Zelenskyy had what British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer described as a “productive” call with European leaders on Friday, hours after Zelenskyy met Trump at the White House. “I shared details of my conversation with US president Donald Trump. We discussed many important issues,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X. “The main priority now is to protect as many lives as possible, guarantee security for Ukraine, and strengthen all of us in Europe. That is exactly what we are working for. Our national security advisers will discuss the next steps. We are coordinating our positions. I am grateful for the conversation, for all the support, and for the readiness to stand with Ukraine.” Starmer reiterated the UK’s “unwavering commitment to Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression”, and said it would “continue to send humanitarian aid and military support” to Kyiv. Leaders from Germany, Finland, Italy, Norway, and Poland were on the call, along with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, Nato Secretary Gen Mark Rutte and European council president Antonio Costa.
Russia and the US should build a “Putin-Trump” rail tunnel under the Bering Strait to link their countries, unlock joint exploration of natural resources and “symbolise unity“, a Kremlin envoy has suggested. The proposal by Kirill Dmitriev, President Vladimir Putin’s investment envoy and head of Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund, envisages a construction project costing US$8bn (£6bn), funded by Moscow and “international partners”, to build a 70-mile (112-km) rail and cargo link in under eight years. Dmitriev floated the idea late on Thursday after Putin spoke to Donald Trump by phone and agreed to meet in Budapest to discuss stopping the war against Ukraine.
The Russian Defence Ministry said on Friday its forces had taken control of three more villages in eastern Ukraine, one in the Dnipropetrovsk region and two in the north-eastern Kharkiv region, closer to the Russian border. Ukraine has acknowledged fighting around at least two of the settlements but has not said that any of the areas have changed hands. According to the Russian ministry, Moscow’s troops took control of Pryvillia in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and captured the villages of Pishchane and Tykhe.
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