Closing summary
A three-hour meeting on Friday between Russian president Vladimir Putin and US president Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff was constructive and narrowed differences when it came to ending the war in Ukraine, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said. Witkoff met Putin in Moscow on Friday to discuss a US plan to end the conflict.
A senior Russian military official was killed in a car explosion near Moscow on Friday, just hours before a Kremlin meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff. The Russian authorities named the officer as Lt Gen Yaroslav Moskalik, the deputy head of the main operations directorate of the general staff of the Russian armed forces.
Associated Press has further details of the confirmed killing of a senior Russian military official by a car bomb in the city of Balashikha, which lies just to the east of the outskirts of Russia’s capital. It reports Russia’s top criminal investigation agency confirmed the killing of Lt Gen Yaroslav Moskalik. The deputy head of the main operational department in the general staff of the Russian armed forces, he was killed by an explosive device placed in his car.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeated his claim that the missile used for yesterday’s attack on Kyiv that killed 12 and injured more than 90 was made in North Korea – but also highlighted the role of US companies in the supply chain.
Marc Ferracci, energy minister of France, told the Future of Energy summit, hosted by the UK government and the International Energy Agency on Thursday and Friday this week, that Vladimir Putin had “weaponised” gas supply in his invasion of Ukraine.
Spanish police said they had arrested a woman who allegedly sold her newborn baby girl to a couple undergoing fertility treatments for 2,000 euros ($2,300), AFP reported. Officers arrested the 37-year-old last month in Mostoles, a southern suburb of Madrid, a police statement said. The couple suspected of buying the baby and two of their relatives were detained in the southern city of Cordoba.
The Vatican said 150,000 people have already paid their respects to Pope Francis, whose body is lying in state in St Peter’s Basilica, AFP reported.
That’s all from the Europe live blog for today. For the latest on the meeting between Steve Witkoff and Vladimir Putin, see our full report here:
Updated
Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which started in February 2022.
There was no immediate comment from Witkoff, Reuters reported.
The real estate billionaire has emerged as Washington’s key interlocutor with Putin as Trump pushes for a deal to end the war, now well into its fourth year.
His latest trip follows talks this week at which Ukrainian and European officials pushed back against some of the US proposals for how to settle the conflict, the deadliest in Europe since the second world war.
It came a day after Trump criticised a Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv that killed at least 12 people, and posted a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin on social media that read: “Vladimir, STOP!”
On Friday, Trump told reporters: “I think Russia and Ukraine, I think they’re coming along, we hope.”
Trump has also warned both sides, however, that the US will abandon its effort unless there is genuine progress.
