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Kremlin Foreign Policy Aide Says Several Countries Have Already Offered to Host Putin-Trump Talks

Russia's President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump talk during a bilateral meeting at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 28, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
Russia's President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump talk during a bilateral meeting at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 28, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
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Kremlin Foreign Policy Aide Says Several Countries Have Already Offered to Host Putin-Trump Talks

Russia's President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump talk during a bilateral meeting at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 28, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
Russia's President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump talk during a bilateral meeting at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 28, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

Kremlin foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov said on Monday that several countries had already offered to host talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President-elect Donald Trump, though he declined to say which.

Trump has said he wants to swiftly end the war in Ukraine, though he has yet to set out publicly how he plans to do so, according to Reuters.

Putin said on Thursday that he was ready to compromise over Ukraine in possible talks with Trump and had no conditions for starting talks with the Ukrainian authorities.

But Putin said any talks should take as their starting point a preliminary agreement reached between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in the early weeks of the war at talks in Istanbul, which was never implemented.

Many Ukrainian politicians regard that draft deal as akin to a capitulation which would have neutered Ukraine's military and political ambitions and say they do not believe Putin is ready to strike a deal that would be acceptable for Kyiv too.

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Australia, Japan Sign Contracts to Start $7 Billion Warship Deal

Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Richard Marles (R) listens to Japan's Minister of Defense Koizumi Shinjiro (L) during a Defense Ministers' Meeting at the Commonwealth Parliament Offices in Melbourne on April 18, 2026. (Photo by William WEST / AFP)
Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Richard Marles (R) listens to Japan's Minister of Defense Koizumi Shinjiro (L) during a Defense Ministers' Meeting at the Commonwealth Parliament Offices in Melbourne on April 18, 2026. (Photo by William WEST / AFP)
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Australia, Japan Sign Contracts to Start $7 Billion Warship Deal

Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Richard Marles (R) listens to Japan's Minister of Defense Koizumi Shinjiro (L) during a Defense Ministers' Meeting at the Commonwealth Parliament Offices in Melbourne on April 18, 2026. (Photo by William WEST / AFP)
Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Richard Marles (R) listens to Japan's Minister of Defense Koizumi Shinjiro (L) during a Defense Ministers' Meeting at the Commonwealth Parliament Offices in Melbourne on April 18, 2026. (Photo by William WEST / AFP)

Australia and Japan signed contracts on Saturday launching their landmark A$10 billion ($7 billion) deal to supply Australia with warships, Tokyo's most consequential military sale since ending a military export ban in 2014.

Defense Ministers Richard Marles and Shinjiro Koizumi signed a memorandum "reaffirming the Australian and Japanese governments' shared commitment to the successful delivery" of the warships, Marles said in a statement.

The deal struck in ⁠August anchors Japan's ⁠push away from its postwar pacifism to forge security ties beyond its alliance with the US to counter China.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is to supply the Royal Australian Navy with three upgraded Mogami-class ⁠multi-role frigates built in Japan from 2029. Eight more frigates will be built in Australia.

Japan's Defense Ministry posted on X that Koizumi and Marles welcomed the "conclusion of contracts for General Purpose Frigates, and confirmed to further strengthen bilateral defense ties" in the signing in Melbourne.

Contracts were signed for the first three frigates, to be built ⁠in ⁠Japan, before there is a "transition to an onshore build" at the Henderson shipyard near Perth in Western Australia, Reuters quoted Marles as saying.

Australia plans to deploy the ships - designed to hunt submarines, strike surface ships and provide air defense - to defend critical maritime trade routes and its northern approaches in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, where China's military footprint is expanding.

World

Iran Partially Reopens Airspace

FILE - Two police officers walk in front of an anti-US billboard in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
FILE - Two police officers walk in front of an anti-US billboard in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
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Iran Partially Reopens Airspace

FILE - Two police officers walk in front of an anti-US billboard in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
FILE - Two police officers walk in front of an anti-US billboard in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

Iran partially reopened its airspace on Saturday to international flights crossing the eastern part of its territory, the country's Civil Aviation Authority said.

"Air routes in the eastern section of the country's airspace are open for international flights transiting through Iran," it said, adding that some airports had also reopened at 7:00 am (0330 GMT).

More than three hours later, however, flight tracker websites still showed no international flights crossing Iran, and several avoiding its airspace by making long detours.

World

Trump Hints at Resuming Attacks if Ceasefire with Iran Expires Without Deal

IN FLIGHT - APRIL 17: US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press aboard Air Force One on April 17, 2026 just prior to landing at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. (Photo by WIN MCNAMEE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
IN FLIGHT - APRIL 17: US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press aboard Air Force One on April 17, 2026 just prior to landing at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. (Photo by WIN MCNAMEE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
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Trump Hints at Resuming Attacks if Ceasefire with Iran Expires Without Deal

IN FLIGHT - APRIL 17: US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press aboard Air Force One on April 17, 2026 just prior to landing at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. (Photo by WIN MCNAMEE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
IN FLIGHT - APRIL 17: US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press aboard Air Force One on April 17, 2026 just prior to landing at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. (Photo by WIN MCNAMEE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

US President Donald Trump said the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz will remain and attacks will resume if no agreement is reached with Iran, after Tehran said it had fully reopened the strait to commercial vessels but threatened to close it again over the US blockade.

Asked by a reporter Friday night what he will do if there’s no deal when a ceasefire with Iran expires next week, Trump said, “I don’t know. Maybe I won’t extend it, but the blockade is going to remain. But maybe I won’t extend it, so you’ll have a blockade and unfortunately we’ll have to start dropping bombs again.”

However, Trump also told reporters accompanying him aboard Air Force One to Washington that, “I think it’s going to happen,” referring to a deal.

Questions lingered Saturday about how much freedom ships actually had to transit the waterway as Tehran threatened to close it again if the US kept in place its blockade of Iranian ships and ports.

Iran’s Friday announcement about the opening of the crucial body of water, through which 20% of the world’s oil is shipped, came as a 10-day truce between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon appeared to hold.

The war with Iran, which began on February 28 with a US-Israeli attack, has killed thousands and sent oil prices surging because of the de facto closure of ⁠the strait.

Trump has told Reuters there would probably be more direct talks between Iran and the US this weekend. Some diplomats said that was unlikely given the logistics of gathering in Islamabad, where the talks are expected to take place.

There were no signs of preparations early on Saturday for talks in the Pakistani capital.