Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday a landmark minerals deal with the United States offered “equal” benefits for both sides even though the accord offered no concrete security guarantees for Kyiv.

The Kremlin blamed Ukraine for a car bomb that killed a senior Russian military officer near Moscow yesterday, hours before US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff was due to meet President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

US envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin yesterday in the Kremlin to tout Washington’s plan to settle the Ukraine conflict, a day after Donald Trump issued a direct appeal to the Russian president to halt his offensive.

Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff is due in Russia on Friday where he is expected to hold another round of ceasefire talks with Putin.

Trump tells Putin after a ‘massive’ Russian missile attack on Kyiv kills at least 10, injures more than 90

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday Russian forces were making a pretence of a one-day Easter ceasefire announced by President Vladimir Putin, continuing overnight attempts to inflict frontline losses on Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a unilateral Easter ceasefire in Ukraine, ordering his forces to end hostilities at 6:00pm Moscow time (1500 GMT) on Saturday until the end of Sunday.

Russia fired a fresh volley of missiles and drones at Ukraine overnight, wounding dozens of people, Kyiv said yesterday, as the United States warned it could end efforts to broker a ceasefire if it did not see progress soon.

President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday warned that Moscow is increasing its aerial bombardment after Russia mounted a “massive” missile and drone attack on Ukraine overnight, killing two people and wounding at least seven.

Ukraine yesterday mourned 18 people, including nine children, killed in a Russian ballistic missile strike on President Volodymyr Zelensky’s home city of Kryvyi Rig, as the region’s governor said it was “the kind of pain you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy”.

Russia’s defence ministry yesterday said Ukraine had increased its attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, hitting targets 14 times in the last 24 hours, despite a US-brokered moratorium.

A Russian ballistic missile strike on Volodymyr Zelensky’s home city of Kryvyi Rig killed 14 people yesterday, including six children, the Ukrainian leader said.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “promises are hollow” on any eventual ceasefire with Ukraine, as Kyiv’s allies met in Paris for a summit.

A military correspondent from Russia’s main state TV channel, Channel One, was killed by a mine on the border with Ukraine earlier, her employer said yesterday.

The United States yesterday reached deals with Ukraine and Russia on a truce in the Black Sea and a pause in attacks on energy facilities, with Washington also pledging to push for the lifting of some financial sanctions against Moscow.

Russian attacks killed a family of three late on Friday in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia and four more people in the country’s north and east, officials said. 

Russia and Ukraine yesterday accused each other of blowing up a Russian gas pumping station in a border area where Ukrainian troops have been retreating, amid talks over a proposed US-backed moratorium on attacks on energy infrastructure.

UK premier Keir Starmer yesterday said the “ball was in Russia’s court” and that President Vladimir Putin would “sooner or later” have to “come to the table,” after a virtual summit to drum up support for a coalition willing to protect any eventual ceasefire in Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin has called for beleaguered Ukrainian troops in the Russian region of Kursk to “surrender” as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the Russian leader of seeking to sabotage a ceasefire initiative.

US President Donald Trump urged Putin to spare the lives of the Ukrainian troops