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Top US and Russian Diplomats Discuss Next Steps on Ukraine

Russia has momentum in many areas of the front in Ukraine. Handout / Russian Defense Ministry/AFP
Russia has momentum in many areas of the front in Ukraine. Handout / Russian Defense Ministry/AFP
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Top US and Russian Diplomats Discuss Next Steps on Ukraine

Russia has momentum in many areas of the front in Ukraine. Handout / Russian Defense Ministry/AFP
Russia has momentum in many areas of the front in Ukraine. Handout / Russian Defense Ministry/AFP

The top US and Russian diplomats discussed Saturday the "next steps" to end the war in Ukraine, hours after Kyiv's allies agreed to exert pressure on Moscow.
Despite recent tensions between US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, Kyiv has agreed in principle to a US-brokered 30-day unconditional ceasefire -- if Moscow halts its attacks in eastern Ukraine.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin has not, however, agreed to any truce, instead setting conditions that were beyond what was called for in the US agreement with Ukraine.
The ceasefire proposal by Trump's team comes as Russia has momentum in many areas of the front in Ukraine.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in a call on Saturday, "discussed next steps", State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has stressed his desire to end the three-year-old conflict, and has made a spectacular rapprochement with Putin.
The statement gave no details on when the next round of US-Russia talks hosted by Saudi Arabia would begin.
But Rubio and Lavrov also "agreed to continue working towards restoring communication between the United States and Russia," Bruce added.
'Moment of truth'
The call came after a virtual summit hosted by London earlier on Saturday.
At those talks, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told some 26 fellow leaders that they should focus on how to strengthen Ukraine, protect any ceasefire and keep up the pressure on Moscow.
Starmer said Putin would eventually have to "come to the table".
"Putin is trying to delay -- saying there must be a painstaking study before a ceasefire can take place," he added.
Military leaders from about 30 countries met in Paris on March 11 to discuss plans for a peacekeeping force in Ukraine, and will meet again Thursday in Britain.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday called for unified action to ensure Russia accepts the proposed ceasefire.
"This is a moment of truth because if Russia does not sincerely commit to peace, President Trump will toughen sanctions and retaliation, and so that will completely change the dynamic," Macron told French regional papers in an interview posted late Saturday.
"Russia must respond clearly and the pressure must be clear, in conjunction with the United States, to obtain this ceasefire," he said in a statement to AFP.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Russia had to show "it is willing to support a ceasefire leading to a just and lasting peace."
But Zelensky warned that Russia wanted to achieve a "stronger position" militarily ahead of any ceasefire, more than three years since it invaded Ukraine.
"They want to improve their situation on the battlefield," Zelensky told journalists in Kyiv.
Troops
Starmer and Macron have said they are willing to put British and French troops on the ground in Ukraine, but it is not clear if other countries are keen on doing the same.
Russia has rejected the idea of foreign soldiers acting as peacekeepers in Ukraine.
But Macron said Saturday: "If Ukraine asks allied forces to be on its territory, it is not up to Russia to accept or not."
Starmer has said he welcomes any offer of support for the coalition, raising the prospect that some countries could contribute logistics or surveillance.
Trump on Saturday appointed Keith Kellogg as special envoy to Ukraine.
A former national security advisor during Trump's first term, Kellogg had previously been described as a special envoy for both Ukraine and Russia.
But he was excluded from recent talks in Saudi Arabia on ending the war, with NBC News in the United States citing a senior Russian official who said that Putin considered him too pro-Ukraine.
Fighting continues, and Moscow has regained swathes of land this week in the Kursk border region.
In Russia, three civilians were injured on Saturday night when Ukrainian drones struck in the town of Gubkin and the village of Dolgoe in the Belgorod region, officials said on Telegram.

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World

Israel Army Says Iran Using Cluster Munitions

An Iranian missile with cluster munitions flies towards Israel, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in central Israel, March 5, 2026. (Reuters)
An Iranian missile with cluster munitions flies towards Israel, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in central Israel, March 5, 2026. (Reuters)
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Israel Army Says Iran Using Cluster Munitions

An Iranian missile with cluster munitions flies towards Israel, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in central Israel, March 5, 2026. (Reuters)
An Iranian missile with cluster munitions flies towards Israel, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in central Israel, March 5, 2026. (Reuters)

Israel's military Friday said that Iran had launched cluster bombs "multiple times" since the start of the war that began with a US-Israeli attack on the country last week.

"They (the Iranians) are using cluster munitions", military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said during a press briefing, without providing details on when and where those munitions were launched.

"They've used it multiple times, which is a war crime when it's directed towards civilians and we're tracking that situation," Shoshani added.

Neither Iran nor Israel are among more than a hundred countries that are party to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits the use, transfer, production and storage of cluster bombs.

AFP footage from Thursday evening showed a swarm of flaming projectiles falling in the darkened sky over central Israel.

Police did not comment on the sighting, but a military expert who reviewed the footage for AFP identified them as a part of a cluster bomb.

Israel's police had said Wednesday that bomb disposal experts found evidence of cluster munitions after incoming missiles from Iran were detected.

Due to military censorship rules in place in Israel since the start of its war with Iran, impact sites are generally closed to the public including journalists until they are cleared of Iranian missile debris and unexploded ordnances.

Police on Friday also published a public service announcement in which one of its bomb disposal technicians explained the dangers of cluster bombs.

"During the current war, the home front is facing a variety of threats, whether missiles, UAVs (drones), or rockets. I will talk to you about a threat that is a bit less known, but no less dangerous: the cluster munition threat," the technician said in the video.

During Israel's 12-day war with Iran in June 2025, the NGO Amnesty International reported Tehran’s use of widely banned cluster munitions.

The organization had said it analyzed photos and videos showing cluster munitions that, according to media reports, struck inside the Gush Dan metropolitan area around Tel Aviv on June 19.

The southern city of Beersheva on June 20 and Rishon LeZion to the south of Tel Aviv on June 22 were also "struck with ordnance that left multiple impact craters consistent with the submunitions seen in Gush Dan", Amnesty said.

Cluster munitions explode in mid-air and scatter bomblets.

Some of them may not explode on impact and can cause casualties over time, particularly among children.

World

Zelensky Visits Frontline Donetsk Region in East Ukraine

This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on March 6, 2026, shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (C) posing for a photo with Ukrainian servicemen while visiting the command post of the 3rd Battalion of the 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after the Knights of the Winter Campaign near Druzhkivka, Donetsk region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on March 6, 2026, shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (C) posing for a photo with Ukrainian servicemen while visiting the command post of the 3rd Battalion of the 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after the Knights of the Winter Campaign near Druzhkivka, Donetsk region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service / AFP)
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Zelensky Visits Frontline Donetsk Region in East Ukraine

This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on March 6, 2026, shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (C) posing for a photo with Ukrainian servicemen while visiting the command post of the 3rd Battalion of the 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after the Knights of the Winter Campaign near Druzhkivka, Donetsk region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on March 6, 2026, shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (C) posing for a photo with Ukrainian servicemen while visiting the command post of the 3rd Battalion of the 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after the Knights of the Winter Campaign near Druzhkivka, Donetsk region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service / AFP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the frontline region of Donetsk in east Ukraine, where his forces are fighting against a grinding Russian assault, he said Friday.

The visit comes as Ukraine seeks to strengthen its frontline defenses.

The Russian army recorded its slowest advance on the front in nearly two years in February, as Kyiv successfully pushed back in some areas, according to data from the Institute for the Study of War.

"The Russians are not abandoning the war, and here, in the Donetsk region, they are preparing an offensive for the spring," Zelensky said in a post on X.

"It is important that our positions are strong," he added.

He posted a video that appeared to show him in Druzhkivka -- a town that lies about 15 kilometers (nine miles) from the front with Russia's troops, which has come under regular Russian shelling.

During the visit he also handed out awards to soldiers, he said in a separate Facebook post.

"The stronger we are here, the stronger we are in the negotiation process," he said.

Zelensky has made frequent visits to the front since Russia invaded in February 2022.

World

Merz Warns Against Iran State Collapse, Refugee Flows

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz delivers a speech during a campaign event of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party for the state election of Baden-Wuerttemberg in Stockach, Germany, 06 March 2026. (EPA)
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz delivers a speech during a campaign event of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party for the state election of Baden-Wuerttemberg in Stockach, Germany, 06 March 2026. (EPA)
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Merz Warns Against Iran State Collapse, Refugee Flows

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz delivers a speech during a campaign event of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party for the state election of Baden-Wuerttemberg in Stockach, Germany, 06 March 2026. (EPA)
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz delivers a speech during a campaign event of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party for the state election of Baden-Wuerttemberg in Stockach, Germany, 06 March 2026. (EPA)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Friday the Middle East war must not lead to the collapse of the Iranian state, warning of the impact this would have on migration to Europe.

"An endless war is not in our interest. The same applies to a collapse of Iranian statehood or proxy conflicts fought on Iranian soil," he said in a statement.

"Such scenarios could have far-reaching consequences for Europe, including for security, energy supply and migration."

He added that "we share the goals of the United States and Israel regarding the Iranian nuclear and missile program, Tehran's threats against Israel, and its support for terrorism and proxies.

"The Iranian people have the right to freely decide their own destiny."

He warned against chaos, a point he also stressed speaking at a trade fair in Munich.

Germany and its European allies were "pushing hard for Iran's sovereignty to be preserved", he said there.

"We do not want to see a Syrian scenario here," he added.

"I am appealing both in Washington and in all talks with the Israeli government to create the conditions for this country to be stabilized as quickly as possible."

Merz said that "we naturally have a strong interest in this ourselves in order to avoid new waves of refugees from the region".

The United Nations refugee agency on Friday declared the Middle East war a major humanitarian emergency and insisted all fleeing civilians should be granted safe passage.

UNHCR said the war -- which began on Saturday when Israel and the United States launched strikes on Iran and has spread across the region since -- had already caused large numbers of people to flee their homes.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Berlin would provide 100 million euros ($116 million) in humanitarian aid for Lebanon, which became engulfed in the war after the Iran-backed group Hezbollah on Monday fired missiles at Israel to avenge the death of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

"We are currently seeing a new dynamic and a dramatic situation in Lebanon with many internally displaced persons, and we want to help throughout the region in order to provide assistance on the ground," Wadephul said.