Ukraine talks begin in Paris after top Trump officials fly in - as Hollywood actor sends 'big kiss' to Putin

Russia's foreign ministry says Germany would be directly participating in the war in Ukraine if Kyiv uses Taurus missiles to hit critical Russian infrastructure.

Friedrich Merz, the incoming German chancellor, has proposed providing Kyiv with its Taurus missiles, something his predecessor Olaf Scholz refused to do, fearing it could drag Berlin into direct war with Moscow.

Taurus is a powerful cruise missile system that can strike targets deep inside Russian territory, making it a potential game changer for Ukrainian forces if it could use them.

The UK and France already provide Ukraine with their own long-range missile support in the form of UK Storm Shadows and French Scalps.

Russia might be incentivised to end its war in Ukraine in return for future economic agreements with the US, the White House says.

However, press secretary Karoline Leavitt stressed yesterday that such deals would only come after a ceasefire in Ukraine and no sooner.

She said US envoy Steve Witkoff, who met with Vladimir Putin for the third time last week, has already made this explicitly clear to the Russian leader.

"There is an incentive for Russia to end this war and perhaps that could be economic partnerships with the US," she said. "But we need to see a ceasefire first and the president and the presidential envoy made that very clear to the Russians."

Leavitt did not specify any potential economic agreements, saying she did not want to get ahead of the official negotiations.

The previous day, Witkoff told Fox News that he saw the possibility of "reshaping" the Russian-US relationship through some "very compelling commercial opportunities".

This could provide "real stability to the region", he added.

Russia has once again accused Ukraine of violating a US-brokered pause on energy infrastructure strikes.

In March, a Washington-brokered agreement saw both Ukraine and Russia commit to not targeting oil fields, power stations and other key energy infrastructure on both sides of their shared border. 

State media Interfax quotes the Russian foreign ministry as saying Ukraine has carried out 10 attacks on such targets over the last 24 hours.

Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also claimed Ukraine has violated the 30-day moratorium 80 times since it came into effect.

For context: Both Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of violating the pause since it was agreed in March. 

Yesterday, Ukraine's foreign ministry spokesperson told a news briefing that Russia attacked energy facilities in Kherson and Mykolaiv in the south and Poltava in the centre of the country over the past 24 hours alone.

Earlier this morning, Ukraine's largest private energy producer DTEK said a Russian attack had damaged its energy infrastructure in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

French President Emmanuel Macron has just met US secretary of state Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff in Paris.

The group are set for talks this afternoon on Ukraine following earlier discussions involving officials from Kyiv and across Europe (see 12.03pm post).

Ahead of the talks, Macron spoke on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

By Ivor Bennett, Moscow correspondent

Jean-Claude Van Damme has told Vladimir Putin that he wants to come to Russia as an "ambassador of peace".

In a bizarre video posted on Telegram by a pro-Russian journalist from Ukraine, the Hollywood action hero, 64, said he would be "honoured" to take on such a role.

Addressing the Kremlin leader directly, he said: "We want to come to Russia. We'll try to do this the way you want to do this - to be an ambassador of peace."

It wouldn't be the first time the man nicknamed "The Muscles from Brussels" has visited Russia.

In 2010, he enjoyed ringside seats alongside Vladimir Putin at a mixed martial arts event in Sochi.

The Belgian-born former bodybuilder shares a love of fighting with the Russian president, who is himself a judo black belt, and they are said to have known each other for years.

Tiptoeing around the topic of Russia's war in Ukraine and its ongoing stand-off with the West, Van Damme promised to talk "only about peace, sport and happiness" and not politics, before signing off the video with a "big kiss for Putin".

Most celebrities have turned their back on Vladimir Putin since he launched his invasion in February 2022 but a handful continue to defend him. Of those, American actor Steven Seagal is the most high profile.

The Under Siege star, who holds a Russian passport and is a frequent visitor to the country, acts as Moscow's special representative for Russian-US humanitarian ties.

But when we caught up with him at Putin's latest presidential inauguration last year, he refused to say why he supports the Kremlin leader...

We've just had an update from today's meeting of US, Ukraine and European officials in Paris.

Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine's foreign minister, says talks focused on several issues important to Kyiv, including a path to a "fair and lasting" peace.

Security guarantees to be implemented in the country after any potential ceasefire deal were also discussed, he added.

These maps show the latest territorial situation, indicating how much ground is held by Russian and Ukrainian forces.

The first map shows a wide view of the conflict, and from left to right you can see closer views of the fronts in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Luhansk and of the Russian region of Kursk.

The Kremlin says today's meeting between the US, Ukrainian and European officials in Paris is a chance for Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump's special envoy, to inform them of the "current status" of peace talks.

The talks come a week after Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg for a "long conversation".

"The United States is continuing to work in this direction with the Europeans and with the Ukrainians," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

He repeated long-standing accusations that European powers are trying to continue the war.

By Adams Parsons, Europe correspondent

Emmanuel Macron will welcome his American guests to Paris but, behind the scenes, the talks about Ukraine could be tetchy.

The French president, like many across Europe, believes Team Trump went far too far in opening talks with Russia and has achieved little in return. 

In fact, there is a feeling that Vladimir Putin may now feel emboldened by the idea that Ukraine has agreed to a ceasefire while he is continuing attacks without any apparent reprisals.

That's why Macron, along with Sir Keir Starmer, kicked off the so-called "coalition of the willing" as an attempt to wrestle back some of the initiative. 

Macron will want to see signs of progress and also an assurance that, despite Steve Witkoff's remarkably fond words about Vladimir Putin, the Americans still see Russia as the problem - not Ukraine. 

Remarkably, we are at a point where the French president's main question might well be - whose side is America actually on?

We didn't see him on the tarmac alongside Marco Rubio earlier (see 9.05am post), but US special envoy Steve Witkoff is indeed in Paris for talks with European officials.

We've just seen him sitting opposite Emmanuel Macron's diplomatic adviser, Emmanuel Bonne, as well as several other officials.

A little earlier and just a stone's throw away on the steps of the Elysee Palace, more European officials posed for a picture.

Bonne appeared alongside Ukraine's presidential chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, foreign minister Andrii Sybiha and defence minister Rustem Umerov.

Jonathan Powell, the UK national security adviser, and his German counterpart Jens Plotner were also in attendance.