Kremlin Says It Has Yet to Hear from US About Setting up a Possible Putin-Trump Meeting 

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin visits the Moscow State University (MSU) in Moscow on January 24, 2025. (Sputnik/AFP)
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin visits the Moscow State University (MSU) in Moscow on January 24, 2025. (Sputnik/AFP)
TT
20

Kremlin Says It Has Yet to Hear from US About Setting up a Possible Putin-Trump Meeting 

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin visits the Moscow State University (MSU) in Moscow on January 24, 2025. (Sputnik/AFP)
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin visits the Moscow State University (MSU) in Moscow on January 24, 2025. (Sputnik/AFP)

The Kremlin said on Monday it had yet to receive any signals from the United States about arranging a possible meeting between President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump, but remained ready to organize such an encounter.

"So far, we have not received any signals from the Americans", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call.

"(Russia's) readiness (for a meeting) remains, and the same readiness, as far as we have heard, remains on the American side. Apparently, a certain amount of time is required (to set something up)," he said.

Putin said on Friday that he and Trump should meet to talk about the Ukraine war and energy prices, issues that the US president has highlighted in the first days of his new administration.

Trump, who took office last week, has also said that he wants to meet Putin and that he wants to end the war, which he has cast as "ridiculous."



Israel Launches Communications Satellite from Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lifts off at Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy Space Center before the launch of Axiom Space Axiom Mission on June 25, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/Getty Images/AFP
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lifts off at Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy Space Center before the launch of Axiom Space Axiom Mission on June 25, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/Getty Images/AFP
TT
20

Israel Launches Communications Satellite from Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lifts off at Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy Space Center before the launch of Axiom Space Axiom Mission on June 25, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/Getty Images/AFP
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lifts off at Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy Space Center before the launch of Axiom Space Axiom Mission on June 25, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/Getty Images/AFP

Israel on Sunday said it had launched a new national communications satellite on board a SpaceX rocket from the United States.

The Dror 1 satellite was blasted into orbit on a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral in Florida, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and the foreign ministry said.

"This $200 million 'smartphone in space' will power Israel's strategic and civilian communications for 15 years," the ministry wrote on X.

Accompanying video footage showed the reusable, two-stage rocket lift off into the night sky. SpaceX said the launch happened at 1:04 am in Florida (0504 GMT Sunday).

IAI, which called the launch "a historic leap for Israeli space technology", said when it announced the project to develop and build Dror 1 that it was "the most advanced communication satellite ever built in Israel".

In September 2016, an unmanned Falcon 9 rocket exploded during a test in Florida, destroying Israel's Amos-6 communications satellite, which was estimated to have cost between $200 and 300 million.