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Moscow Warns of 'Titanic Efforts' to Disrupt Putin-Trump Meeting

US President Donald Trump participates in a trilateral signing with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 8, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)
US President Donald Trump participates in a trilateral signing with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 8, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)
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Moscow Warns of 'Titanic Efforts' to Disrupt Putin-Trump Meeting

US President Donald Trump participates in a trilateral signing with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 8, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)
US President Donald Trump participates in a trilateral signing with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 8, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

Certain countries will make "titanic efforts" to disrupt the meeting US President Donald Trump announced on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin for August 15, Russia's investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev said on Saturday.

Trump had said earlier that Russia and Ukraine were close to a ceasefire deal that could resolve the three-and-a-half-year conflict. The contents of the deal have yet to be announced, but it could require Ukraine to surrender significant territory - an outcome many European nations oppose. Dmitriev accused unnamed countries of seeking to prolong the war, Reuters said.

"Undoubtedly, a number of countries interested in continuing the conflict will make titanic efforts to disrupt the planned meeting between President Putin and President Trump," he said in a post in his Telegram account, specifying that by efforts he meant "provocations and disinformation".

Dmitriev did not specify which countries he was referring to or what kind of "provocations" they might undertake.

The Kremlin earlier confirmed the summit. The two leaders will "focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian crisis," Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said, adding: "This will evidently be a challenging process, but we will engage in it actively and energetically."

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World

Iran Says Responded to Latest US Peace Proposal

Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, May 18, 2026. (Reuters)
Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, May 18, 2026. (Reuters)
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Iran Says Responded to Latest US Peace Proposal

Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, May 18, 2026. (Reuters)
Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, May 18, 2026. (Reuters)

Iran said Monday it had responded to a new US proposal aimed at ending the war, adding that exchanges were continuing despite Iranian media reports describing Washington's demands as excessive.

Washington and Tehran have been swapping proposals in an effort to end the conflict which broke out on February 28. The two sides have held a single round of talks so far amid a fragile ceasefire in place since April 8.

"As we announced yesterday, our concerns were conveyed to the American side," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said during a press briefing Monday, adding that exchanges were "continuing through the Pakistani mediator", without providing details.

Baqaei defended Iran's demands including the release of Iranian assets frozen abroad and the lifting of long-standing sanctions.

"The points raised are Iranian demands that have been firmly defended by the Iranian negotiating team in every round of negotiations," he said.

He also defended an Iranian stipulation that the US pay war reparations, describing the conflict as "illegal and baseless".

On the possibility of another military confrontation, Baqaei said Iran was "fully prepared for any eventuality".

On Sunday, Iran's Fars news agency said Washington had presented a five-point list, which included a demand for Iran to keep only one nuclear site in operation and transfer its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to the United States.

The US had refused to release "even 25 percent" of Iran's frozen assets or pay any reparations for war damage, according to Fars.

The report said the US had also made clear it would only cease hostilities when Tehran engages in formal peace negotiations.

Iran's Mehr news agency said "the United States, offering no tangible concessions, wants to obtain concessions that it failed to obtain during the war, which will lead to an impasse in the negotiations".

It described the US conditions as "excessive".

In an earlier proposal, which was sent last week, Iran had called for an end to the war on all fronts, including Israel's campaign in Lebanon, as well as a halt to a US naval blockade on Iranian ports in place since April 13.

It also called for the lifting of all US sanctions on Iran and the release of its assets frozen abroad.

Fars said that Iranian proposal had emphasized that Tehran would continue to manage the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy conduit which Iran has largely kept closed since the start of the war.

World

Russian Drone Hit Chinese Cargo Ship Overnight in Black Sea, Says Ukraine

Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of an air attack in Odesa on May 18, 2026, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (AFP)
Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of an air attack in Odesa on May 18, 2026, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (AFP)
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Russian Drone Hit Chinese Cargo Ship Overnight in Black Sea, Says Ukraine

Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of an air attack in Odesa on May 18, 2026, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (AFP)
Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of an air attack in Odesa on May 18, 2026, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (AFP)

A Russian drone hit a Chinese cargo ship in the Black Sea overnight, Ukraine said Monday, a day before Russian President Vladimir Putin heads to Beijing to meet Xi Jinping.

Kyiv routinely announces Russian attacks on civilian vessels near the port of Odesa -- a vital maritime hub for Ukrainian agricultural exports.

But Monday's attack comes just ahead of Putin's two-day trip to Beijing where he and Xi are set to deepen bilateral ties between the friendly nations.

"Drones struck Odesa ... and one of the UAVs hit a vessel owned by China," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on social media.

"The Russians could not have been unaware of what vessel was at sea," he added.

A spokesman for Ukraine's navy told AFP that none of the crew -- all Chinese citizens -- were wounded and that the Chinese-owned vessel continued on its journey.

"The ship was entering for loading. After it was hit at night by a Shahed, the crew coped with the consequences on their own. Fortunately, no one was injured, and the vessel continued on its way to its port of destination," navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said.

The Ukrainian navy named the ship as KSL Deyang.

It posted a photo showing part of the upper deck blackened after the apparent hit.

Zelensky said Russian forces had attacked Ukraine overnight with 524 attack drones and 22 missiles, including ballistic and cruise missiles.

China has regularly called for talks to end the fighting. It has never condemned Russia for sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and presents itself as a neutral party.

Türkiye and the United Nations in 2022 brokered an agreement with Kyiv and Moscow to allow Ukrainian grain exports from the Black Sea, an accord scrapped by the Kremlin around one year later.

World

Russia, Belarus Stage Nuclear Drills

A serviceman takes part in the “Zapad-2025” (West-2025) joint Russian-Belarusian military drills at a training ground near the town of Borisov, east of Belarus's capital Minsk, on September 15, 2025. (AFP)
A serviceman takes part in the “Zapad-2025” (West-2025) joint Russian-Belarusian military drills at a training ground near the town of Borisov, east of Belarus's capital Minsk, on September 15, 2025. (AFP)
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Russia, Belarus Stage Nuclear Drills

A serviceman takes part in the “Zapad-2025” (West-2025) joint Russian-Belarusian military drills at a training ground near the town of Borisov, east of Belarus's capital Minsk, on September 15, 2025. (AFP)
A serviceman takes part in the “Zapad-2025” (West-2025) joint Russian-Belarusian military drills at a training ground near the town of Borisov, east of Belarus's capital Minsk, on September 15, 2025. (AFP)

Russia and Belarus staged nuclear drills on Monday, authorities said, amid a standoff with the NATO military alliance and an impasse with Washington over nuclear arms control. 

Russia deployed Oreshnik, its latest hypersonic, nuclear-capable missile, to Belarus last year, upping the stakes in its rivalry with the Western alliance. 

"During the exercise, it is planned to practice issues related to the delivery of nuclear munitions and preparation of their use in cooperation with the Russian side," the Belarus defense ministry said. 

The scheduled training "is not directed against third countries and does not pose a threat to security in the region," it added in a statement on social media. 

Aviation and missile forces will take part in the drill, the ministry said. 

Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered troops to reinforce the border with Belarus in the north, claiming Moscow was preparing a new offensive from there. 

He said Russia, which used Belarus as a staging post for its invasion in 2022, wanted to drag the former Soviet republic deeper into the war. 

The Kremlin dismissed Zelensky's allegations on Monday, calling them "an attempt at further incitement." 

Facing a series of setbacks in the assault that has dragged on for more than four years, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly invoked nuclear rhetoric as the West stepped up military support for Ukraine. 

Moscow last week tested its nuclear-capable, intercontinental ballistic missile Sarmat, months after the last treaty capping Russian and US nuclear arsenals expired. 

The ending of the New START agreement in February formally released the world's two largest nuclear powers from a raft of restrictions. 

Belarus, a landlocked eastern European country ruled for over 30 years by close Putin ally Alexander Lukashenko, deeply depends on Moscow economically and militarily.