The announcement was made ahead of an expected prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia on Friday – an outcome of last week’s face-to-face talks in Turkey, the first time the two countries have held direct talks at any level in three years.

Kyiv’s European allies have slapped new sanctions on Moscow, a day after a phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to produce a breakthrough on ending the 3-year-old war in Ukraine.

Pope Leo XIV may have offered to host Russia-Ukraine peace talks at the Vatican, but neither the pope nor senior Vatican officials have spoken publicly about the possibility, leaving prospects for such talks uncertain.

Russia and Ukraine have scheduled no further direct talks on ending their more than three-year war, a Kremlin spokesman said Thursday, almost a week after the first face-to-face engagement between the countries’ delegations since 2022 and days after U.

Airports in Moscow were briefly shut on Wednesday, after Russia claimed it shot down hundreds of Ukrainian drones.In a series of announcements, Russia's Defence Ministry said on Telegram that at least 376 Ukrainian drones were intercepted or destroyed on Wednesday.

It follows Donald Trump saying Russia and Ukraine will "immediately" start negotiating, after a two-hour phone call with Vladimir Putin.

As President Donald Trump prepares for crucial calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, his administration faces ongoing talks to secure trade deals.