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A second round of talks between Russian, Ukrainian and US officials on a US-drafted plan to end the nearly four-year Ukraine war will begin on Wednesday, instead of on Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.Zelensky did not give a reason for the delay.The announcement comes a day after one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's top envoys held surprise talks with US officials in Florida without Ukraine."The dates for the next trilateral meetings have been set -- February 4 and 5 in Abu Dhabi," Zelensky said in a post on X.Neither the Kremlin nor the United States have confirmed the new dates.The United States says it is close to brokering a deal to end the conflict -- Europe's deadliest since World War II -- but neither Moscow nor Kyiv have been able to find a compromise on the key issue of territory.Russia, which occupies around 20 percent of its neighbour, is pushing for full control of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region as part of any deal. It has threatened to take it by force if talks fail.Ukraine has warned ceding ground will embolden Moscow and that it will not sign a deal that fails to deter Russia from invading again. Many Ukrainians find the idea of surrendering territory that their soldiers have defended for years unconscionable.The first round of talks on the US plan, held in Abu Dhabi last Friday and Saturday, failed to yield a breakthrough.A day ahead of Zelensky's announcement, Russia's top economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev met with US officials in Florida for separate talks on the war.Among those US officials were President Donald Trump's peace envoy Steve Witkoff, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, son-in-law Jared Kushner, and White House Senior Advisor Josh Gruenbaum."We are encouraged by this meeting that Russia is working toward securing peace in Ukraine," Witkoff said, though neither side released details of what was discussed.Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, describing it as a "special military operation" to prevent the expansion of NATO -- a war aim that Kyiv has called a pretext for an illegal land grab.The conflict has since resulted in a tidal wave of destruction that has left entire cities in ruins and tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians dead.Russian attacks on Ukraine overnight and early Sunday killed at least two people and injured seven others, regional authorities said.Among the attacks was a drone strike on a maternity hospital in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia that injured two women undergoing a medical examination, the region's governor and rescuers said.Ukraine's defence minister on Sunday thanked Elon Musk after the US tycoon said efforts to stop Russia from using Starlink satellites for drone attacks seemed to have worked."The first steps are already delivering real results... Thank you for standing with us. You are a true champion of freedom and a true friend of the Ukrainian people," said Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. 

Ukraine and Russia agreed Saturday to hold a second round of US-brokered direct peace talks next weekend after a two-day meeting in Abu Dhabi, despite Ukrainian complaints negotiations were undermined by a barrage of deadly strikes.The trilateral talks in the UAE will resume on February 1, a US official said, adding: "I think getting everyone together was a big step."I think it's a confirmation of the fact that, number one, a lot of progress has been made to date in really defining the details needed to get to a conclusion."Russian and Ukrainian negotiators are last known to have met face-to-face in Istanbul last summer, in talks that ended only in deals to exchange captured soldiers.This week was the first time they have faced each other to talk about a plan being pushed by US President Donald Trump to end the nearly four-year war.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said "a lot was discussed, and it is important that the conversations were constructive".On the eve of day two, Russian drones and missiles cut off millions from electricity in sub-zero temperatures. Kyiv accused Moscow of undermining the negotiations by launching yet another "night of Russian terror".AFP journalists saw people running through the streets to find shelter as explosions lit up the night sky over the capital Kyiv.After another sleepless night, weary Kyiv residents had little hope for a breakthrough in the nearly four-year war."They'll just say that everything is fine, that again, nothing has been agreed, and again there will be rockets," said Anastasia Tolkachov, who had to spend a night in a car park.'Again and again'A United Arab Emirates government spokesperson said the meetings, which involved top military officers from both sides, were held in a "constructive and positive atmosphere".The talks focused on "outstanding elements of the US-proposed peace framework as well as confidence-building measures", the spokesperson said.According to Zelensky, "the central focus of the discussions was the possible parameters for ending the war".Both warring sides say the fate of territory in the eastern Donbas region is the main unresolved issue in the search for a settlement.Over a million people in Kyiv and Chernigiv were left without electricity in sub-zero temperatures due to Russian strikes. About half of Kyiv's apartment blocks were cut off from heating, Ukrainian authorities said."This night in Kyiv, it's really all happening again and again," Iryna Berehova, 48, told AFP, adding: "These explosions, these sleepless nights, these worries for our children, for our safety, they are very exhausting.""These negotiations that are taking place don't even give us any hope for the better."The European Union, which has sent hundreds of power generators to Ukraine, has accused Moscow of "deliberately depriving civilians of heat".Zelensky last week declared a state of emergency in the energy sector, which has been battered by relentless Russian strikes on heat and electricity supplies.The Moscow-installed governor in the occupied Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, said a Ukrainian drone strike killed three people in an ambulance van heading to a sick man.While diplomacy to end Europe's worst conflict since World War II has gained pace again, Moscow and Kyiv appear deadlocked over the issue of territory.Donbas territory disputeTrump met Zelensky at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday and US Steve Witkoff later held talks with President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.Hours after Putin met Witkoff - and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner - in Moscow, the Kremlin said its demand that Kyiv withdraw from the eastern Donbas region still stood, calling it "a very important condition".Kyiv rejects it. "The Donbas is a key issue," Zelensky told reporters on Friday, ahead of the talks in the UAE.Zelensky said he and Trump had agreed on post-war security guarantees in Davos.An initial US draft drew heavy criticism in Kyiv and western Europe for hewing too closely to Moscow's demands, while Russia rejected later versions because they proposed European peacekeepers in Ukraine.Putin has repeatedly said Moscow intends to get full control of eastern Ukraine by force if talks fail.Trump has in the past pressured Ukraine to agree to terms that Kyiv sees as capitulation. 

President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that France was now providing two-thirds of intelligence information to Ukraine, largely replacing ‌the United States, which until last year ‌had delivered the ‍bulk of those services.In March 2025, Washington made the decision to ⁠suspend intelligence sharing with Ukraine ⁠as part of efforts to crank up pressure on ‍Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to cooperate with President Donald Trump's bid to convene peace talks with Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022.The relationship has had its ups and downs since, but there has been no indication that Washington has drastically ‌cut its intelligence provision to Ukraine.In a New Year's speech to the French military, Macron praised Europe's efforts over ‍the last two years ⁠in taking ‌over major strands of weapons support to Ukraine.He said a coalition of some 35 countries was now providing all of the support, including financial, to Kyiv after Washington had decided to no longer fund or directly give weapons to Ukraine."Where Ukraine was extremely dependent on American intelligence capacity, huge majority (of it) a year ago, in (the space of) a year, two-thirds is today provided ​by France," Macron said.The comments ‌are in contrast to Kyrylo Budanov, who was appointed head of Zelenskiy's ⁠office and is ‍the former chief of Ukraine's military intelligence, who said in December that Kyiv was critically dependent on Washington for intelligence ranging from satellite imagery to early warning systems after ballistic missile launches.Ukraine's GUR military intelligence agency declined ​to comment.A French defence ministry official declined to comment specifically on the president's assertions, but said much of the intelligence was of technical origin.When Washington suspended intelligence in 2025, France's then Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said the U.S. halt to intelligence sharing would have a significant operational impact on Ukraine, but that France's ⁠own intelligence provided to Kyiv was not reliant on Washington. 

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is seeking ‌a new meeting with US President Donald Trump as their officials revisited ‌the two most problematic issues in ‍peace talks aimed at ending Russia's war in Ukraine.Kyiv is under US pressure to secure peace quickly but wants ⁠security guarantees from allies and is ⁠pushing back on Russian demands to cede its eastern Donetsk region and give up control of ‍the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.Speaking to reporters over WhatsApp on Wednesday, Zelenskiy said he wanted to meet Trump again soon to gauge his openness to a Ukrainian proposal that Washington provide security guarantees for more than 15 years in the event of a ceasefire.He also urged Trump to step up pressure on Russia, which has been cool on the U.S.-backed peace push and is continuing its massive air attacks on Ukrainian cities ‌and the country's energy grid."The Americans, in my view, are being productive right now; we have good results... They need to put pressure on Russia. They have the tools, and they know how to ‍use them," Zelenskiy said.The White House ⁠did not immediately respond ‌to a request for comment on the suggestion of a new meeting between Zelenskiy and Trump.Citing the U.S. operation to seize Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, Zelenskiy suggested Washington could similarly move against Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a Vladimir Putin ally whose troops became known for their brutality in Ukraine."Maybe then Putin would see it and think twice," he said.Talks in Paris this week produced commitments from Kyiv's allies to back up a ceasefire with guarantees such as a multinational troop presence.But Zelenskiy said the expression of "political will" had yet to be translated into legally binding pledges backed by national parliaments.Zelenskiy spoke as US and Ukrainian officials in Paris discussed the ​matter of territory and the fate ‌of the Zaporizhzhia plant , Europe's largest nuclear facility, which he described as the two thorniest issues in the talks.Kyiv has refused to ⁠pull out of the industrialised ‍Donetsk region, which Russia has failed to seize entirely despite occupying wide swathes of it. Zelenskiy has said the U.S. has floated the idea of a free economic zone there if Ukraine withdraws from the parts of the region that it still controls. On Tuesday, US and Ukrainian officials had already talked through "some ideas" to address the issue of territory. White House special envoy Steve ​Witkoff said "land options" had been discussed and that he hoped for compromise to be reached.Any compromises on land should be put to a referendum for Ukrainians, Zelenskiy has previously said. According to an opinion poll last month, around three-quarters of Ukrainians are prepared for a deal that would freeze the current front line, but oppose ceding territory.The US has also proposed trilateral operation of the Zaporizhzhia plant, which Moscow captured in 2022 and connected to its own power grid, with an American chief manager, Zelenskiy said last month.Kyiv has instead proposed joint ⁠Ukrainian-American use of the plant, according to Zelenskiy, with the US itself determining how to use 50% of the energy produced. 

Syria is joining the global coalition against the Islamic State group, a US official said Monday hours after President Donald Trump welcomed his Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa for historic White House talks.Sharaa, whose forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, was the first Syrian leader to visit the White House since the Middle Eastern country's independence in 1946.But the 43-year-old's landmark visit to the Oval Office came just days after Washington removed him from its terrorism list."During the visit, Syria announced that it is joining the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS," becoming the 90th member of the alliance and "partnering with the US to eliminate ISIS remnants and halt foreign fighter flows," a senior administration official said.According to the official, Syria will also be allowed to resume diplomatic relations with Washington "to further counterterrorism, security, and economic co-ordination." Trump said he wanted Syria to become "very successful" after more than a decade of civil war and added that he believed Sharaa "can do it, I really do." "He's a very strong leader. He comes from a very tough place, and he's a tough guy," Trump told reporters after the meeting, which was closed to press."People said he's had a rough past, we've all had rough pasts... And I think, frankly, if you didn't have a rough past, you wouldn't have a chance." Trump said Syria was a "big part" of his plan for a wider Middle East peace plan, which the US president is hoping will prop up the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza."Having a stable and successful Syria is very important to all countries in the Region," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform after the meeting.Despite this, Trump would not confirm reports that Syria would sign any non-aggression pact with Israel.Afterwards Sharaa was interviewed by broadcaster Fox News, saying Syria's ongoing dispute with Israel over the Golan Heights territory would make entering peace talks difficult now. But he suggested talks facilitated by Trump and Washington could help start negotiations.The Syrian president's visit capped a remarkable turnaround for a former fighter who once had a US bounty on his head.In dramatic scenes as he left his meeting with Trump, he climbed out of his motorcade to greet crowds of supporters outside the White House, surrounded on all sides by bodyguards.Syria's presidency said on X that Sharaa and Trump discussed the bilateral relationship, "the ways to strengthen and develop it, as well as a number of regional and international issues of common interest." It published photos of Trump standing and shaking hands with a smiling Sharaa beside the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.Other pictures showed the Syrian leader sitting opposite Trump with top US officials including Vice President JD Vance, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth and top US military officer Dan Caine.Since taking power, Syria's new leaders have sought to break from their violent past and present a more moderate image to ordinary Syrians and foreign powers.Sharaa's White House visit is "a hugely symbolic moment for the country's new leader, who thus marks another step in his astonishing transformation from fighter to global statesman," said Michael Hanna, US programme director at the International Crisis Group.The Syrian met Trump for the first time in Saudi Arabia during the US leader's regional tour in May. At the time the 79-year-old Trump dubbed Sharaa, 43, as "a young, attractive guy." Sharaa was expected to seek US funds for Syria, which faces significant challenges in rebuilding after 13 years of devastating civil war.After his arrival in Washington, Sharaa over the weekend met with International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva over possible aid.Sharaa's past has caused controversy in some quarters but the State Department's decision Friday to remove him from the blacklist was widely expected.The Syrian president has also been making diplomatic outreach towards Washington's rivals. He met Russian President Vladimir Putin in October in their first meeting since the removal of Assad, a key Kremlin ally.

His Excellency Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, held talks on Monday with the President of the 80th United Nations General Assembly, Annalena Baerbock.The talks — held on the sidelines of the Second Global Summit for Social Development 2025 currently underway in Doha, focused on ways to further strengthen cooperation and partnership between the State of Qatar and the United Nations.The two sides also exchanged views on key issues featured on the summit's agenda, along with a range of topics of mutual interest.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Tuesday that South Korea will step up plans to build a self-reliant military by significantly bolstering its defense capabilities, while continuing efforts to resume talks with North Korea."We will significantly strengthen our national defense capabilities and make sure we realize our hope for self-reliant defense," Lee said during the speech for his administration's first annual budget.In particular, Lee said South Korea aims to turn its defense force into a "smart and strong" military by using artificial intelligence (AI) technology.Lee outlined a 728 trillion-won spending plan for 2026, up 8.1% from this year, highlighting full-scale investment in the AI industry."(The government) will significantly expand investment to open the era of AI and lay the ground for future growth," he said, adding that the government earmarked 10.1 trillion won for AI transformation to help South Korea become one of the world's top three AI powers, sharply up from 3.3 trillion won this year.Investment in research and development across strategic industries — including AI, content and defense — also surged 19.3% from this year to a record high of 35.3 trillion won.Lee said the government plans to create a 150 trillion-won public-private fund over the next five years to nurture strategic industries driving economic growth.For defense, the government allocated 66.3 trillion won, up 8.2% from this year, to upgrade conventional weapon systems into cutting-edge capabilities and accelerate the realization of "self-reliant defense.""Relying on external forces for our defense is a matter that hurts national pride," said Lee, who has pledged to retake wartime operational control from Washington within his term, which ends in 2030.Meanwhile, Lee said South Korea's tariff deal with the United States secured tariff levels equivalent to those of competing countries in key export sectors, such as automobiles and semiconductors, establishing a foundation for fair competition on "a level playing field."

US President Donald Trump arrived in Malaysia on Sunday on the first leg of an Asian tour that will include high-stakes trade talks with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.US-China trade talks in the Malaysian capital entered a second day on Sunday, ahead of Trump's meeting with Xi in South Korea, in a bid to seal a deal to end the bruising trade war between the world's two biggest economies.Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he hoped for a "comprehensive deal" with Xi, adding that he expected China to make a deal to avoid further 100 percent tariffs that are due to come into effect on November 1."We're moving forward to the final details of the type of agreement that the leaders can review," US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told reporters in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.As he left Washington, Trump added to speculation that he could also meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for the first time since 2019 while on the Korean peninsula, saying he was "open to it".The US president will also visit Japan, on his first trip to Asia since returning to the White House in January in a blaze of tariffs and international dealmaking.It is Trump's first visit as president to Kuala Lumpur, where his flight was escorted on its final approach by two Malaysian F-18 jets.Greeted with a red carpet welcome and a sea of Malaysian and US flags, a grinning Trump responded with his trademark arm-waving dance to cultural performers.Trump, who is expected to sign a trade deal with Malaysia, rode with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in his armoured Cadillac -- nicknamed "The Beast".A small group of protesters, including some holding placards reading "Dump Trump", rallied elsewhere in the city.The US president is also expected to witness the signing of a ceasefire agreement between Thailand and Cambodia, a truce he helped broker after the deadliest clashes between the neighbours in decades.Tariff talksAfter Malaysia, Trump is expected in Tokyo on Monday, where the following day he will meet Japan's new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.The US leader said he had heard "great things about her" and hailed the fact that she was an acolyte of assassinated former premier Shinzo Abe, with whom he had close ties.Takaichi said she told Trump in a phone call on Saturday that "strengthening the Japan-US alliance is my administration's top priority on the diplomatic and security front".Japan has escaped the worst of the tariffs Trump slapped on countries around the world to end what he calls unfair trade balances that are "ripping off the United States".The highlight of the trip is expected to be South Korea, where Trump will meet Xi for the first time since his return to office.Trump is due to land in the southern port city of Busan on Wednesday ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, and will meet South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.On Thursday, global markets will be watching closely to see if the meeting with Xi can halt the trade war sparked by Trump's sweeping tariffs, especially after a recent dispute over Beijing's rare-earth curbs.Trump initially threatened to cancel the meeting and announced the fresh 100 percent tariffs during that row, before saying he would go ahead after all.South Korea's reunification minister has said there is a "considerable" chance that Trump and North Korea's Kim will also meet.The two leaders last met in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas during Trump's first term.Kim has said he would also be open to meeting the US president if Washington drops its demand that Pyongyang give up its nuclear arsenal.

Oil prices rose by more than one percent on Wednesday, extending gains for the second consecutive day, amid a mix of supply risks linked to sanctions and hopes for progress in US-China trade talks. Brent Crude futures climbed 94 cents, or 1.5%, to $62.26 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 92 cents, or 1.6%, to $58.16. Oil rebounded from a five-month low recorded on Monday, driven by increased output from producers and the impact of trade tensions on demand. On Tuesday, the US Department of Energy announced that it is looking to purchase one million barrels of crude oil to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, aiming to take advantage of relatively low oil prices to help replenish stockpiles.

Oil prices were little changed on Thursday as investors weighed a ceasefire deal in Gaza that could ease geopolitical tensions in the Middle East against stalled peace talks in Ukraine. Brent Crude futures rose 2 cents to $66.27 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1 cent to $62.54. Prices had gained around 1% on Wednesday to reach a one-week high after investors viewed stalled progress on an Ukraine peace deal as a sign that sanctions against Russia will continue for some time.