Russia-Ukraine war latest: Trump says he could join Putin and Zelensky at Turkey peace summit

The claims centre on a video in which French president Emmanuel Macron picks up a white tissue from a table and German chancellor Friedrich Merz retrieves a coffee stirrer. Sir Keir is seen smiling on the opposite side of the table.

The Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote a lengthy diatribe on social media site Telegram over the weekend in which she claimed the video was evidence that the trio had spent the train journey doing cocaine and had forgotten to remove the drug paraphernalia. She claimed the tissue was a bag of cocaine and the stirrer was a spoon used to consume the drugs.

Vladimir Putin’s 2am press conference on Sunday was not just theatre, it was his latest salvo in the psychological battle to shape global perceptions of who is truly to blame for Russia’s war with Ukraine.

That was a big concession to the invader, but it was accompanied by a demand that Putin agree to a 30-day ceasefire – also demanded by the four European leaders whom Zelensky had just met.

By declaring that he would be waiting for him in Istanbul, and daring Putin to meet him face to face for the first time since 2019, Zelensky was throwing down a challenge. It could yet blow up in either leader’s face.

Summit diplomacy can end wars, writes Mark Almond:

US secretary of state Marco Rubio discussed the “way forward for a ceasefire” in Ukraine with his European counterparts, including the foreign ministers of Britain and France and the EU’s foreign policy chief, the State Department said last night.

Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha and his German and Polish counterparts were also on the call, according to the readout.

This came shortly after Donald Trump offered to join Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin if they meet in Turkey this week for direct peace talks.

Ukraine and its European allies have been seeking to put pressure on Moscow to accept an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, which was supposed to have started yesterday.

The European proposal for a 30-day ceasefire is an “unacceptable” ultimatum, the Kremlin said.

Europe, with the backing of US president Donald Trump, proposed a 30-day ceasefire beginning yesterday.

The European countries, including the UK, threatened Vladimir Putin with further sanctions if he failed to agree.

“The language of ultimatums is unacceptable for Russia, it is not suitable. You can’t use such language with Russia,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

Ukraine and its European allies have been seeking to put pressure on Moscow to accept an unconditional 30-day ceasefire from Monday, with the leaders of four major European powers travelling to Kyiv on Saturday to show unity with Mr Zelensky.

Earlier yesterday, the German government said Europe would start preparing new sanctions against Russia unless the Kremlin by the end of the day started abiding by the ceasefire.

Donald Trump has suggested he could join Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian president Vladimir Putin in Turkey this week if the two leaders meet for peace talks there.

“You may have a good result out of the Thursday meeting in Turkey … and I believe the two leaders are going to be there. I’ve got so many meetings, but I was thinking about actually flying over there. There’s a possibility of it, I guess, if I think things can happen, but we’ve got to get it done,” Mr Trump said in the White House yesterday.

Mr Trump’s current schedule has him visiting Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar this week.

The US president added that he insisted that the meeting between the two leaders takes place.

“I think you’re going to have … maybe a good meeting, you have the potential for a good meeting. A meeting wasn’t going take place, and I insisted that that meeting take[s] place…,” Mr Trump said.