America has been asked to ‘use a bit more stick’ to wrangle Russia into a ceasefire, ahead of high-level talks between the US and EU officials over the state of the invasion of Ukraine.
UK foreign secretary David Lammy will join Donald Trump‘s special envoy Steve Witkoff and top diplomat Marco Rubio, alongside Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha and defence minister Oborony Ukrayiny, in Paris today for discussions on how to end the invasion.
EU diplomats told the BBC they will urge the US to pile more pressure on Russia to agree to an unconditional ceasefire.
One official told the broadcaster: ‘We want the US to use a bit more stick.’
Overnight, a Russian mass drone attack killed three people, including a child, and injured many more in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
Serhiy Lysak, governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, wrote on the Telegram messaging app that 30 people had been injured, including five children. Sixteen people were being treated in hospital. The attack triggered several fires.
Pictures posted online showed a large blaze and firefighters working at the scene well into the night, as well as gutted vehicles and buildings with smashed windows and damaged facades.
In northeastern Kharkiv region, governor Oleh Syniehubov said a Russian missile attack injured two people in the town of Izium.
Firefighters extinguish fire following a Russian attack in Dnipro, Thursday, April 17, 202
A fire breaks out after the Russian drone attack in Dnipro, Ukraine on April 16, 2025. Russia attacked Dnipro with ‘Shahed’ UAV, which resulted in more than 10 explosions in city center
Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a mass drone attack on the residential area in Dnipro, Ukraine, 16 April 2025
Donald Trump (pictured) has faced accusations that he has allowed Vladimir Putin to take advantage of him
The town was captured by Russian troops in the early days of the February 2022 invasion, but was retaken by Ukrainian forces later in the year.
Trump has faced accusations that he has allowed Vladimir Putin to take advantage of him, with Polish foreign minister Radosław Sikorski saying on Monday that he desperately wanted the Republican and his officials to see that Vladimir Putin was ‘mocking their goodwill.’
Today, it was revealed that Russia has been outlining plans to use an American-owned company seized by the Kremlin and placed under state control to supply food to the Russian army, a document seen by Reuters showed, potentially threatening Moscow’s warming relations with the U.S.
As the U.S. and the Kremlin negotiate to stop the war in Ukraine, the canned food maker Glavprodukt which was seized in October and is the only American-owned firm to be taken under state control, has been caught in the crosshairs.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said its treatment will be part of the conversation about resetting U.S.-Russia relations.
The seizure was necessary to ensure stable production, including for future supplies to the national guard and defence ministry, according to a letter, reviewed by Reuters, addressed to Russia’s prosecutor general from Glavprodukt’s new management.
Glavprodukt is now under the control of Russia’s federal property management agency Rosimushchestvo having been seized from Los Angeles-based Leonid Smirnov.
Overnight, a Russian mass drone attack killed three people, including a child, and injured many more in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro
Serhiy Lysak, governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, wrote on the Telegram messaging app that 30 people had been injured, including five children
Russia’s industry and trade ministry and Rosimushchestvo did not respond to requests for comment on the state’s plans for Glavprodukt and questions about its new management.
Russian prosecutors have accused Smirnov and companies controlled by him of moving about 1.38 billion roubles ($17 million) out of Russia from 2022 to 2024, the RBC daily reported in March.
On March 12, Glavprodukt’s assets were seized by the Moscow Arbitration Court at the request of the prosecutor general’s office. A hearing is scheduled for April 18. Smirnov denies wrongdoing and says the lawsuit is a ‘Russian-style corporate raid’ to steal his company.
The prosecutor general did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
About a dozen European companies have had their Russian subsidiaries expropriated by presidential decree, including Danish brewer Carlsberg and Finnish utility Fortum and the Kremlin has warned of more asset seizures.
The Ukraine invasion was expected to be a quick operation, but the war has now stretched to more than three years, seeing Russia hike defence spending and secure tighter control of strategic assets. In 2022, Russia was scrambling for military supplies, including food.
The letter reviewed by Reuters shines a light on the people standing to gain from the expropriation. It said that Rosimushchestvo appointed Glavprodukt’s new director general at the request of food producer Druzhba Narodov.
Druzhba Narodov was the sole supplier to Russia’s national guard for 2019-20, according to a 2018 press release.
Sixteen people were being treated in hospital. The attack triggered several fires
Burned cars are seen next to an apartment building damaged during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Dnipro, Ukraine, in this handout picture released April 17, 2025
Rescuers working at the site of a Russian drone attack in Dnipro, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine
A person familiar with the matter said that Glavprodukt never previously supplied Russia’s army.
A 2018 investigation by late opposition politician Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Fund revealed that then President Dmitry Medvedev had in 2017 signed off on Druzhba Narodov becoming the national guard’s sole supplier.
Ownership information for Druzhba Narodov is classified, but Russian newspaper Kommersant reported in 2022, citing then publicly available information on Russia’s EGRUL corporate registry, that entities connected to agriculture holding ‘Agrocomplex named after N. I. Tkachev’ had acquired Druzhba Narodov.
Reuters could not independently verify that as the information is now classified, but the Agrocomplex holding referred to, and Druzhba Narodov, share the same agrocomplex.ru domain name for some email addresses, according to their websites and filings from Russia’s Spark corporate registry.
Druzhba Narodov and Agrocomplex did not respond to requests for comment.
The holding’s ultimate owner is Alexander Tkachev, according to the company’s 2025 independent audit filings, reviewed by Reuters.
Tkachev, sanctioned by the European Union in 2014 for his support of Moscow’s annexation of Crimea, was appointed Russia’s agriculture minister the following year, and is the holding company’s board chairman, the filings show.
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