Key points
- Peace won't come as fast as Trump wants, Kremlin tells Sky News
- Trump thinks Putin wants to stop war but repeats recent attacks angered him
- Nearly 5,000 North Koreans casualties in war, Seoul says
- Russia 'preparing something' in Belarus, Zelenskyy warns
- Explained: Why Crimea is so important to Russia and Ukraine
- Tap hereto listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim wherever you get your podcasts
- Live reporting by Ollie Cooper
Could Putin be planning a northern offensive from Belarus?
For the past hour,security and defence Michael Clarkehas been answering your questions on the Ukraine war.
His first question was...
Zelenskyy has said Russia is preparing something in Belarus - what could this be?
hopethingswillgetbettersoon
For context, it comes after Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested Russia was "preparing something" in Belarus this summer.
"This summer Russia is preparing something there, under cover of military exercises," the Ukrainian leader told a summit in Poland yesterday, without giving details.
"This is how its new attacks usually start," Zelenskyy added.
Russia and Belarus will hold joint military exercises in Belarus in the coming months.
Clarke says"it may be a northern offensive which the Russians are thinking about".
However, he's keen to point out that he thinks it's highly unlikely that Belarusian troops would enter the fray themselves.
"The argument is that the Russians have got 65-70,000 troops there - but they normally have quite a lot of troops there," he says.
"It is now the campaign season, the weather is favourable to an attack from there - it's plausible," he says, but adds he doesn't personally see something big coming from there based on the material he's seen.
However, he reminds us that the last major joint exercises between Belarus and Russia, known as Zapad-2021, were held six months before Russia invaded in Ukraine in 2022.
Vladimir Putin was there to watch proceedings at the Mulino training ground in the Russian region of Nizhny Novgorod...
Clarke says: "The Russians, working on Belarusian territory, will certainly bring troops to an exercise. But whether they will become assault troops is still not clear - it's plausible, but it's not the most likely thing to happen at the moment."
He also says that while the Russians have learned a tremendous amount from the war in Ukraine, Clarke says: "To my mind, they still can't put together an aggressive combined arms operation of the type needed for a very strong offensive - it's just not the way they do things."
Read Clarke's answers to all of today's questions here.
Minerals deal could be signed today - reports
A US-Ukraine minerals deal could be signed as soon as today, Bloomberg and the Financial Times report.
The exact terms of the deal remain unclear, with the deal hitting several stumbling blocks - including a now infamous bust-up between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump at the White House - which have delayed it.
The report is unconfirmed, and we've seen suggestions a signing is imminent on several occasions before.
Join live Ukraine war Q&A with Michael Clarke
Security and defence analyst Michael Clarke is back answering your Ukraine war questions live.
Watch and follow the Q&A here:
Hit Russia with sanctions 'that will actually work', Zelenskyy tells allies
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged allies to hit Moscow with additional sanctions "that will actually work".
"Russian drones continue flying in the skies over Ukraine all morning. And so it goes every day," the Ukrainian leader said, sharing images of destruction across his country.
"That is why pressure on Russia is needed – strong additional sanctions that will actually work.
"It must be pressure, not just words or attempts at persuasion, that forces Russia to cease fire and end the war. Pressure from the United States, from Europe, from everyone in the world who believes there is no place for war on this planet."
He also repeated calls for more air defence systems.
Ukraine war Q&A: Could Trump walk away?
Later today, security and defence analyst Professor Michael Clarke will be answering your questions on the war in Ukraine.
Submit yours in the box at the top of the page.
Below is last week's Q&A, where Clarke discussed how and why Vladimir Putin is looking to "keep Trump on the hook", as well as looking at the real state of the Russian army following three years of war.
Watch it below, and join here at 1pm for this week's...
Ukrainians prepare to detonate Russian bomb
These images show Ukrainian servicemen preparing to detonate a 500kg Russian bomb that landed on the Black Sea coast.
Russia has targeted infrastructure along the coast in a bid to hurt Ukrainian grain exports, after a UN-brokered deal to allow commercial shipping to use the Black Sea collapsed a year into the war.
Ukraine strikes Russian weapons factory
A Ukrainian intelligence source has told the Reuters news agency that Kyiv has struck a Russian weapons factory.
The official said the strike was on the Murom Instrument-Building Plant, 300 km (186 miles) east of Moscow.
According to a European Union sanctions designation, the facility produces components for military ammunition.
Is Trump just winging his foreign policy?
By Yalda Hakim, lead world news presenter
So, after 100 days of Donald Trump the big question for me remains - does the US president have a coherent foreign policy or is he just winging it?
Let's take his attitude to the war inUkraine- here "inconsistent" is perhaps the best description.
Back in February, he andvice president JD Vancehumiliated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyyby shouting at him in the Oval Office.
A few days later, I spoke toZelenskyyin person when he confided to me that maybe he would have to step down if NATO could guarantee Ukraine membership - a man who perhaps sensed he could never win against a hostile Trump.
Yet, fast-forward to last weekend in Rome, and an iconic picture of the two men in close conversation at the Pope's funeral.
This time round, it is Russian President Vladimir Putin on the receiving end of the presidential anger, blaming him for the fact that "too many people are dying!"
To Trump's supporters, this is the smart negotiator, constantly repositioning himself as new information comes in, prior to pulling off a spectacular deal.
To his many detractors, it indicates a dangerous incoherence that is replicated in other key areas, including tariffs as well as his relationship with his allies in Europe and his foes in Beijing.
Read Yalda's full piece here.
Russia building road bridge to North Korea
Russia and North Korea have started building a road bridge that will connect the two countries that will span the Tumen river - the latest in a series of measures to bring the two countries closer together.
The bridge is being built near the existing "Friendship Bridge", a rail bridge which was commissioned in 1959 after the Korean war.
"The significance goes far beyond just an engineering task," Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin was quoted as saying by state media.
"It symbolises our common desire to strengthen friendly, good-neighbourly relations and increase inter-regional cooperation."
The new road bridge will be 850 metres long and link up with the Russian road system, with reports suggesting it will be finished by this time next year.
As we reported earlier, some 600 North Korean troops have been killed fighting for Russia against Ukraine (see 6.52 post).
Kremlin: It is our duty to win victory in Ukraine
More now from Moscow.
The Kremlin says it is Russia's duty to achieve victory in the war against Ukraine.
"What we are doing - the special military operation, all of Putin's decisions - are absolutely correct," spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"And it is our duty to be victorious," he added.
