{"id":134036,"date":"2025-04-17T11:46:03","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T11:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-war-latest-ukraine-talks-begin-in-paris-after-top-trump-officials-fly-in-in-hint-of-deal-hope-sky-news\/"},"modified":"2025-04-17T11:46:03","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T11:46:03","slug":"ukraine-war-latest-ukraine-talks-begin-in-paris-after-top-trump-officials-fly-in-in-hint-of-deal-hope-sky-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-war-latest-ukraine-talks-begin-in-paris-after-top-trump-officials-fly-in-in-hint-of-deal-hope-sky-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine war latest: Ukraine talks begin in Paris after top Trump officials fly in – in hint of deal 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 12:33, UK
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
By Ivor Bennett<\/a>, Moscow correspondent<\/b>
Jean-Claude Van Damme has told Vladimir Putin that he wants to come to Russia as an “ambassador of peace”.
In a bizarre video posted on Telegram by a pro-Russian journalist from Ukraine, the Hollywood action hero, 64, said he would be “honoured” to take on such a role.
Addressing the Kremlin leader directly, he said: “We want to come to Russia. We’ll try to do this the way you want to do this – to be an ambassador of peace.”
It wouldn’t be the first time the man nicknamed “The Muscles From Brussels” has visited Russia.
In 2010, he enjoyed ringside seats alongside Vladimir Putin at a mixed martial arts event in Sochi.
The Belgian-born former bodybuilder shares a love of fighting with the Russian president, who is himself a judo black belt, and they are said to have known each other for years.
Tiptoeing around the topic of Russia’s war in Ukraine and its ongoing stand-off with the West, Van Damme promised to talk “only about peace, sport and happiness” and not politics, before signing off the video with a “big kiss for Putin”.
Most celebrities have turned their back on Vladimir Putin since he launched his invasion in February 2022 but a handful continue to defend him. Of those, American actor Steven Seagal is the most high profile.
The Under Siege star, who holds a Russian passport and is a frequent visitor to the country, acts as Moscow’s special representative for Russian-US humanitarian ties.
But when we caught up with him at Putin’s latest presidential inauguration last year, he refused to say why he supports the Kremlin leader…
We’ve just had an update from today’s meeting of US, Ukraine and European officials in Paris.
Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, says talks focused on several issues important to Kyiv, including a path to a “fair and lasting” peace.
Security guarantees to be implemented in the country after any potential ceasefire deal were also discussed, he added.
These maps show the latest territorial situation, indicating how much ground is held by Russian and Ukrainian forces.
The first map shows a wide view of the conflict, and from left to right you can see closer views of the fronts in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Luhansk and of the Russian region of Kursk.
The Kremlin says today’s meeting between the US, Ukrainian and European officials in Paris is a chance for Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy, to inform them of the “current status” of peace talks.
The talks come a week after Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg for a “long conversation”.
“The United States is continuing to work in this direction with the Europeans and with the Ukrainians,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
He repeated long-standing accusations that European powers are trying to continue the war.
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.
Be the first to get Breaking News<\/span>
Install the Sky News app for free<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"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 12:33, UKPlease use Chrome […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":134037,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}