up to Russia and there’s evidence of that.”
Germany has chosen not to invite the ambassadors of Russia and its close ally Belarus to a special sitting of parliament marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
Representatives of other embassies will join German politicians in the Bundestag on 8 May to commemorate the end of the war and of Nazi Germany’s campaign of violence and genocide in Europe. 
Germany’s decision highlights the discomfort Berlin faces over how to acknowledge the role Russia played in liberating Europe while addressing Vladimir Putin’s continued attempts to draw on the legacy of the Second World War to justify his invasion of Ukraine.
Putin has often characterised Russia’s war in Ukraine as a battle against nationalists and Nazis – who he says are leading the Kyiv government.
Vladimir Putin met Alexander Troufanov, a former Hamas hostage, at the Kremlin yesterday.
The Russian-Israeli spent 498 days in captivity in Gaza after being taken hostage during the 7 October attacks alongside his mother and fiancee, both of whom were released in an earlier deal.
In a video circulated in Russian state media, Putin presents flowers to Yelena and Sapir and shakes Sasha’s hand.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio has just landed in Paris ahead of talks with Emmanuel Macron on ending the war in Ukraine.
Special envoy Steve Witkoff is also expected to join Rubio for those talks but was not seen on the tarmac.
As we’re reporting, two of Donald Trump’s top national security aides are in Paris today for talks with Emmanuel Macron.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff are expected to hear European concerns about the war in Ukraine as America attempts to negotiate a peace deal.
Security and defence analyst Professor Michael Clarke<\/a> says the fact that US officials are bringing their European counterparts into the fold after Witkoff held talks with Vladimir Putin last week could be a sign there is “something more specific, something more hopeful” for them to discuss.
Watch Clarke’s full analysis here:
Ukraine’s air force says Vladimir Putin’s forces launched five missiles and 75 drones at the country overnight.
It added that 25 drones were shot down and another 30 failed to reach their targets, likely due to Ukraine’s use of electronic warfare to misdirect them.
It did not specify what happened to the remaining 20 drones, or the missiles. 
Earlier, we reported on a Russian drone attack that the regional governor of Dnipro said killed three people and injured at least 30 (see 6.35am post).
Pictures show the destruction wrought by Russian drones on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, where at least three people have been killed and 30 injured.
Firefighters were photographed tackling blazes trigged by the blasts in buildings and cars.
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