Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump says negotiators ‘dividing up lands’ with full ceasefire coming ‘pretty soon’

Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have both insisted that Ukraine’s forces in Kursk are surrounded by Russian troops and are in imminent danger, but U.S. intelligence reports have contradicted those claims.

A trio of U.S. and European officials familiar with intelligence details of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine told Reuters that the situation on the ground does not reflect the comments made by Trump and Putin.

One of the U.S. officials also said that the White House was briefed on the actual situation in Ukraine, so it’a unclear why Trump has and continues to claim that Ukrainian troops in Russia's Kursk region are surrounded.

Read the full report:

Moscow has been accused of bombing its own gas infrastructure in order to sabotage an energy ceasefire deal with Ukraine.

Ukraine’s general staff has denied that its forces struck a key gas pumping station in Sudzha, and instead said it had been “repeatedly shelled by the Russians themselves”.

The army accused Russia of seeking to pin the blame on Ukraine with “groundless” accusations its military was involved – all to undermine any truce and longer peace deal currently being negotiated by Donald Trump and the US.

“The Russian federation is intensifying its discrediting campaign against Ukraine,” it said.

Athena Stavrou reports:

Volodymyr Zelensky visited the site of one of the initial battles in the war with Russia today, alongside the president of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel.

Heavy fighting in Moshchun lasted for most of March 2022 before Ukraine successfully repelled Russian forces, less than 30 kilometres from Kyiv. Zelensky said the village was a symbolic and “deeply memorable” place for Ukrainians.

“The battles for Moshchun against the Russian occupiers played a crucial role in the defense of Kyiv, and therefore the defence of our entire country,” Zelensky said on X

“Together, we honoured the memory of our fallen warriors who fought for Ukraine’s freedom, and expressed our gratitude to all the heroes — thanks to whom we are here today – in Ukrainian Kyiv, in our independent state. And it will always be this way – we will definitely preserve Ukraine’s independence.”

Some £25 billion worth of Russian assets have been frozen by the UK Government since the start of the Ukraine war, newly-released figures have revealed.

A report released by the Treasury on Friday revealed the total, which accounts for all assets that have been sanctioned by the UK since February 2022 when the invasion of Ukraine began.

Some 2,001 individuals and entities have been sanctioned under the regime as of March 2024, according to the Treasury.

France has restored its gunpowder production, which it scrapped in 2007.

Explosives manufacturer Eurenco is set to produce some 1,200 tonnes of gunpowder pellets a year, rising to 1,800 tonnes, which would feed into about 100,000 artillery shells,

Most of these French-made artillery shells will head to Ukraine.

Backed by the government and with an investment of 100 million euros of which half came from an EU programme to support the bloc's defence industry, the firm put together new infrastructure in less than a year.

France has a tradition of producing gunpowder dating back to the 14th Century, and a long history of pride in being self sufficient in arms production.

Eurenco produced gunpowder as far back as World War One. But after the end of the Cold War, weapons production and supply chains were no longer a priority and governments scaled back.

Kyiv has accused Russia of illegally pressuring Ukrainians in occupied territories to change their legal status, in an apparent move to enforce Russian nationality on Ukraine’s occupied citizens.

It comes after Moscow issued a presidential decree ordering Ukrainian citizens living “in Russia without legal grounds” to “regulate” their status.

While there was no clear explanation on what it meant by “regulate”, Moscow has been pressing Ukrainians in those areas to obtain Russian citizenship.

Holding a Russian passport in the occupied territories has been made necessary for Ukrainians who want to access healthcare, retirement income, social services, or prove property ownership. A Russian law stipulated that anyone in the occupied territories who did not have a Russian passport by 1 July 2024 was subject to imprisonment as a “foreign citizen”.

Kyiv’s foreign ministry spokesman, Heorhii Tykhyi, said the move was a "despicable act".

"It is yet another step in Russia's campaign of discrimination, persecution and forced displacement of Ukrainian citizens from their homeland, or forcing them to acquire foreigner status," he told a briefing in Kyiv.

Russia, which regularly denied accusations of carrying out abuses, did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent to its foreign ministry.

A huge fire has broke out earlierat a Russian gas and pumping station after it was rocked by a major explosion.

The facility in Sudzha is in Russia’s Kursk region near the border with Ukraine.

It was once used by Gazprom to export gas to Europe from Russia visa Ukraine, until Kyiv decided to end the agreement in January this year.

The Kursk region has been a key area in the war between Russia in Ukraine.

In August 2024, Ukraine launched an incursion into the region and captured an estimated 1,300 square kilometers of land, including the town of Sudzha.

However in recent weeks, Putin’s troops have re-captured much of the region.