Ukraine updates: Russia says Putin open to talks with Trump

Donald Trump has said he wants Russian President Vladimir Putin to make a deal to end the Ukraine war,

The US president made the comments on Monday after previously expressing his doubt over Putin's commitment to a truce.

"I want to see him make a deal. … I want to make sure that he follows through and I think he will," Trump told reporters, according to US media.

Trump added that he wanted to avoid having to put secondary tariffs on Russian oil. 

Trump, saying he was "very angry" with Putin, threatened on Sunday to slap steep tariffs on buyers of Russian oil if he felt the Russian president was blocking efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

Both Poland and Latvia have put pen to paper on deals to boost their respective air defense capabilities, the two countries announced separately on Monday.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on social media that Warsaw had signed a new contract with the United States for equipment and logistical support for their Patriot missile systems.

Simultaneously, Tusk called on US President Donald Trump to focus on cooperation rather than confrontation with Europe, saying that a strong NATO alliance and European Union were in the "common interest" of both continents. He said Washington should think twice before imposing economic tariffs on its "closest allies."

Meanwhile, Latvia announced on Monday that it would be purchasing €200 million ($216.3 million) worth of portable Swedish RBS 70 NG air defense missile systems.

The deal is for 70 of the weapons, including missiles and related equipment, to be delivered to the Baltic country between 2026 and 2030.

Defense Minister Andris Spruds said the weapons purchase was of "decisive importance" for Latvia's air defense, since they can be used to target not only drones, but can also shoot down bigger, low-flying targets such as helicopters and even fighter jets.

Latvia, like Poland, is a member both of NATO and the EU, and shares a land border with Russia and its ally Belarus.

Occupied by the Soviet Union for large parts of the 20th century, Latvia has viewed Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a direct threat to its own national security and has ramped up defense spending accordingly.

Among NATO members, only Poland (4.12%), Estonia (3.43%) and the US (3.38%) spend more on defense as a proportion of GDP than Latvia (3.15%).

Ukraine is planning to table a counter-offer to a rare earth minerals deal proposed by the United States by the end of the week, a high-ranking Ukrainian government figure has told the AFP news agency.

Following video talks with US negotiators, the representative said the Ukrainians would report back to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to establish their own position, which will then be conveyed to Washington, the source said.

The draft deal proposed so far by the US was described as a "starting point," but the government representative said that Kyiv was concerned that elements of it may conflict with Ukraine's existing commitments to the European Union, which are part of its official accession process.

Ukraine and the United States were expected to sign a minerals deal at the end of February when Zelenskyy visited Washington, but it collapsed after talks in the Oval Office infamously descended into chaos.

Three years on from the revelations that Russian troops had murdered civilians in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that such massacres could take place "in any European country if our unity doesn't lead to Russia being held accountable for this war."

On March 31, 2022, journalists from the French AFP news agency witnessed at least 20 dead Ukrainian civilians lying in the street in Bucha, seemingly having been shot dead with their hands tied behind their backs.

The Russian army is accused of massacring hundreds of civilians in the early weeks of the invasion, which was halted in Kyiv's northern suburbs before the invading troops were eventually pushed back and abandoned their advance on the Ukrainian capital.

Since then, Ukrainian authorities say they have documented over 180,000 cases of war crimes committed by Russian troops across Ukraine.

Zelenskyy therefore warned against lifting sanctions which have been placed on Moscow, saying they were "necessary to ensure that the war and these atrocities do not spread."

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered 160,000 soldiers to be drafted by July 15, a higher number than previous conscription drives, as Moscow seeks to increase the size of its army.

The planned draft size was up from 150,000 in 2024 and 134,500 in 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russian men between the ages of 18 and 30 are eligible for compulsory military service through twice-yearly call-ups. The Kremlin and the Defense Ministry say they will not be sent into combat.

Putin last year ordered Russia to increase the size of its army to 1.5 million active servicemen, an increase of about 180,000 troops over three years.

The European Union's top diplomat Kaja Kallas urged Russia to show goodwill and agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine.

"Today marks three weeks since Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire. Since then, Russia has obstructed and evaded efforts for peace," she wrote on X.

Speaking before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Madrid to discuss the war in Ukraine, Kallas said "giving back Ukrainian children that have been deported to Russia" and "releasing prisoners of war" were examples of gestures Russia could make to show goodwill.

She also called on the United Sates to apply "more pressure on Russia."

Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Russia owed a clear response to the US on whether it wants to go on a peace path at all.

Russia has effectively rejected a US proposal for a full and immediate 30-day ceasefire. President Donald Trump expressed anger with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday, threatening secondary tariffs on Russian oil should Moscow and Kyiv not reach a deal to stop fighting in Ukraine.

Sweden will provide Ukraine with a new military aid package worth 16 billion kronor ($1.59 billion), the Nordic country's largest package since Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Defense Minister Pal Jonson said.

Jonson told reporters that Sweden wanted "to send the message now that we are both intensifying our support and increasing its strength and scope," adding that the war was in a "critical stage."

"Now, all our focus is on supporting Ukraine as much as possible so that they can come into a position of strength during these negotiations," the minister said.

The bulk of the aid package, nine billion kronor, would go toward the purchase of newly manufactured materials, "mainly from the Swedish, but also the European defense industrial base," according to the Swedish government.

About five billion kronor would go to the Ukrainian defense industry and various funds. And around half a billion would come from donations from the Swedish Armed Forces' existing stockpiles.

The government has also said Sweden will ramp up aid to Ukraine this year, boosting the 2025 budget allocation to 40 billion kronor from 25 billion projected earlier.

The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin was still "open" to speaking to Donald Trump after the US president said he was "very angry" with the Russian leader over the lack of progress on a ceasefire in Ukraine.

"This process is time-consuming, probably due to the fact of the complexity of the substance. The president remains open to contact with President Trump," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

He added that "there is no scheduled" phone call between the leaders, but that "when it is necessary, their conversation will be promptly organized."

Trump told NBC News earlier that he was very angry after Putin last week criticized the credibility of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's leadership, the television network reported, citing a telephone interview early Sunday.

The US president also threatened to impose secondary tariffs of 25% to 50% on buyers of Russian oil if he felt Moscow was blocking his efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

Russia and the United States are discussing possible cooperation on Russian rare earth minerals, according to Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund.

In an interview with the Russian newspaper Izvestia published on Monday, he said that companies have already expressed interest in these ventures, although he did not provide further details. 

"Rare earth metals and elements are an important area of cooperation, and we have certainly begun discussions on various rare earth projects in Russia," Dmitriev said.

Rare earths are metals essential to modern technology, including smartphones, laptops and electric cars. 

Dmitriev heads the Russian Direct Investment Fund and is a key player in Moscow's negotiations with Washington to normalize ties. US President Donald Trump has pledged to mend strained relations with Moscow and end Russia's war against Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin first proposed cooperation on raw materials in February. He also noted that Russia's deposits of these critical minerals far exceed those of Ukraine, a country with which Trump is also negotiating a deal.

On Sunday, Trump later warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy not to back out of the minerals deal with the US. "I see he's trying to back out of the rare earth deal," Trump said, speaking to reporters aboard the Air Force One. If Zelenskyy does that, "he's got some problems, big, big, problems," the US president added.

Russia attacked the city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine for a second consecutive night, injuring three people, Ukrainian officials said.

The drone attack lasted most of the night, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. "Five industrial buildings of one of the research and production enterprises were damaged," he wrote on social media.

The assault on the city also damaged two kindergartens and 11 apartment buildings, Terekhov said.

Ukraine's air force said it shot down 57 of 131 drones launched by Russia during the overnight attack, which also used two Iskander-M ballistic missiles. Another 45 drones did not reach their targets, probably because of electronic countermeasures, it said.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry accused the Ukrainian army of attacking energy facilities in the Bryansk border region in a drone and artillery attack Sunday night.

The attacks came after a US-brokered partial ceasefire on attacks on energy infrastructure. Both sides have accused each other of violating the moratorium.

This blog brings you the latest on the war in Ukraine as well as the US and European diplomatic efforts around it.

US President Donald Trump expressed anger with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday, threatening secondary tariffs on Russian oil should Moscow and Kyiv not reach a deal to stop fighting in Ukraine.

Separately, Trump warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy not to back out of the minerals deal with the US.