Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump says he will loosen oil sanctions after ‘very good’ call with Putin

Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich has intensified his dispute with the British government over the £2.5bn proceeds from the sale of Chelsea FC, insisting he should have a say in how the funds are allocated despite sanctions imposed on his assets following the Ukraine war.

The UK and the EU sanctioned Abramovich in 2022 over his alleged ties to president Vladimir Putin’s regime, prompting the sale of the Premier League club to a consortium. However, the £2.5bn raised from the deal has remained frozen in a UK bank account.

Britain wants the funds ringfenced exclusively for humanitarian use in Ukraine, but Abramovich has signalled that he wants greater flexibility over how the money is ultimately spent.

The phone call between Russian president Vladimir Putin and US president Donald Trump was “constructive” as the two leaders discussing possible solutions to the conflicts in Iran and Ukraine, said Russian special presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“The constructive call lasted an hour. Possible solutions to the Ukraine and Iran conflicts were discussed,” Dmitriev wrote on X.

Earlier, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told reporters that Putin had held a phone conversation with Trump. He said the hour-long call, initiated by the US, focused on the conflicts around Iran and in Ukraine.

It was the first conversation between the two leaders in more than two months and their first publicly reported phone call since the US–Israeli attack on Iran.

Ukraine’s Maksym Murashkovskyi credited artificial intelligence for helping him win a silver medal at the Milano Cortina Winter Paralympics, calling ChatGPT a “revolutionary technology” after finishing runner-up in Sunday’s biathlon event.

Murashkovskyi, a bronze medallist at the 2023 world championships, was edged out by China’s Dang Hesong and narrowly missed gold.

“For the past six months, I have been training with ChatGPT,” the 25-year-old told reporters.

“It was not only tactics. It was half of my training plan – motivation, and so on. So it made up a huge part of my training.

“I used it as a psychologist, coach and sometimes even as a doctor.”

He added that artificial intelligence could eventually replace some aspects of the work done by human coaches.

“Not completely for five to 10 years. But part of it, definitely,” he said. “I believe in it – it is a revolutionary technology.”

Ukraine have won 10 medals at this year’s Paralympics so far.

As the conflict in the Middle East places increasing strain on US missile stockpiles, Ukraine is leveraging its wartime innovations – specifically, low-cost interceptors designed to counter Russian attack drones – into significant geopolitical influence.

Now a leading global producer of these interceptors, Ukraine is offering its expertise to the United States and its Gulf allies for use in the Middle East. In return, Kyiv hopes to secure the high-end weaponry it cannot manufacture domestically.

Four years ago, at the outset of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s domestic arms industry was severely underdeveloped. Forced to innovate for survival, it has since cultivated a rapidly expanding defence sector focused on inexpensive drones. Some of these are specifically engineered to combat Iranian-style Shahed drones, which Russia now deploys in vast numbers.

Russia’s defence ministry claimed on Monday that its forces have captured the village of Holubivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the state-run RIA news agency reported.

The Independent could not independently confirm the battlefield report.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s General Staff said on Telegram that, for the first time since 2024, Ukrainian troops regained control of a larger area of Ukrainian territory in a month than Russia had captured during the same period.

“We also strike the enemy on his territory. In February, 85 targets were hit by DeepStrike. Taking into account previous periods, we have a cumulative effect – a decrease in total oil refining volumes in the Russian Federation by 24.8%,” the statement said.

US president Donald Trump is weighing easing oil sanctions on Russia and releasing emergency crude stockpiles to some countries, Reuters reported.

The deliberations reflect White House worries that the surge in oil prices following more than a week of US and Israeli strikes on Iran will hurt US businesses and consumers ahead of the November midterm elections, when Trump’s fellow Republicans hope to retain control of Congress.

Following his call with Vladimir Putin, Trump told reporters in Florida on Monday that his administration was lifting sanctions on some countries as part of efforts to stabilise the oil market, but declined to provide details.”So we have sanctions on some countries. We’re going to take those sanctions off until the Strait is up,” he said.

Easing sanctions on Russia would potentially boost world supplies of oil at a time of massive disruptions to Middle East shipments from the expanding Iran conflict. But it could also complicate US efforts to deprive Russia of revenue for its war in Ukraine.

Trump added later in the press conference that he had a “very good call” with Putin about the war in Ukraine.

Russian drones attacked Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, and the southeastern city of Dnipro late on Monday and overnight, injuring more than 20 people, Ukrainian officials said.

A Russian drone struck an area near a high-rise apartment building late on Monday in Kharkiv, injuring seven people, smashing windows and setting cars ablaze, the city’s mayor and Ukrainian police said.

A second attack overnight injured four people when a drone hit a road between buildings, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on the Telegram messaging app.

Kharkiv, located 30 km (18 miles) from the Russian border, withstood early advances by Russian forces after their full-scale invasion in February 2022 and has since been a frequent target of Russian air attacks.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia attacked the country with 137 drones, of which 122 were downed or neutralised.

In Dnipro, 10 people were injured, including a 12-year-old boy, regional Governor Oleksandr Ganzha said on Telegram. Ganzha posted photos online showing rubble in streets and damaged building facades. City Mayor Borys Filatov said at least eight high-rise buildings were damaged in the attack.

Dutch intelligence has said Russian hackers launched a global cyber campaign to gain access to Signal and WhatsApp accounts belonging to high-profile figures and steal sensitive information.

Dutch intelligence agencies said the operation targeted military and government employees and journalists.

“Russian state hackers are engaged in a large-scale global cyber campaign to gain access to Signal and WhatsApp accounts belonging to dignitaries, military personnel and civil servants,” the Netherlands’ General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) said.”The Russian hackers have likely gained access to sensitive information,” AIVD and the Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) said in a joint statement.

The attackers reportedly used phishing tactics to trick users in chat conversations into sharing security verification codes and passcodes, enabling them to gain access to personal accounts and group chats.

Signal said that its encryption systems were not compromised.

“We are aware of recent reports regarding targeted phishing attacks that have resulted in account takeovers of some Signal users, including government officials and journalists,” the company said. “We take this very seriously.”

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said several countries have expressed interest in the technologies and tactics Ukraine has developed during the war.

Following a national security meeting, Zelensky said there was “clear interest” in Ukraine’s experience in building drone interceptors, electronic warfare systems and specialised training programmes designed to counter unmanned aerial threats.

“Ukraine is ready to respond positively to requests from those who help us protect the lives of Ukrainians and the independence of Ukraine,” he said.

Some of those requests have already resulted in “concrete decisions and specific support,” though Zelenskyy did not elaborate on which countries were involved.

“Ukraine is ready to respond positively to requests from those who help us protect the lives of Ukrainians and the independence of Ukraine,” he said.

One of Ukraine’s most notable innovations has been the development of interceptor drones – relatively inexpensive unmanned aircraft designed specifically to hunt and destroy incoming drones.

According to a source cited by Reuters, the United States and Qatar have held discussions about purchasing Ukrainian interceptor drones – a sign that Kyiv’s wartime innovations could become part of the global defence market.

In an interview with The New York Times, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had sent interceptor drones along with a team of experts to help protect US military bases in Jordan after a request from Washington.

Ukraine is ready to resume US-backed peace talks with Russia “at any moment”, president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday, after Washington postponed a meeting to focus its attention on the Iran conflict.

Writing in English on X, Zelensky said: “At the moment, the partners’ priority and all attention are focused on the situation around Iran, and because of this the meeting that had been planned for this week is being postponed at the proposal of the American side.

“However, Ukraine is ready for a meeting at any moment, in a format that can help and that will be realistic in terms of ending the war.”

Several rounds of negotiations aimed at ending the four-year war with Russia have failed to make progress on key issues, including Moscow’s demand that Kyiv abandon territory that Russian forces have not managed to capture.

Zelensky also said Ukraine had received 11 requests from countries neighbouring Iran, as well as from the US and European partners, seeking help in countering drones launched by Tehran.

He accused Russia of trying to exploit tensions in the Middle East to strengthen its position.“The Russians are trying to manipulate the situation in the Middle East and the Gulf region in favour of their aggression,” he wrote.

“And effectively turn the Iranian regime’s strikes against its neighbours and American bases into a second front of Russia’s war against Ukraine and, more broadly, against the entire West. This must not be allowed.”