Uncertainty surrounds the Istanbul peace talks as Putin withdraws and Trump remains undecided, while Zelenskyy maintains he will attend only if he can meet directly with Putin, not lower-level officials.

June 15, 2024: Representatives of 92 nations meet in Nidwalden, Switzerland, to discuss Ukraine’s peace plan. Despite the growing number of delegates, a consensus remains elusive. The summit’s final statement is backed by most – although not all – participants.

The talks in Istanbul complicated a European push for the U.S. to pressure Russia an into a ceasefire in Ukraine, even as questions persist on who is attending.

Uncertainty swirled around what could be the first direct peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv in years after the Kremlin held off disclosing who would represent Russia, and Ukraine demanded clarity before deciding on its own actions.

The war in Ukraine could escalate into a direct confrontation between the U.S. and Russia, according to the Pentagon. General Gregory Guillot, the head of the U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) issued the warning to the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee.

The EU claims to be involved in peace efforts despite not sitting at the negotiating table and threatens further sanctions if the Kremlin does not accede to demands for a ceasefire

A court in Moscow has convicted one of the leaders of a prominent independent election monitoring group on charges of organizing the work of an "undesirable" organization and sentenced him to five years in prison.

The Russian economy is in an increasingly precarious state as a result of a shift to a war mode and of Western sanctions over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, a report by the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) said on Tuesday.