Ukraine and Russia agree to prisoner swap as Putin announces ceasefire April 19, 2025 Russia and Ukraine said on Saturday they had swapped hundreds of prisoners in the largest exchange since the Russian full-scale invasion started over three years ago. Russia’s ministry of defence said that 246 Russian service members were returned from territory controlled by Kyiv and that, “as a gesture of goodwill”, 31 wounded Ukrainian prisoners of [...]
Russia says it has taken another village from Ukrainian forces in Kursk region April 19, 2025 Kremlin forces have pushed Ukrainian troops from one of their last remaining footholds in Russia’s Kursk region, officials said. Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces took control of the village of Oleshnya, on the border with Ukraine. The “Units of the North military group have liberated the village of Oleshnya in the Kursk region during [...]
Trump says US may ‘take a pass’ from Ukraine talks if they prove too difficult April 19, 2025 Donald Trump has said the US could “take a pass” on Ukraine peace talks if they become too difficult but added he thought there was a “good chance” of succeeding. Sir Keir Starmer discussed Ukraine with the US president in a phone call on Friday, Downing Street said, but did not give further details. Trump’s [...]
Early action, better odds: Why UK businesses must act before it’s too late April 14, 2025 UK businesses are struggling through the rapid economic changes. So when the breaking point comes, the earlier they act, the better chance they have
US envoy suggests Ukraine can be partitioned April 12, 2025 Ukraine could be partitioned like Berlin after the Second World War, Donald Trump’s envoy to Kyiv has suggested as Russia continues to hold out on accepting a truce. General Keith Kellogg appeared to suggest the country could be split into zones of control, with British and French troops as part of a “reassurance force” in [...]
Healey warns against ‘forgetting about the war’ at Ukraine summit April 10, 2025 Allies of Ukraine should guard against “jeopardising the peace by forgetting about the war” amid plans for a peacekeeping force from 30 ‘coalition of the willing’ nations, John Healey has said. Proposals for that peacekeeping force in Ukraine are “real and substantial”, the defence secretary said, at the start of a further meeting of the [...]
How to make Britain great again April 10, 2025 Rejoin the customs union, poach American academics and unashamedly champion democracy – here’s how Lewis Liu would respond to Trump’s trade war… Fortunes are made in the rise and fall of empires, and it is in this particular moment – as we sadly see the great American empire shaken – that a once-in-a-century opportunity emerges [...]
Aboard the real Orient Express train from Europe to the East April 9, 2025 It has always irked me that trains billed as the Orient Express, like the Venice-Simplon-Orient-Express, only go as far as Istanbul. Why evoke the romance of the Orient only to end the journey at the edge of Europe? It’s a disappointment, but more gallingly for anyone passionate about long-distance train travel, it’s also a missed [...]
A decade of departures: Moscow only city with worse millionaire exodus than London April 9, 2025 If Knight Frank’s inaugural Global Cities survey was anything to go by, London had the world at its feet in 2013. Respondents to the property giant’s annual poll of global wealth advisers declared the UK capital—not Singapore, Geneva, or any of America’s embarrassment of global cities—the ‘most important city in the world’ to their ultra-high-net-worth [...]
Oil prices plummet as Saudis lead supply drive April 4, 2025 Oil prices are falling to their lowest close since 2021 as eight countries including Saudi Arabia and Russia surprised market leaders by announcing an increase to production. The shock decision by the OPEC+ alliance, delivered via a video conference on Thursday, came less than 24 hours after President Trump’s Liberation Day tariff announcements intensified global [...]