A Kremlin spokesman says Russia and Ukraine have no scheduled direct peace talks. The statement Thursday came nearly a week after their first face-to-face meeting since the early weeks of Moscow's invasion in 2022 and days after U.

The Kremlin on Wednesday rejected Ukrainian and European accusations that it was stalling Ukraine peace talks, saying it plans to name its conditions for a ceasefire, but declining to give

President Donald Trump has released a bold new plan to bring the years-long war in Ukraine to a quick conclusion. He’s optimistic a resolution could be reached within days or weeks. His stunning recent phone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised serious doubts about the wisdom of his approach.

"The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know the details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of," Trump s

The Vatican has a deep history of conflict mediation, with varying degrees of success. An effort by the pope to end the war in Ukraine would face long odds.

Ukraine will ask the EU next week to consider big new steps to isolate Moscow, including seizing Russian assets and bringing in sanctions for some buyers of Russian oil, as U.S. President Donald Trump has backed off from tightening sanctions.

Reuters reported on May 21 that Ukraine will propose to the EU that the bloc speed up the seizure of frozen Russian assets to provide to Kyiv. The additional proposed sanctions would also target foreign companies that assist Russia through the use of technology,