Ukraine-Russia conflict newest: Trump envoy snubs London peace summit regardless of US ceasefire push

Police have been photographed standing guard at a security cordon near London’s Carlton Gardens, the official residence of Britain’s foreign secretary, where peace discussions are due to take place.

Russia’s armed forces still lack certain weapons despite significantly increasing arms production last year, Vladimir Putin has told a meeting of Moscow’s military-industrial commission.

According to Mr Putin, Russian troops have received more than 4,000 armoured vehicles, 180 warplanes and helicopters, and over 1.5 million drones of various types.

But he warned that there were gaps in other areas.

“I know very well, and many here who are participating in our meeting today know it as well as I do, that these weapons are still lacking,” the Russian president said.

The Kremlin has said there are “many nuances” around talks on finding a way to end the conflict in Ukraine and that the positions of different sides involved in the talks had yet to be narrowed.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia was continuing dialogue on a possible settlement with the US, but was not in contact with Europe or Ukraine.

He claimed that Vladimir Putin remained open to talks with all parties and that Moscow welcomed the US mediation efforts.

Russia’s defence ministry claims its forces have gained control over the village of Tarasivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Russian state news agency RIA reported.

It was not possible to immediately verify the claims, and Russia has frequently claimed control over villages it is yet to capture during the past three years of its full-scale war in Ukraine.

The head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service (SVR), Sergei Naryshkin, has claimed that “there are always chances” that Russia and US could reach a deal, Russian state news agency Tass reported.

It was not clear if Mr Naryshkin was referring to negotiations regarding the war in Ukraine, or an economic deal between Washington and Moscow.

The Independent’s world affairs editor Sam Kiley writes:

Actor turned statesman Volodymyr Zelensky may have only ever played a soldier, but as a war time leader he knows an ambush when he sees one.

Having been trapped in the Oval Office and eviscerated by Donald Trump and JD Vance, he has avoided an enfilade from a crack team of American diplomats in the London kill zone by not turning up at all.

Tipped off that his intended target was not going to wander into his sights, the US team leader, secretary of state Marco Rubio, called off the operation altogether and stayed in Washington along with Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy to Vladimir Putin.

Keith Kellog, Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, who was already in London, has been left to observe peering through the privet while foreign secretary David Lammy squires the Ukrainian foreign minister for much downgraded “talks”.

At least the British hosts were not saddled with what could have been an historic mess in which Zelensky was presented with a US-Russian ultimatum and then painted as a rejectionist war monger when he said “nemaye” (no).

Portugal will become one of the first EU member states to ask the European Commission to activate the so-called “fiscal escape” clause to allow for higher defence spending worth up to 1.5 per cent of GDP, its finance ministry has said.

European countries are under pressure from Donald Trump, who is pushing Nato allies to lift military spending to as high as 5 per cent and is reluctant to continue funding Kyiv in the war in Ukraine.

The European Commission has proposed allowing member states to raise defence spending by 1.5 per cent of GDP each year for four years, without any disciplinary steps that normally kick in once a government deficit climbs above 3 per cent of GDP.

The move is part of its plans to mobilise close to €800bn to strengthen Europe’s defence industry and increase military capabilities.

Portugal’s centre-right caretaker government has consulted the main opposition Socialist Party before taking the decision to activate the clause, the finance ministry said.

Ukraine will hold talks in London on Wednesday about ways to achieve a “full and unconditional ceasefire” as a first step towards peace, the Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak has said.

Mr Yermak said he had arrived in London with foreign minister Andrii Sybiha and defence minister Rustem Umerov.

“The path to peace is not easy, but Ukraine has been and remains committed to peaceful efforts,” said Mr Yermak. “Already in Jeddah in March, and later at other meetings, Ukraine clearly demonstrated that it is not an obstacle to peace.

“Today, we will discuss ways to achieve a full and unconditional ceasefire as the first step toward a comprehensive settlement and the achievement of a just and lasting peace.”

Members of Ukraine’s delegation are set to hold bilateral talks with foreign secretary David Lammy, while lower-level officials from the US, Germany, France, Britain and Ukraine will also hold talks, after US secretary of state Marco Rubio – and his German and French counterparts – pulled out of the summit.

US vice president JD Vance has insisted that Washington’s peace proposal is “very fair” as he threatened that the US would “walk away” if an agreement is not reached soon.

Speaking to reporters in India, Mr Vance said: “We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say yes, or for the United States to walk away from this process. We have engaged in an extraordinary amount of diplomacy, of on the ground work. We’ve really tried to understand things from the perspective of both the Ukrainians and the Russians.”

“And I think that we’ve put together a very fair proposal,” the US vice president insisted. “We’re going to see if the Europeans, the Russians, the Ukrainians are ultimately able to get this thing over the finish line.

“Again, I feel pretty optimistic about it. I think everybody has been negotiating in good faith.

“But it’s now time I think to take, if not the final step, one of the final steps, which is at a broad level the parties saying, ‘we’re going to stop the killing, we’re going to freeze the territorial lines at some level close to where they are today, and we’re going to actually put in place the kind of long-term diplomatic settlement that hopefully will lead to long-term peace’.”

Prior to pulling out of today’s summit in London, US secretary of state Marco Rubio had indicated concern that Ukraine could revert to its previous tough positions, making any breakthrough at the talks impossible, a European official has claimed to Reuters.