Latest News
Putin agrees in Trump call to pause Ukraine energy attacks but no full ceasefire
President Vladimir Putin has rejected an immediate and full ceasefire in Ukraine, agreeing only to halt attacks on energy infrastructure, following a call with US President Donald Trump.
The Russian leader declined to sign up to the comprehensive month-long ceasefire that Trump’s team recently worked out with Ukrainians in Saudi Arabia.
He said a comprehensive truce could only work if foreign military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine came to an end. Ukraine’s European allies have previously rejected such conditions.
US talks on Ukraine are due to continue on Sunday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the US envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said.
In the grinding three-year war, Russia has recently been taking back territory in its Kursk region that was occupied by a Ukrainian incursion six months ago.
The results of Tuesday’s Trump-Putin call amount to a retreat in the US position from where it stood a week ago, although the two leaders did agree that further peace talks would take place immediately in the Middle East.
When a US delegation met Ukrainian counterparts in Jeddah last Tuesday, they convinced Kyiv to agree to their proposal for an “immediate” 30-day ceasefire, across land, air and sea.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, who arrived in Helsinki, Finland, for an official visit on Tuesday shortly after Trump and Putin’s call ended, said Ukraine was open to the idea of a truce covering energy infrastructure, but wanted more details first.
He later accused Putin of rejecting a ceasefire following a barrage of Russian drone attacks.
Among the places targeted was a hospital in Sumy, and power supplies in Slovyansk, said Ukraine’s leader. “Unfortunately, there have been hits, specifically on civilian infrastructure,” Zelensky said on X. “Today, Putin effectively rejected the proposal for a full ceasefire.”
Trump posted earlier on social media that his call with the Russian leader was “very good and productive” and that “many elements of a Contract for Peace were discussed”.
“We agreed to an immediate Ceasefire on all Energy and Infrastructure, with an understanding that we will be working quickly to have a Complete Ceasefire and, ultimately, an END to this very horrible War between Russia and Ukraine,” the US president said on Truth Social.
About 80% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has been destroyed by Russian bombs, Zelensky said last September.
Kyiv has in turn conducted drone and missile strikes deep into Russian territory, on oil and gas facilities.
Just hours after Putin agreed to stop attacking energy infrastructure, Russia and Ukraine accused each other of launching air attacks.
Zelensky said that Russia launched more than 40 drones against Ukraine in the hours following the call between Trump and Putin.
Meanwhile, officials in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar said that a Ukrainian drone attack sparked a small fire at an oil depot.
In Belgorod, a Russian region on the border with Ukraine, the governor said the situation “remains difficult”. Moscow said on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces attempted a ground assault on Belgorod but were pushed back.
Following last week’s talks in Jeddah, Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said “the ball” was in Russia’s court, after the Ukrainians accepted Washington’s proposal for a full ceasefire.
But the White House’s statement following the Trump-Putin call on Tuesday made no reference to that agreement with Kyiv.
It instead said the two leaders agreed that “the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire”, followed by negotiations over a “maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace”.
But the Kremlin’s own statement on the call noted what it said were a “series of significant issues” around enforcing any agreement with Kyiv. And it said the end of foreign support and intelligence for Ukraine was a “key condition” for Russia.
Trump and Putin agreed to immediate technical-level talks towards a longer-term settlement, which the Kremlin said must be “complex, stable and long-term in nature”.
But it’s unclear if this means further negotiations between the US and Russia, or bilateral talks between Russia and Ukraine.
The Kremlin also said Trump supported Putin’s idea of holding ice hockey matches between professional US and Russian players.
Russia was frozen out of ice hockey events overseas after the country invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Kyiv will probably see the outcome of Tuesday’s much-anticipated phone call as Putin playing for time, while he adds crippling conditions on any settlement.
Putin has previously insisted Russia should keep control of Ukrainian territory it has seized and has called for Western sanctions to be eased as part of any eventual peace settlement.
The Russian leader has already tasted Trump’s readiness to cut off US support to Ukraine, and is trying to get him to repeat it – while tossing the ball back to Kyiv.
Earlier this month the US temporarily suspended military and intelligence aid to Ukraine after Trump and Zelensky had an altercation in the Oval Office.
Trump and his Vice-President JD Vance dressed down Zelensky in front of the world’s media, accusing him of being ungrateful for American support.
Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday in Berlin with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the limited ceasefire plan was an important first step, but he again called for a complete ceasefire.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer spoke to Zelensky after the Trump-Putin call and “reiterated [the] UK’s unwavering support”, a Downing Street spokeswoman said.
[BBC]
Spain has started evacuating passengers from a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship anchored near Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
Health Minister Mónica García said the operation was “proceeding normally” and that all passengers on board the MS Hondius were still asymptomatic.
They will be divided into groups by nationality and ferried to the coast in small boats. Charter planes will be on the tarmac at the local airport, ready to repatriate them to their home countries.
Fourteen Spanish nationals will be the first to disembark, then those flown out by the Netherlands, including Dutch, Greek and German passengers, and part of the crew.
Other flights are poised to leave after that, including to the UK and US. The last evacuation flight is expected to leave on Monday to Australia.
With a long camera lens, passengers could be seen wandering around on the deck of the ship, or at the windows, all in white medical face masks, as the first evacuation took place.
Several sat socially distanced on the small evacuation boat, filming and taking photos as they approached land, where they were met by officials in white protective suits.
The Hondius pulled into the port of Granadilla before dawn on Sunday, a month after the first passenger died on board.
The sun then rose to reveal it anchored offshore, with military police boats on patrol and a major operation unfolding on land to help more than 100 passengers and crew disembark.
At about 07:00 (06:00 GMT) on Sunday, medical teams went on board to check everyone for signs of the virus.
There have been meticulous preparations to receive the ship, which won’t be permitted to reach shore: a security perimeter of one nautical mile was enforced around it as it approached the island.
Dozens of intensive care specialists are on stand-by at the Candelaria hospital in Tenerife in case anyone from the Hondius becomes seriously ill during the transfer. A strict isolation facility has one bed fully equipped to deal with infectious diseases, complete with testing kit and a ventilator.
“We are absolutely ready,” chief intensive care doctor Mar Martin told me on the unit, where large numbers of protective suits, masks and gloves are already piled up for staff.
“We’ve never seen [hantavirus] before – but it’s a virus, with some complications, just like we manage every day. We are fully trained for that.”
The complex operation to prevent the rare Andes strain of this virus spreading is described by Spain’s health minister as “unprecedented”.
On Saturday, she stressed that the risk of contagion for the general population was low. “We believe that alarmism, misinformation and confusion are contrary to the basic principles of preserving public health.”
Security measures in the port, an industrial facility in the south of Tenerife, increased notably on Saturday. Spain’s military police and disaster response teams have both set up large reception tents and access to the waterfront is restricted.
Spanish nationals leaving the ship will be flown to Madrid, where they face a mandatory quarantine in the Gomez Ulla military hospital. Complete isolation would be gruelling – the virus has an incubation period of up to nine weeks – and it is not clear how long people in Spain or elsewhere will be quarantined.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, now in Tenerife to oversee the disembarking, has praised the authorities for their “solid and effective response” to this outbreak.
It has been linked to a landfill site in the southernmost tip of Argentina, popular with birdwatchers. The virus is carried there by rodents, and it’s rare for it to pass between people, but three cruise passengers have died.
The WHO boss has urged nervous Spaniards to trust those in charge of the evacuation.
“Your concern is legitimate, because of the experience of Covid: that trauma is still in our minds,” he acknowledged. But he added that the risk of wider contagion now was low “because of how the virus works, and because of how the Spanish government has prepared to avoid any problem”.
There was some anger here when people learned the Hondius was being diverted to their island.
On Friday, a group of port workers gathered outside the local parliament in noisy protest, concerned that safety measures were not strong enough.
Then very late last night, all the carefully laid plans were briefly thrown into chaos when the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, said he would refuse to permit the ship into port as the disembarkation could not be done in a day. The central government in Madrid had to intervene.
Clavijo then claimed on TV that a rat carrying the hantavirus might “get off the ship in the middle of the night and endanger the people of the Canary Islands”. The health secretary had to come out and insist that such a scenario was “not a risk”.
In general, people on the island seem reassured that the risk is low.
“The virus is dangerous, of course. But they say you need to have very close contact to get it,” a woman named Jennifer told me, out walking with her child in Tenerife’s capital Santa Cruz.
“If we’re careful, we hope it’s not too serious.”
Not everyone will disembark in Tenerife from the Hondius: some 30 crew members will stay on board to take the cruise ship back to the Netherlands. But for most, there is at last an end in sight to weeks of fear and uncertainty at sea.
Now come the long weeks of quarantine.
[BBC]
The Landslide Early Warning Center of the Building Research Organisation [NBRO| has issued Landslide Early Warnings to the Districts of Badulla and Moneragala valid upto 2130 hrs today [10th May 2026]
Accordingly,
Level I [Yellow] landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Passara in the Badulla district and Badalkumbura and Wellawaya in the Monaragala District.
Spain starts evacuating virus-hit cruise ship in Tenerife
“Sri Lanka must shape the future of AI through policy, ethics, and inclusive governance, not simply adapt to it.” – Prime Minister
Bangladesh announce Women’s T20 World Cup squad, pick only two pacers
Landslide Early Warnings issued to the districts of Badulla and Monaragala
Successful Digital Education depends on strong infrastructure, quality content, and Teacher Training — PM
Navy renders assistance to bring ashore injured fisherman for urgent medical attention
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
Sunday Island 27 December – Headlines
#SundayIsland 17th December – Headlines
Sunday Island – 28th March
Sunday Island Headlines – 21 March
Sunday Island – 21st February – Headlines
-
News3 days agoMIT expert warns of catastrophic consequences of USD 2.5 mn Treasury heist
-
News5 days agoCJ urged to inquire into AKD’s remarks on May 25 court verdict
-
News6 days agoUSD 3.7 bn H’tota refinery: China won’t launch project without bigger local market share
-
Editorial3 days agoClean Sri Lanka and dirty politics
-
Editorial6 days agoDeliver or perish
-
Opinion5 days agoSecurity, perception, and trust: Sri Lanka’s delicate balancing act
-
Editorial2 days agoThe Vijay factor
-
News1 day agoSLPP expresses concern over death of former SriLankan CEO