Venezuela’s first shipment of liquefied petroleum gas has left Venezuela bound for the US

(LONDON) — Trilateral talks between American, Ukrainian and Russian negotiators concluded in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, following a first round of meetings on Wednesday that a White House official told ABC News was “productive.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that he received a report from the delegation in Abu Dhabi. Zelenskyy said that Kyiv is expecting a new exchange of prisoners of war with Russia “in the near future.”

U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace envoy, Steve Witkoff, posted to X on Thursday morning with more details of the planned exchange, which he said will involve 314 prisoners. It will be, Witkoff said, the first such exchange for five months.

“This outcome was achieved from peace talks that have been detailed and productive,” Witkoff wrote. “While significant work remains, steps like this demonstrate that sustained diplomatic engagement is delivering tangible results and advancing efforts to end the war in Ukraine.”

Zelenskyy’s office told ABC News that Thursday’s talks had ended by around 4 p.m. local time — 7 a.m. ET.

The Ukrainian delegation included Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, Kyrylo Budanov, formerly the head of Ukrainian military intelligence and now serving as the head of Zelenskyy’s presidential office, and and Andrii Hnatov, the chief of the General Staff.

The Russian team included Kiril Dmitriev, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, and Igor Kostyukov, the head of the GRU military intelligence service.

The U.S. delegation was led by presidential peace envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.

Umerov said in a post to Telegram that Wednesday’s “work was substantive and productive, with a focus on specific steps and practical solutions.”

Dmitriev — who has been a leading figure in Moscow’s direct negotiations with the Trump administration through Witkoff — told reporters after Wednesday’s talks that there “is certainly progress, and good, positive movement forward,” as quoted by Russia’s state-run Tass news agency. 

Dmitriev also criticized what he said were “warmongers from Europe, from Britain,” who he alleged “are constantly trying to hinder this process.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday urged patience when speaking with reporters. “For the first time in a very long time we have technical military teams from both Ukraine and Russia meeting in a forum that we’ll also be involved with,” Rubio said in a video posted to the State Department’s X page.

“Progress is probably not going to be known, even via leaks, until we really have a breakthrough. Our goal is to remain committed,” Rubio added.

Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that Kyiv is focused on a clear and lasting end to the war. “Russia must be ready for this. And partners must also be ready to ensure it in real terms with their real guarantees — security guarantees — and their real pressure on the aggressor,” he said in an evening address.

“It must be felt now — people in Ukraine must feel that the situation is genuinely moving toward peace, toward an end to the war, and not toward a scenario in which the Russians exploit everything to their advantage and continue their strikes,” he added.

“There must be no rewards for the aggressor — if any reward is given to the aggressor, Russia will, over time, break any agreement,” Zelenskyy said.

Both Moscow and Kyiv described the first round of trilateral talks last month as constructive.

Among the key areas of divergence are the fate of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, which Russia has partially occupied and from which Moscow is demanding a full Ukrainian military withdrawal.

Also under discussion is control of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine, which was occupied by Moscow’s forces since March 2022.

So too are post-war Western security guarantees for Ukraine, without which Kyiv says Moscow will be able to launch a new round of aggression in the future.

Meanwhile, both Russia and Ukraine continued to exchange long-range missiles and drone attacks overnight into Thursday morning.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched two missiles and 183 drones into the country overnight, of which 156 drones were shot down or suppressed. The missiles and 22 drones impacted across 16 locations, the air force said.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service (SES) reported drone impacts in several districts of Kyiv. City Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least two people were injured. The SES also said attacks were recorded in the northeastern border city of Sumy and the central Dnipropetrovsk region.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 95 Ukrainian drones overnight.

At least one person was injured in Russia’s southeastern Rostov, local Gov. Yuri Slyusar said in a post to Telegram.

Ukraine’s General Staff said in a statement that its forces struck targets on Russian-controlled territory including a training site in occupied Zaporizhzhia, a logistics hub in occupied Donetsk and an electronic warfare facility in Russia’s western Bryansk region.

Meanwhile, both Ukrainian and Russian military bloggers reported that unauthorized Starlink satellite communications terminals in use by Russian forces had been disrupted or disconnected, following a public appeal by Kyiv to Starlink producer SpaceX and its owner Elon Musk.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said on Telegram that Kyiv has been working with SpaceX to verify Starlink terminals in use by Ukrainian forces, allowing them to remain operational.

Starlink terminals have been widely used by both sides during the ongoing conflict to enhance battlefield connectivity. Ukrainian officials have also accused Russia of using Starlink’s network to guide attack drones in strikes deep inside Ukraine, including on civilian targets.

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The final deceased Israeli hostage in Gaza taken during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack has returned to Israel following a military operation to retrieve the body, Israeli officials said.

Rani Gvili, who served in the Israeli Police Special Forces, died in combat during the Hamas attack on Israel. Hamas took his body into Gaza, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

The IDF located his body in a cemetery in northern Gaza in the area of the so-called yellow line, which marks off Israeli-controlled parts of the territory, during an operation that began Sunday morning, according to an Israeli military official. Through dental identification, the hostage was confirmed to be Gvili, 24, according to the official.

“A short time ago, we returned the late Ran Gvili, a hero of Israel. There are no more hostages in Gaza,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said while addressing the Knesset on Monday. Gvili was known as both Ran and Rani.

Netanyahu congratulated the IDF and the Israel Security Agency on the “perfect execution of this sacred mission.”

Gvili’s sister said the news is bittersweet.

“Wow, I feel an insane sense of relief. I feel relieved. I am sad. I’m very sad that it ended this way, but it had to end at some point. I am so happy he’s coming back home, Rani is on his way, Rani is coming,” Shira Gvili said, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

The Israeli hostage crisis lasted 843 days. Hamas kidnapped 251 people during its surprise attack, with 85 returning in caskets. More than seven weeks have passed since a deceased hostage was retrieved from Gaza; on Dec. 3, the remains of a body were transferred to Israel and later identified as Sudthisak Rinthalak, a Thai agricultural worker. 

Hamas’ return of all the Israelis hostages in Gaza, and Israel’s release of some Palestinian prisoners, was agreed upon in the first phase of the U.S.-brokered Gaza Strip ceasefire deal that began in October 2025. Gvili’s return brings to a close the first phase of the ceasefire. Israel and Hamas will now move into the second, more complicated phase of the Gaza ceasefire.

President Donald Trump celebrated the return of the final hostage in a post on social media, saying, “Most thought of it as an impossible thing to do.”

Hamas said it “exerted significant efforts” in the search for Gvili and provided “necessary information as it became available, which contributed to the recovery of the body.”

Hamas called on Israel to “complete the full implementation of the ceasefire agreement without any reduction or delay, and adhere to all its obligations,” including reopening the Rafah Crossing, a border crossing point between Egypt and Gaza that has been closed since May 2024.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said Sunday it has agreed to reopen the Rafah Crossing, a limited crossing for people, not goods, following the recovery of the final deceased hostage. The US has been pushing for the Rafah to be opened as soon as possible. It’s still unclear how and who will carry out security checks on those crossing into or leaving Gaza. 

Ahead of the recovery of Gvili’s body, the Trump administration said earlier this month that the Gaza peace plan is moving into the next phase, which it said “begins the full demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza.” The thorniest issue is expected to be disarming Hamas. 

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(NEW YORK) — Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were expected to meet Wednesday at the White House with top diplomats from the Kingdom of Denmark and Greenland, its semiautonomous territory, U.S. officials said, as tensions escalate amid President Donald Trump’s threats to “acquire” the island — possibly even by military force.

When asked about his strong personal interest in the world’s largest island, Trump repeatedly cites its rare earth minerals and other natural resources he says are critical to U.S. national security.

“One way or the other, we are going to have Greenland,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday. He told the New York Times last week that his desire to take over the territory is “what I feel is psychologically needed for success.”

At the same time, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen argues Trump using the U.S. military to seize Greenland would mark “the end of NATO” because Denmark, a NATO ally, like the U.S., is obligated to come to the island’s defense, as are other European NATO allies.

The European Union’s defense commissioner, Andrius Kubilius, echoed her grave hypothetical scenario, contending Europe would be forced to confront the U.S. if Greenland’s NATO allies had to protect it from an American takeover attempt.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has downplayed the diplomatic alarms, saying the alliance is “not at all” in crisis and offered assurances it was focused on securing the Arctic from inroads by China and Russia, something Trump has said Greenland, and Denmark, have failed to do.

Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said Wednesday’s meeting was aimed at understanding the U.S. position after weeks of heated rhetoric from Trump and his deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, who has said the U.S. has a “right” to Greenland and has notably declined to rule out military force to secure it.

“Our reason for seeking the meeting we have now been given,” Rasmussen said, “was to move this whole discussion, which has not become less tense since we last met, into a meeting room where we can look each other in the eye and talk about these things.”

But Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, was more direct ahead of the Washington meeting.

“We are now facing a geopolitical crisis,” he said. “If we have to choose between the U.S. and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark, NATO, and the EU.”

On Tuesday, when was asked about the prime minister’s comments, Trump told reporters, “That’s their problem. I disagree with them. I don’t know who he is. Don’t know anything about him, but that’s going to be a big problem for him.”

Danes shocked by US rhetoric toward Greenland
Danish and Greenlandic officials have said consistently that Greenland is not for sale, even as Rubio appeared to try to temper Trump’s strong rhetoric — and defuse congressional opposition to using force — by floating the idea of the U.S. buying the island, saying Trump has talked about doing so since his first term.

A source familiar with the emerging rift said the policy pronouncement came as a shock, and that the U.S. goal to buy the island was never communicated to Copenhagen — which the source said had never received an offer of any kind.

State Department officials under Rubio had never driven a Greenland policy aimed at acquiring it, the source said, and Copenhagen had been satisfied with bilateral relations through most of 2025.

That changed in December, when Trump appointed Louisiana GOP Gov. Jeff Landry to be his special envoy to Greenland, a move designed to steer policy from the White House instead of through the State Department, the source said.

Vance, who traveled to Greenland last March, said last Thursday, “I guess my advice to European leaders and anybody else would be to take the president of the United States seriously.”

Following some of Trump’s comments that he wanted Greenland to be part of the U.S., which came days after he ordered the American military to attack Venezuela, Danish and Greenlandic officials in Washington went to Capitol Hill to voice concerns to lawmakers.

A source familiar with those meetings said there was a tone shift among Republicans, who said they took the president’s threats seriously – not as a laughing matter.

The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee emerged from his meeting with the Danish envoys foreclosing any suggestion the future of Greenland was in dispute.

“I think it has been made clear from our Danish friends and our friends in Greenland that that future does not include a negotiation,” Sen. Roger Wicker said.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of American lawmakers was crossing the Atlantic for meetings in Copenhagen at the end of this week.

Arctic security as a central argument
Trump has said the U.S. would demand sovereignty over the island for its own national security purposes, suggesting China and Russia could pose a threat to America by taking the island themselves.

“Basically, their defense is two dog sleds,” Trump said of Greenland, where the U.S. has a military base and 150 troops stationed. “In the meantime, you have Russian destroyers and submarines and China destroyers and submarines all over the place.”

Danish officials have pointed to new investments there and a willingness to work with NATO and the U.S. on protecting the island. The kingdom announced a $6.5 billion Arctic defense package last year.

Denmark’s top lawmaker overseeing defense said the threat to the island did not come from the east, but instead from the U.S., its NATO ally across the Atlantic.

“It is my job to be on top of security in Greenland and I get all relevant information about it,” Rasmus Jarlov wrote in a post on X. “I can assure you that your fantasies about a big threat from China and Russia against Greenland are delusional. You are the threat,” he wrote of the U.S. “Not them.”

Provocations from China and Russia have been more concentrated near Alaska than Greenland, said Connor McPartland, who noted China has minimal commercial interests on the island and there’s been no uptick in Russian or Chinese naval activity near the island.

McPartland, who was the deputy director of the Pentagon’s Office for Arctic and Global Security until September, said Trump’s attention to Arctic security comes as a needed focus on an overlooked region.

“Caring about the Arctic is not just caring about the Arctic,” he said. “It has ramifications for our global security, not just in this one little sliver of at the top of the world.”

“In my office, we’d like to say that the Arctic is the front door to the homeland, because most of the really existential threats to the United States that we think about [like a] nuclear missile … are going to fly over the pole to get to the continental United States,” said McPartland, who is now an an assistant director with the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Security Initiative.

“It’s the fastest way to get to the United States, from Russia, from North Korea, from Iran, from China.”

A 1951 treaty between the U.S. and Greenland allows the American military, which has downsized its presence to only one base in Greenland, to upscale its footprint as it wants. During the Cold War, the U.S. had 17 military installations there.

“There aren’t really problems to be solved by the United States controlling Greenland,” said McPartland. “We can build infrastructure, we can station troops, we can operate from Greenland almost at will, as long as we recognize the sovereignty of Denmark and Greenland.”

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