13 h. ago Liverpool open talks with Leverkusen as £125m Wirtz transfer edges closer to reality

Liverpool are understood to have opened direct talks with Bayer Leverkusen over a potential deal for Florian Wirtz after the attacking midfielder signalled a desire to move to Anfield this summer

Economics

47 h. ago Trump 'told Zelensky that Ukraine and Russia will need to reach a peace deal themselves' after his bombshell phone call with Putin in clearest sign yet he is ready to walk away from ceasefire talks

US president Donald Trump has reportedly told Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders they would have to find a solution to the invasion of Ukraine themselves. 

Politics

47 h. ago ‘Every day there is shelling’: Ukrainian border town torn between hope and despair

Mayor of Bilopillya, where nine people were killed in strike on bus, says Russia has shown it does not care about talksEven before the Russian strike on a shuttle bus travelling from his frontline town at the weekend, the mayor of Bilopillya, Yuri Zarko, was very sceptical that Vladimir Putin’s agreement to direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul would lead to peace.The strike, which killed nine people including five over 60, only confirmed his conviction that talks to end the war were going nowhere and Ukraine had a challenging time ahead. Continue reading...

Politics

68 h. ago The Guardian view on Russia sanctions: a brittle economy is Putin’s weakness | Editorial

Ukraine’s allies must dial up sanctions to expose the fragility of the Kremlin’s strategy for perpetual warDonald Trump’s pledge to end the war in Ukraine on the first day of his second term as US president was a sign of his unsuitability as a peace broker. A clearer sign was his apparent sympathy with Vladimir Putin. Mr Trump’s tone regarding the Russian president has cooled somewhat on the discovery that the conflict cannot be frozen by White House diktat. There are hints of recognition that the peace process is failing because the Kremlin is cynically playing for time. Sadly, any such insight hasn’t evolved into outrage at the criminal aggression that started the war in the first place.Accounts of a telephone call between the two leaders earlier this week indicate no increase in American pressure on Russia. Mr Trump’s impatience with the whole issue seems likelier to result in him walking away. Mr Putin relishes that prospect.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this ar...

Politics

2 d. ago European unity against Putin in peril if Trump moves to ease sanctions

EU’s hopes of US increasing pressure on Kremlin have been dashed, and Hungary could yet make situation worseEuropean leaders – who have promised to impose “massive” new sanctions on Russia after Vladimir Putin’s rejection of a ceasefire in Ukraine – face the prospect of having to introduce their planned expansion of economic restrictions on the Russian war economy without the United States.European hopes that Donald Trump might increase the pressure on the Kremlin were dashed after the US president’s two-hour inconclusive phone call with Putin on Monday. Trump did not follow through on previous threats to introduce “large-scale” sanctions on Russia if there was no ceasefire, but instead extolled the prospect of restarting trade with Moscow. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Vatican peace talks and a threatened ‘red line’ – what comes after the Trump

Volodymyr Zelensky accuses the Kremlin of trying to ‘buy time’ as Vladimir Putin agrees to work towards a memorandum with Kyiv, but no 30-day ceasefire

Politics

4 d. ago Zelenskyy urges more pressure on Russia after no ceasefire agreed in Trump

Ukrainian president says ‘pressure on Russia will push it toward real peace’Trump and Putin hold phone call but Kremlin refuses ceasefireEU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Tuesday called for the United States to take “strong action” against Russia if Moscow does not agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine.“America said that if Russia doesn’t agree on an unconditional ceasefire, then there are going to be consequences. So we want to see those consequences, also from the US side,” Kallas said at a meeting of EU ministers in Brussels.Putin is clearly playing for time, unfortunately we have to say Putin is not really interested in peace. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago Trump and Putin hold phone call but Kremlin refuses Ukraine ceasefire

Trump describes call as ‘excellent,’ despite Putin’s lack of support for ceasefire that US said was primary objectiveTrump says Russia-Ukraine ceasefire discussions to start immediately but Kremlin denies timeline for talks – liveVladimir Putin and Donald Trump have held a rare phone call, which the US leader described as “excellent,” but the Kremlin refused to agree to a ceasefire in the war with Ukraine, despite pressure from Washington and European allies.Speaking to reporters in Sochi after the two-hour conversation on Monday, Putin described the call as “very meaningful and frank,” and said he was prepared to work with Ukraine on drafting a memorandum for future peace talks. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago Trump to speak to Putin and Zelenskyy about Ukraine ceasefire – US politics live

Unclear what US president can achieve after direct talks between Russia and Ukraine ended without conclusionTwo high-profile Catholics, Pope Leo XIV and US vice-president JD Vance, were meeting Monday ahead of a flurry of US-led diplomatic efforts to make progress on a ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine, AP reported.Vance’s motorcade was seen entering Vatican City just after 7.30am Vance, a Catholic convert, had led the US delegation to the formal Mass opening the pontificate of the first American pope. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago Donald Trump to speak to Vladimir Putin today in bid to stop Ukraine 'bloodbath'

US President will then speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and ‘various members of Nato’ as search for ceasefire continues

Politics

6 d. ago ‘We will pay a huge price’: Ukraine fears war could drag on for years

Kyiv officials believe Moscow is not interested in peace despite talks in Istanbul and Trump’s interventionUkrainian officials believe a largely stalemated war of attrition with Russia is likely to continue for several more years, despite international efforts pushed by Donald Trump to end the fighting.After the inconclusive breakup of the first direct talks between Kyiv and Moscow in Istanbul on Friday, and despite the US president’s planned calls with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, they see no evidence that Moscow is serious about peace. Continue reading...

Economics

6 d. ago Ukraine war latest: Russia launches ‘biggest drone attack since invasion’ ahead of Trump ceasefire call

Trump says ‘hopefully it will be a productive day, a ceasefire will take place, and this very violent war ... will end'

Events

6 d. ago Russia fires 273 drones at Ukraine in largest attack since start of war

One killed in Kyiv region in air offensive that follows first direct peace talks between the two sidesThe largest known Russian drone attack since full-scale war began in 2022 killed a woman in the Kyiv region and wounded at least three people, Ukrainian authorities said early on Sunday.The attack comes two days after Ukraine and Russia held their first direct talks since 2022 and a day ahead of a planned phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago Trump to hold new peace talks with Putin and Zelensky as president vows to 'stop the bloodbath'

Donald Trump says he'll speak with Putin on Monday to stop the Ukraine "bloodbath," claiming over 5,000 soldiers are dying weekly - and hopes to broker a ceasefire.

Politics

6 d. ago Ukraine war latest: Trump insists ceasefire will take place after calls with Putin and Zelensky on Monday

Trump says ‘hopefully it will be a productive day, a ceasefire will take place, and this very violent war ... will end'

Politics

6 d. ago Trump confirms phone calls with Putin and Zelensky to take place on Monday

The phone calls come after Putin no-showed peace talks over Ukraine in Turkey

Politics

7 d. ago Kremlin cites past wars as it threatens long conflict in Ukraine

Russian peace negotiator invokes Peter the Great’s 21-year struggle to defeat Sweden, as Putin is fond of doingPeter the Great’s long war against Sweden – a grinding conflict that claimed countless Russian lives – is rarely held up as a model for modern diplomacy. Yet behind closed doors on Friday, during the first direct peace talks with Ukraine in three years, Russia’s lead negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, cited it as an explicit warning: Moscow was prepared to fight for as long as it took.Just like when Russian troops rolled into Ukraine in 2022, the Great Northern War in the early 18th century began with humiliating defeats for Moscow. The tsarist Russian army was ill-prepared, poorly armed and easily outmanoeuvred. But instead of backing down, Tsar Peter I dug in. He conscripted peasants by the tens of thousands, poured resources into rebuilding his army, and waited. Twenty-one years later, he emerged victorious. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago Zelensky condemns Russia over 'deliberate killing of civilians' in drone strike on Ukrainian bus

The strike comes just hours after Russia and Ukraine held their first direct peace talks

Events

7 d. ago Russian strike on civilian bus in northern Ukraine kills nine

The attack on the northern Sumy region comes hours after Kyiv and Moscow concluded talks in IstanbulNine people were killed in a Russian drone attack on a minibus carrying civilians in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region on Saturday, the local military administration said, hours after Kyiv and Moscow held their first direct peace talks since 2022.The bus, which was attacked near the city of Bilopillya while travelling towards Sumy, was “targeted by the Russians”, the military administration said. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago Nine killed in Russian strike on civilian bus in Ukraine's Sumy region, says Kyiv

The strike comes just hours after Russia and Ukraine held their first direct peace talks

Events