DREW ANGERER, GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/ GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / POOL/ AFP
Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to a proposal by US President Donald Trump that Russia and Ukraine cease attacking each other's energy infrastructure for 30 days, the Kremlin said following a lengthy phone discussion between the leaders.
The two countries plan to begin negotiations "immediately" in the Middle East on a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, according to a readout from the White House.
"The leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace," the White House readout said.
Trump had been pressuring Putin to agree to a US-backed 30-day ceasefire that Ukraine has already accepted as part of a move toward a permanent peace deal to end Europe's biggest conflict since World War Two.
The war has killed or wounded hundreds of thousands of people, displaced millions and reduced entire towns to rubble.
Putin, whose forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022, said last week he supported in principle Washington's proposal for a truce but that his forces would fight on until several crucial conditions were worked out.
There is no evidence indicating that the two suspects involved in the Bondi Beach attack received any form of military training while in the Philippines, the country's National Security Adviser said on Wednesday.
At least 12 people were killed and three others abducted when gunmen attacked a mining site in Atoso village in Nigeria's restive Plateau state, a local group leader said on Wednesday.
Russia launched a "massive" drone attack on Ukraine's central Cherkasy region, injuring six people and triggering a blackout in part of Cherkasy city, the local governor said on Thursday.
The United Nations and aid groups have warned on Wednesday that humanitarian operations in the Palestinian territories, particularly Gaza, were at risk of collapse if Israel does not lift impediments that include a "vague, arbitrary, and highly politicised" registration process.