Russia | DD News

February 18, 2026 10:38 AM

Ukraine, Russia hold peace talks in Geneva as Trump puts pressure on Kyiv

Negotiators from Ukraine and Russia concluded the first of two days of U.S.-mediated peace talks in Geneva on Tuesday, with U.S. President Donald Trump pressing Kyiv to act fast to reach a deal to end the four-year conflict. Ahead of the negotiations in Switzerland, Russia carried out airstrikes overnight across swathes of Ukraine, severelydamaging the power network in the southern port city of Odesa. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the attacks left tens of thou...

February 12, 2026 12:08 PM

WhatsApp says Russia tried to fully block service to push state app

Russia has attempted to "fully block" Meta Platform-owned WhatsApp in the country, a company spokesperson told Reuters on Wednesday, as it promotes home-grown platforms and seeks greater control over its internet space. A simmering dispute with foreign tech providers intensified after Moscow's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Russian authorities are pushing a state-backed rival app called 'MAX', which critics claim could be used to track users. State media have dismissed those acc...

February 11, 2026 5:12 PM

Russia says US restrictions on its role in Venezuela’s oil business are discrimination

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that new U.S. restrictions on the role of Russia and other countries in Venezuela's oil business were blatant discrimination and the Kremlin said it would clarify the matter with Washington. The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday issued a general license to facilitate the exploration and production of oil and gas in Venezuela. The license did not authorise transactions involving Russian, Chinese and Iranian nationals or entities. Lavrov, speaki...

February 5, 2026 9:22 PM

Russia, Ukraine and US end Abu Dhabi peace talks with prisoner swap agreement

Russia, Ukraine and the United States have concluded a second round of peace talks in Abu Dhabi, agreeing on a major prisoner exchange but leaving key political and security issues unresolved. The two-day negotiations were described as constructive by all sides. US special envoy Steve Witkoff said the delegations agreed to exchange 314 prisoners of war, the first such swap in five months. He said the talks were “detailed and productive” and showed that diplomacy was delivering results. Ukr...

January 30, 2026 12:37 PM

Trump says Putin agreed to not fire on Kyiv for a week during cold

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin had agreed to refrain from firing on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities for a week because of cold winter weather. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he thanked Washington for the initiative, which he described as halting Russian strikes on energy targets, which have left hundreds of apartments in Kyiv without power during freezing weather. There was no immediate comment from Moscow, which had earlier issued...

January 25, 2026 3:15 PM

Ukraine says further meetings with Russia possible next week after ‘constructive’ UAE talks

Ukraine has indicated that additional meetings with Russia could take place as early as next week following the conclusion of what it described as "constructive" trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi. The discussions, which ended on Saturday in the UAE capital, brought together representatives from the United States, Russia and Ukraine in the first such format since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the two days of meetings involved military representa...

January 23, 2026 10:37 AM

Trump touts ‘total access’ Greenland deal as NATO asks allies to step up

President Donald Trump said on Thursday he had secured total and permanent U.S. access to Greenland in a deal with NATO, whose head said allies would have to step up their commitment to Arctic security to ward off threats from Russia and China. News of a framework deal came as Trump backed off tariff threats against Europe and ruled out taking Greenland by force, bringing a degree of respite in what was brewing to be the biggest rupture in transatlantic ties in decades. Trump's U-turn triggere...

January 20, 2026 8:55 PM

Russia’s Far East buried in snow, transport disrupted in China and Japan

Russia's Far East was buried under metres of snow by its heaviest snowfall in 60 years on Tuesday as a winter blast swept across Asia, dusting Shanghai white and grounding flights in Japan's northwest. The cold snap disrupted transport across the region, closing roads in China, stranding air travellers in Japan and leaving parts of Russia’s Far East paralysed. Scientists said the weather was related to waves of cool air coming in from the Arctic, which was simultaneously affecting Eastern Ru...

January 19, 2026 10:55 PM

Record snow fall in Russian far east sows fun, frustration and massive drifts

The biggest snow fall in 60 years on Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula created vast drifts several metres tall that blocked building entrances and buried cars, according to Reuters visuals and weather monitoring stations. In some areas more than 2 m (6.5 feet) of snow has fallen in the first half of January after 3.7 m in December, according to weather monitoring stations. Reuters pictures showed cars almost completely buried in metres of snow and four-wheel drives struggling for tracti...

January 4, 2026 12:50 PM

Trump says he’s ‘not thrilled’ with Putin over war in Ukraine

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he was frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the continued war in Ukraine, repeating that he had initially believed that ending the war would be easy. "I'm not thrilled with Putin. He's killing too many people," Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, during a press conference to discuss the overnight U.S. military operation in Venezuela and capture of its President Nicolas Maduro. Trump said he did not ...