US ‘could walk away’ from peace talks

The Kremlin maintains extensive lists of foreign officials, business figures, journalists and others who are barred from entering Russian territory, mostly from countries officially designated as “unfriendly”.

The German government has said it recently expelled “numerous” Russian agents as it fights a growing threat from acts of sabotage guided by Moscow.

The authorities are doing “everything in our power to thwart … Russian espionage, sabotage and cyberattacks”, Sonja Kock, an interior ministry spokeswoman, said at a regular press conference.

Russian intelligence services operating in Germany have been “recently weakened by the expulsion of numerous agents”, Kock said, without specifying the number expelled or the timeline.

German media reported that Russian intelligence services were believed to have employed low-level operatives in a plot to plant explosive devices on DHL cargo aircraft.

Such “disposable” agents had no position within the security services and were usually recruited via messaging apps, according to reports by Süddeutsche Zeitung and the public broadcaster WDR.

President Macron’s office has issued a response to America’s demand that Ukraine and Russia must give up land as part of a peace deal.

“Ukraine’s territorial integrity and European aspirations are very strong requirements for Europeans,” it said.

The latest round of diplomacy comes after a fresh wave of Russian airstrikes that shattered a brief Easter truce.

The Americans have made an “explicit proposal” to both sides in the Ukraine conflict, and have warned that they were prepared to walk away from the negotiating table if Kyiv and Moscow do not agree to the terms, JD Vance has said.

He told reporters in India: “That means the Ukrainians and the Russians are both going to have to give up some of the territory they currently own.”

Read our full report on the fractious negotiations here.

JD Vance, the US vice-president, has said the US proposal for peace in Ukraine would “freeze” the conflict along current frontlines.

Vance, who is visiting India, said the deal was a “very fair proposal”.

“We’re going to see if the Europeans, the Russians, the Ukrainians are ultimately able to get this thing over the finish line,” he said.

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

The US submitted a “final offer” to Ukraine at the peace talks in Paris last week, according to Axios, a news website. US negotiators pulled out of follow-up talks in London this week after Ukraine refused to sign the document.

The US peace deal would give Russia:

• US recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea
• Freezing the frontlines, giving Russia control of occupied parts of Donetsk, Lukhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia
• Acceptance that Ukraine would not join Nato but “could” become a member of the EU
• The easing of post-2014 sanctions on Russia
• Economic co-operation between Russia and the US on energy and industry

The US peace deal would give Ukraine:

• A “robust security guarantee” from European and non-European countries
• Russian withdrawal from the parcel of land in Kharkiv it currently occupies
• Free navigation along the River Dnieper
• Compensation — although the text does not say how this will be funded
• Sovereignty of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, although the facility would be run by the US with electricity shared between Russia and Ukraine

President Putin suggested this week that he would be happy to meet Zelensky face to face as the Kremlin said it would be open to a truce on civilian targets.

The Russian leader had already made the surprising offer of a 30-hour ceasefire to coincide with Easter, during which Ukraine accused Russia of continuing sporadic attacks.

However, Russian forces continue to attack civilian targets, including a strike on a bus in the Ukrainian city of Marhanets on Wednesday morning, killing at least nine people.

President Zelensky has accused Russia of committing a “brutal” war crime after a drone strike killed nine people on a bus in the Ukrainian town of Marhanets.

The Ukrainian leader said the drone had hit “an ordinary bus” and said similar attacks happen “practically on a daily basis”.

In his first remarks since US negotiators withdrew from peace talks in London, Zelensky said Ukraine wanted an “immediate, full, and unconditional ceasefire”.

“That was the proposal put forward by the United States on March 11 of this year — and it was absolutely reasonable. This is absolutely possible — but only if Russia agrees and stops the killing,” he wrote on X.

“Preserving lives must be a shared top priority for all partners.”

Further negotiations in London were cancelled after Ukraine was reported to have insisted that the talks should focus on an initial 30-day ceasefire rather than respond to President Trump’s ultimatum.

A US official told Axios: “The decision was made for the secretary to not travel to London. Instead, the US delegation will continue to engage in conversations with UK and Ukrainian counterparts.”

After the US withdrew, David Lammy spoke to Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, by telephone on Tuesday night.

Lammy described the call as “productive” and said it was “a critical moment” for Ukraine, Britain and Euro-Atlantic security. Rubio said that Keith Kellogg, the US special envoy, would represent the White House in London and that he hoped to see “substantive” talks between officials.

Ukraine’s deputy prime minister has said the country will not “surrender” and would never recognise Russian sovereignty of Crimea.

Yulia Svyrydenko said her country would not accept a “frozen conflict disguised as a peace”.

It came after President Trump made a “final offer” to end the war that included US recognition of Crimea in exchange for freezing the conflict along the current front lines.

“Ukraine is ready to negotiate — but not to surrender,” Svyrydenko wrote on X. “And if Nato membership is not granted, Ukraine will require binding security guarantees … strong enough to deter future aggression, and clear enough to ensure lasting peace.”