Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump says Moscow deal could be next after talks with Putin and Zelensky

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has said it was clear that victory on the battlefield was unrealistic for both sides in the Russia-Ukraine war but claimed that Russian forces were still advancing.

Speaking to Al Arabiya newspaper, one of Vladimir Putin’s closest allies said that both sides – Russia and Ukraine – must compromise to end the war that has raged for more than four years with no end in sight.

“Today, we need to use any steps to reach ​a â peaceful agreement through compromises. For the long term,” he said in the interview, which was republished by Belarus’ Belta news agency.

“If they realise on both sides… you can’t go further, otherwise there will be escalation and an even worse situation… If this sinks into the minds of the fighters and their supporters, it means a compromise can be reached,” he said.

Belarus allowed Russia to use its territory for the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine and has allowed Moscow to deploy nuclear weapons on its soil.

Lukashenko said that while Russian forces were “advancing step-by-step” in the face of stout Ukrainian defence, both sides faced a shortage of troops.

“Russians are experiencing this shortage. Maybe not like in Ukraine, but it’s there. But that’s the main issue of this conflict – they are running out of people,” Lukashenko said.

A Russian drone struck enclosures at the zoo in Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv, killing rabbits and inflicting stress on other animals, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors in Kharkiv region in Ukraine’s northeast said the â drone hit ​an area â described as a vivarium in which hundreds of â rabbits, Guinea pigs, rats and ​mice â were housed.

A ‌statement on Telegram said 10 rabbits were killed and 15 ‌injured.

The statement said an elephant was suffering from stress after the strike damaged the outside of its adjacent enclosure. There were no casualties among staff or visitors.

An “eco park” outside Kharkiv came under a Russian attack earlier this year and staff said at the time that several birds had been killed. Kharkiv, about 30â km (18 miles) from the â Russian border, has been a frequent target ‌of ​Russian attacks in ‌the more than four-year-long ​war.

Drone debris caused a fire at an oil depot in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, authorities said this morning, as â they closed a local road connecting the damaged area to the Crimean peninsula.

The bridge is one of the supply routes to â the Black Sea peninsula in addition to a few other roads from the nearby Russia-held areas of Ukraine.

There were no casualties following the fire at the oil depot, located in the Poltavskaya area of the region of Krasnodar, just across from Crimea, regional officials said.

Authorities â said they closed a ‌local road connecting the area with a regional route leading to the bridge across ‌the Kerch Strait linking Crimea to ‌the Krasnodar region, built by Moscow after illegally annexing the peninsula.

The attack could deal a serious blow to the population in Crimea which is already facing a massive fuel shortage amid rising drone attacks on fuel and oil facilities.

The prime minister, who set out the plans as he arrived in France for the G7 summit, warned that Putin's “aggression threatens not just Ukraine, but the security of all Europeâ€.

Speaking on Tuesday, Sir Keir said: “The UK is stepping up – choking off the revenues that fuel Putin’s war and powering Ukraine through the winters ahead.

Britain is set to supply more nuclear fuel to Ukraine in renewed support for the war-hit nation and also ramp up sanctions against Russia, prime minister Keir Starmer will announce at a meeting with G7 leaders in France today.

As part of an effort to show support for Ukraine remains steadfast, the UK will now provide £210 million of UK Export Finance to power Ukraine’s nuclear plants for the next two years as part of a package which will enable UK-based Urenco to supply enriched uranium to Ukraine’s nuclear power producer, Energoatom – which provides more than half of the country’s electricity.

It was agreed last week at a meeting in Downing Street between Sir Keir and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

The agreement also supports UK jobs and exports, the government said, with more than a third of the uranium content originating from Urenco’s processing plant in the North-West of England.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has offered to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin after he met with Donald Trump and European leaders at the G7 gathering in France yesterday.

“Yesterday (Sunday), we discussed with President Trump that such a meeting could be organised in the US, in a format where Putin would find it much harder to refuse,†Zelensky said in a video address posted on X.

“We will see what comes of it. If Russia refuses this chance as well, additional pressure will be needed.â€

A Ukrainian official familiar with the matter said the Kremlin has not replied to Zelensky's proposal. The Kremlin has said repeatedly that if Zelensky wants to meet Putin, he can come to Moscow.

Earlier, Zelensky said he offered to meet Putin during the G7, but that Moscow had “once again demonstrated that it is not ready to speak about this.â€

Putin is wanted by the ICC on a warrant dating to March 2023 for alleged involvement in the abduction of children from Ukraine during the conflict. France would be obliged as an ICC member to arrest him. The United States and Russia both oppose the court.

The head of Russia's central bank, Elvira Nabiullina, who warned president Vladimir Putin that she would exit the top role if he continues to escalate the war in Ukraine, has not been seen in public for almost three weeks.

Nabiullina had been tasked with protecting the Russian economy at a time when it has invaded Ukraine and poured much of its resources into the war.

The former Russian economy minister and a close adviser to the Kremlin has been in her position since 2013.

She was last seen in public at the end of May, and reportedly missed the key economic forum in St Petersburg where Putin attempted to project financial stability and strength in his bid to shore up investments.

Nabiullina also did not appear at a meeting chaired by Putin on inflation and interest rates.

However, the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov rubbished reports of her being “missing” and said it is not a cause for “conspiracy theoriesâ€. “People get sick sometimes,†he added.

This was backed up by the central bank, which announced Nabiullina was on sick leave but will make an appearance at a press conference on 19 June following a Board of Directors meeting on Russia's monetary policy.

The captain of a Russian shadow fleet vessel intercepted by British commandos was charged with contravening sanctions, Britain’s National Crime Agency announced.

Ajay Pant, an Indian â national, was ​charged â with “directly or indirectly supplying or delivering by â ship prohibited oil/oil products from ​Russia â to a third ‌country…,” the agency said.

Pant is set to ‌appear at the ‌Southampton Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, the agency added.

British â commandos on Sunday boarded and intercepted Smyrtos, a sanctioned Russian oil tanker sailing under a Cameroonian flag, in the English Channel. The ‌tanker has been detained.

The ​UK has ‌sanctioned almost 600 â Russian shadow fleet vessels. â Russia’s oil revenue helps fund ‌its ​war in Ukraine.

France's foreign minister â said the attack on the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, a Unesco world heritage site founded in 1051, was akin to bombing Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris.

The Russian strikes came after Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday he had discussed with US president Donald Trump efforts to secure an end to the conflict, ahead of a G7 meeting in France this week.

“A Russian strike on the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra set the Dormition Cathedral on fire – a church whose history dates back to the 11th century. And this is one of Russia's most serious crimes against Christian â culture to date,†Mr Zelensky said on X.