Submit your Article

Ukraine resisted U.S. and Russian pressure to commit to attending another round of peace talks on Monday, saying it first needed to see Russian proposals, while a leading U.S. senator warned Moscow it would be "hit hard" by new U.S. sanctions, Reuters reported.

U.S. President Donald Trump has urged Moscow and Kyiv to work together on a deal to end their three-year-old war, and Russia has proposed a second round of face-to-face talks with Ukrainian officials next week in Istanbul.

Kyiv has said it is committed to the search for peace, but that it was waiting for a memorandum from the Russian side setting out their proposals.

"For a meeting to be meaningful, its agenda must be clear, and the negotiations must be properly prepared," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on X on Friday after hosting Turkey's foreign minister for talks in Kyiv, according to Reuters.

"Unfortunately, Russia is doing everything it can to ensure that the next potential meeting brings no results," he said, citing the lack of a document from Russia.

The US has sent Iran a proposal for a nuclear deal between Tehran and Washington, the White House confirmed on Saturday, BBC reported.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he had been presented with "elements of a US deal" by his Omani counterpart Badr Albusaidi during a short visit to the Iranian capital.

It comes after a report by the UN nuclear watchdog said Iran had further stepped up its production of enriched uranium, a key component in the making of nuclear weapons.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Saturday it was in Tehran's "best interest to accept" the deal, adding: "President Trump has made it clear that Iran can never obtain a nuclear bomb," according to BBC.

Hamas responded to a US ceasefire proposal by saying it is prepared to release 10 living Israeli hostages and 18 dead hostages in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners, while requesting some amendments to the plan, BBC reported.

The group repeated its demands for a permanent truce, a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and guarantees for the continuous flow of humanitarian aid. None of these are in the deal on the table.

It was neither an explicit rejection nor a clear acceptance of the US terms, which Washington says Israel has accepted.

Hamas said it had submitted its response to the US draft proposed by Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump's special envoy for the Middle East," according to BBC.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has questioned Russia’s commitment to upcoming peace talks in Istanbul, citing a lack of response to Ukraine’s ceasefire proposals. He warned the meeting could be “fruitless” without clear preparation.

Russia confirmed its attendance but has not shared its terms. Both sides reported fresh explosions ahead of the talks. Russia currently controls about 20 percent of Ukraine, including Crimea, BBC reported.