Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump says negotiators ‘dividing up lands’ with full ceasefire coming ‘pretty soon’
Donald Trump has said negotiators are “dividing up” Ukrainian lands with a full ceasefire set to come “pretty soon” – despite no hint of any upcoming direct talks between Kyiv and Moscow.
A contract to divide up land in Ukraine is being “negotiated as we speak”, the US president, who has spoken to presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky in the past week, told reporters on Friday.
It is not clear who is involved in the apparent negotiations, but US officials are set to meet with both Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Saudi Arabia next week. Mr Zelensky said the US team would first meet Ukrainian experts on Monday before separate talks with Russian representatives.
It comes after Vladimir Putin’s forces were accused by Kyiv of bombing stations along their own crucial gas pipeline in an effort to sabotage any ceasefire deal.
A gas pumping station in Sudzha, in the Russian border region of Kursk was on fire on Friday morning after being rocked by a major explosion. Ukraine’s general staff has denied that its forces struck the pipeline and instead said it had been “repeatedly shelled by the Russians themselves”.
