Ukraine latest: Macron to present Trump with peace proposal as EU leaders meet Zelensky in Kyiv to mark third year of Russia’s invasion

Ukraine’s minister of justice Olga Stefanishyna has confirmed the country is in the ‘final stages’ of a minerals deal with the US which could have implications for Ukrainian security.

Ms Stefanishyna disclosed negotiations are almost completed in a statement on X after former UK prime minister Boris Johnson said a deal was close.

EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was set on Ukraine’s ‘capitulation’, as she announced €3.5 billion euros of fresh aid to Kyiv.

‘The war in Ukraine remains the most central and consequential crisis for Europe’s future. Putin is trying harder than ever to win this war on the ground. His goal remains Ukraine’s capitulation,’ von der Leyen said at a summit in Kyiv.

Canadian premier Justin Trudeau has warned the world cannot return to ‘might is right’ as he called on leaders to defend democracy in Ukraine.

The outgoing leader has spoken at a summit of EU leaders in Kyiv to show support for Ukraine on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion.

Addressing President Zelenksy directly, Mr Trudeau said:

Let us be frank. You and the Ukrainian people should never have had to endure a single day of this unjustified, brutal war, let alone 1,096 of them. This is not a conflict Ukraine wanted, provoked or asked for in any way.

This is a war started for one reason and one reason only – Russia’s desire to erase Ukrainian history and expand their empire.

Telling leaders the world cannot return to an approach of ‘might is right’, he urged those to ‘seize’ the moment to end the conflict.

It’s up to all of us in this room and around the world to meet this moment. We can’t wait the moment to stop this war of aggression. The moment to defend democracy, the moment to stand for our shared values is now. So let us seize it.

The US and Ukraine are ‘very close’ to signing a minerals deal that could guarantee future security, Boris Johnson said today.

The former PM sounded an upbeat tone after weeks of bitter wrangling between Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump.

Speaking in Kyiv, where he is joining events to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Mr Johnson argued that Vladimir Putin would be the ‘loser’ from the mooted pact to develop Ukraine’s natural resources.

Read the full story here from our Political Editor James Tapsfield:

Chinese President Xi Jinping has said China and Russia are ‘true friends’ who ‘support each other’, state media has reported.

State news agency Xinhua reported Xi as saying that ‘history and reality show that China and Russia are good neighbours that cannot be moved away, and true friends who share weal and woe, support each other and achieve common development’.

Xi (pictured) and Putin spoke by telephone this morning.

Details of the call have yet to be revealed but the two are known to have a close relationship, which is also reflected in bilateral ties.

China has become a major customer for Russian oil and gas and a source of key technologies amid sweeping Western sanctions on Moscow.

Starmer embraces Zelensky after meeting in Kyiv in January

Sir Keir Starmer said the West faces a “once-in-a-generation moment” as world leaders mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Prime Minister will join a call with leaders including US President Donald Trump, whose overtures to Russia’s Vladimir Putin have alarmed Ukraine’s allies.

The discussion between leaders of the G7 group of wealthy democracies will follow a gathering of Ukraine’s allies in Kyiv, which Sir Keir will address remotely.

On a day of intensive diplomatic activity, Sir Keir said:

Three years on from Putin’s barbaric full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we face a once-in-a-generation moment for our collective security and values. We continue to stand with Ukraine for a just and lasting peace.

France’s Emmanuel Macron is in Washington for talks with Mr Trump ahead of Sir Keir’s own visit to the White House later this week, as European leaders attempt to show a united front in support of Ukraine.

Mr Trump’s talks with Russia, his description of Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky as a ‘dictator’ and claim that Kyiv started the war have shattered the transatlantic alliance on the issue.

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov speaking in Ankara, Turkey

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has said the country is ready for negotiations on the Ukraine war but will only stop fighting when a peace settlement “suits” Moscow.

‘We will stop hostilities only when these negotiations produce a firm and sustainable result that suits the Russian Federation,’ Lavrov said in a press conference with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan.

Lavrov also called on the United States to appoint a representative for future peace talks with Russia, after what he said were his ‘positive’ discussions in Saudi Arabia last week with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday accused Europe of wanting to prolong the fighting, unlike the United States.

‘The Europeans continue on the path of a sanctions nosedive, on the path of conviction in the need to continue the war,’ Peskov told reporters, adding:

This conviction of the Europeans completely contrasts with the mindset of finding a settlement on Ukraine, which we are now doing with the Americans.

Today marks the third year anniversary of the Russian invasion and violence continues today as Ukraine declares it attacked a Russian oil refinery overnight.

Kyiv has hit several Russian energy sites in long-range drone strikes it says are retaliation for Moscow’s missile attacks that have crippled Ukraine’s energy grid and cut off power to millions during Russia’s three-year invasion.

‘The Ryazan refinery, one of the largest in Russia, was attacked,’ said Andriy Kovalenko, the spokesman of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council’s Countering Disinformation Centre.

He added the refinery produced aviation fuel ‘critical for the frontline aviation of the Russian army.’

The Ryazan region governor, Pavel Malkov, said on Telegram that a ‘fire broke out on the territory of an enterprise due to falling debris’ after the drones were downed.

The Russian defence ministry said it shot down 22 Ukrainian drones overnight, including two over the Ryazan region, southeast of Moscow.

Zelensky has also proposed a complete exchange of all prisoners of war with Russia as the ‘start’ of a process on ending the conflict.

‘Russia must release Ukrainians. Ukraine is ready to exchange all for all, and this is a fair way to start,’ Zelensky said in a summit in Kyiv on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb President Zelensky in Kyiv

President Zelensky has today called for long-term and sustainable peace in Ukraine this year, in comments marking the third anniversary of the Russian invasion.

This year should be the year of the beginning of a real, lasting peace. Putin will not give us peace or give it to us in exchange for something. We have to win peace through strength and wisdom and unity.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has joined EU leaders in Kyiv to show support for Ukraine on the third anniversary of the Russian invasion.

Here are some photographs of his visit in the Ukrainian capital this morning.

The Kremlin has today said it welcomed and supported what it called a new U.S. approach to dialogue with Russia, which it contrasted to that of Europe.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to a question about comments from U.S. President Donald Trump last week in which he criticised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and suggested Kyiv had started the war.

He said Moscow hoped that Washington would fully examine the root causes of the Ukraine conflict, which Peskov said was necessary to bring about a settlement.

Peskov added that Russia does not see any grounds to renew dialogue with Europe for now, hours after the EU agreed on a sixteenth package of sanctions against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.

The U.S. and Ukraine are ‘very close’ to signing a minerals deal which could help to secure Kyiv’s future, former UK prime minister Boris Johnson has claimed.

The former Conservative leader told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:

I believe that we’re very close to getting this minerals agreement signed between the United States and Ukraine, and that commits the US not only to future financing of Ukraine, but also to a free, sovereign and secure Ukraine.

I think that it’s positive for Ukraine – and don’t forget, the fundamental loser in all that is going to be Putin, because what Putin wants is Ukraine to be a vassal state of Russia.

What this deal envisages is an economic partnership with America, and the two things are simply not compatible.

World leaders are meeting in the Ukrainian capital today to mark three years since Russia’s illegal invasion of the country, in a show of support by some of Kyiv’s most important backers as the United States threatens to pull its support.

The three-year mark of the war came at a sensitive moment for Kyiv as Volodymyr Zelensky navigates a rapidly changing international environment upended by Donald Trump’s major shift of US policy and warming relations with Moscow.

Washington has been accused of freezing Kyiv out of negotiations with Moscow, with Trump last week justifying doing so by wrongly calling Zelensky ‘a dictator without elections’ – despite votes only being halted in the war-torn country due to martial law.

Read Elena Salvoni’s report here:

An explosion has rocked the Russian Consulate in Marseille, with the building on lockdown as firefighters fight with the blaze on the third anniversary of the Ukraine war.

Russia’s consul general in Marseille Stanislav Oranskiy confirmed there had been an explosion inside the consulate, Russian news outlet RBC reported.

The explosion had ‘all the hallmarks of a terrorist attack’, according to Russian news agency Tass, citing the Russian foreign ministry.

Read more on this breaking news story here

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has posted a tweet praising the ‘absolute heroism’ of the country’s men and women to mark the third year of Russia’s invasion.

Zelensky thanked all those who have defended and supported Ukraine since the start of the conflict amid hopes of a peace deal.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Kyiv

Leaders from Europe and Canada are visiting Ukraine’s capital to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion in a show of support by some of Kyiv’s most important backers for the nation at war.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau were among the visitors greeted at the train station by Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha and the president’s chief of staff Andrii Yermak.

In a post on X, Ms von der Leyen wrote that Europe was in Kyiv ‘because Ukraine is in Europe’.

‘In this fight for survival, it is not only the destiny of Ukraine that is at stake. It’s Europe’s destiny,’ she wrote.

The guests, also including European Council president Antonio Costa as well as the prime ministers of Northern European countries and Spain, were set to attend events dedicated to the anniversary and discuss supporting Ukraine with President Volodymyr Zelensky amid a recent US policy shift under President Donald Trump.

President Trump last met with Emmanuel Macron in Paris in December

Good morning and welcome to MailOnline’s live coverage as French President Emmanuel Macron heads to Washington to meet Donald Trump for Ukraine peace talks.

Macron is hoping to persuade the U.S. President when the two leaders meet to include European leaders in talks between Russia and the United States.

Trump sent shock waves around Europe when he declared his readiness to resume diplomacy with Russian President Vladimir Putin and to hold talks without the involvement of European nations or Kyiv.

Meanwhile, Several European leaders and Canada’s prime minister have today arrived in Kyiv in a show of support for Ukraine on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion.

Stick with us as we bring you the latest updates from throughout the day.