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Hundreds of British troops and RAF jets will take part in major wargames in Poland this month
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US first lady Melania Trump will host officials from Moscow and Kyiv in the White House on Thursday, Washington has announced.
During the meeting, Mrs Trump will deliver remarks on the ceasefire in Ukrainian town of Oleshky, which she was involved in brokering.
The White House said the event represented “an extraordinary moment in American history”.
A renewed diplomatic push to reach a truce is under way, with trilateral talks between Moscow, Kyiv and the US scheduled in Abu Dhabi in the middle of this month.
Over the weekend, the Kremlin invited Volodymyr Zelensky to Moscow – not for the first time – in a move the Ukrainian president branded “destructive”.
It comes after officials said British and European troops would be permitted to fire back at Russia‘s forces if attacked during Ukrainian peacekeeping missions.
Hundreds of British troops and RAF jets will take part in major wargames in Poland this month to prepare for potential post-ceasefire peacekeeping operations.
Earlier, at least 26 people were killed and dozens injured in a Russian air attack on a aid distribution centre in southern Ukraine, condemned as “utterly horrific” by Mr Zelensky.
Russia has bombarded Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in waves, knocking out power to swathes of the country with dozens of missiles and hundreds of drones, a week before US-brokered peace talks are due to resume.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said at least 33 people had been killed on Monday when Russia twice bombed a school now being used for aid distribution in the village of Komyshuvakha, near the front line in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region. About 50 people were still believed to be buried under the rubble, he said.
Russian officials said Ukraine, for its part, had set fire overnight to a major oil refinery in the city of Yaroslavl.
The attacks, less than two days after the end of a brief humanitarian truce in the Russian-controlled town of Oleshky agreed with the help of US first lady Melania Trump, did not bode well for the talks that the US has scheduled for Abu Dhabi on November 10-11.
Moscow said its forces had targeted Ukrainian military units in areas around Komyshuvakha and two other settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region.
It said that up to 25 Ukrainian servicemen had been killed, while 15 vehicles and an electronic warfare station were also destroyed.
Mr Zelensky said the attack showed Moscow was intent on killing people instead of building on the humanitarian ceasefire in Oleshky.
Russian forces struck a school being used as an aid distribution point in Ukraine, killing at least 31 people in the village, according to a regional official.
Russia bombed the village, located near the frontline in Ukraine’s southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia on Monday.
Acting head of the Regional Military Administration of Zaporizhzhia, Mykhailo Semikin said that five people were injured in the strikes and almost 50 people were still to be found in the village of Komyshuvakha.
Russia must show it is serious about a ceasefire and peace agreement at talks in Abu Dhabi next week, Friedrich Merz said in Berlin on Tuesday.
The German chancellor was speaking during a joint press conference with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, who he was hosting.
The European Commission is to host a meeting on Ukraine with representatives from the United States, Ukraine and its key European allies on Wednesday, Commission spokesperson Paula Pinho said on Tuesday.
“So tomorrow the European Commission will host a meeting with representatives from Ukraine, from the United States, France, Germany, the UK, Nato and the World Bank and this meeting will build on earlier talks that took place in Miami,” Pinho told reporters in Brussels.
A source familiar with the plan told Reuters that representatives of Ukraine, US and European allies will discuss a prosperity plan and security guarantees.
American special envoy Steve Witkoff had earlier said that the meeting was to take place in Brussels.
The United States will then bring together delegations from Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11 to discuss ending Moscow’s war against Ukraine, post-war security agreements and de-escalation, Witkoff added.
As we’ve been reporting, Volodymyr Zelensky has just finished speaking in a press conference alongside German chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Mr Zelensky said that the situation on the front lines was complicated but under control.
He reiterated his call for more air defence supplies to protect Ukrainian cities far from the front lines.
Melania Trump is to bring together Russian and Ukrainian representatives in order to initiate “engagement between the two warring nations”, according to the White House.
“First Lady Melania Trump will personally bring representatives of Russia and Ukraine, two nations actively at war, together at the White House,” read a statement on the White House website on Tuesday.
“This event represents an extraordinary moment in American history.
“Mrs. Trump independently initiated engagement between the two warring nations and successfully secured a ceasefire in Oleshky and the surrounding Kherson region. This achievement marks an unprecedented diplomatic initiative by an American First Lady.
“First Lady Melania Trump will deliver remarks on the ceasefire in Oleshky at 11:00 am ET on Thursday, November 5, 2026, at the White House.”
Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the US will meet in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11,
President Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed that negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the US will meet in Abu Dhabi on 10 and 11 November.
Security guarantees, an “energy ceasefire” and a truce in the Black Sea to guarantee food exports will be discussed, Mr Zelensky told a joint press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin.
The meeting in Abu Dhabi will be the first direct, three-way talks since February.
Norway’s government said on Tuesday that it is setting aside 1 billion Norwegian crowns ($107,60 million) for investments in Ukraine to be made in partnership with the Nordic country’s business sector.
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