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Russia complicating end to war, says Zelensky ahead of Trump meeting
Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Russia’s refusal to agree to a ceasefire is complicating efforts to end the war.
“We see that Russia rebuffs numerous calls for a ceasefire and has not yet determined when it will stop the killing. This complicates the situation,” the Ukrainian president said in a statement on X.
On Monday, Zelensky will travel to Washington DC, where US President Donald Trump has said he will urge the Ukrainian leader to agree to a peace deal.
Trump said he wants to bypass a ceasefire in Ukraine and move directly to a permanent peace agreement after his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In a major shift in position, the US president wrote on Truth Social following Friday’s summit that this would be “the best way to end the horrific war”, as ceasefires often “do not hold up”.
Following a phone call with Trump after the summit, Zelensky called for a real, lasting peace, while adding that “the fire must cease” and killings stop.
He later outlined Ukraine’s requirements for “a truly sustainable and reliable peace”, including a “credible security guarantee” and the return of children he says were “abducted from occupied territories” by Moscow.
Trump had said before the summit on Friday that he wanted a ceasefire “rapidly”, having threatened Russia with economic sanctions if one was not agreed.
Ukraine’s main demand has been a quick ceasefire before talks on a longer-term settlement, with Trump reportedly telling European leaders beforehand that his goal for the summit was to obtain a ceasefire deal.
Putin reportedly presented Trump with a peace offer that would require Ukraine withdrawing from the Donetsk region of the Donbas, in return for Russia freezing the front lines in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
Russia claims the Donbas as Russian territory, controlling most of Luhansk and about 70% of Donetsk. It also illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014, eight years before launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Trump, who has previously said any peace deal would involve “some swapping of territories”, is said to have relayed the offer to Zelensky in their call following the summit.
Just days ago, Ukraine’s president ruled out ceding control of the Donbas – composed of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions – saying it could be used as a springboard for future Russian attacks.
The BBC’s US partner CBS has reported, citing diplomatic sources, that European officials were concerned Trump may try to pressure Zelensky into agreeing to terms that may have been discussed at Friday’s summit when they meet on Monday.
CBS quotes sources as saying that Trump had told European leaders that Putin would make “some concessions”, but failed to specify what they were.
In an interview with Fox News following the US-Russia summit in Alaska, Trump was asked what advice he had for the Ukrainian leader, to which he replied: “Make a deal.”
He added: “Russia’s a very big power and they’re not.”
Trump had previously threatened “very severe consequences” if Putin did not agree to end the war, last month setting a deadline for Moscow to reach a ceasefire or face tough new sanctions, including secondary tariffs on its allies.
But the two left Friday’s talks with no agreement reach, despite both insisting progress had been made.
On Saturday, Putin described the summit as “very useful” and said he had been able “set out our position” to Trump.
“We had the opportunity, which we did, to talk about the genesis, about the causes of this crisis,” the Russian president said. “It is the elimination of these root causes that should be the basis for settlement.”
A senior Russian diplomat later told BBC Newshour that the summit had been “a very important building block for further efforts” to end the war.
Russia’s first deputy permanent representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, said that everybody who wanted peace “should be satisfied by the outcome”. He wouldn’t say if Putin should now meet Zelensky.
European leaders have reacted with caution to the outcome of the Trump-Putin meeting, seeking not to criticise the change of direction despite their long-held support for a ceasefire.
However, Trump notably said the US was prepared to provide security guarantees for Ukraine – a key request of Zelensky’s and the “coalition of the willing”, a group of nations, including the UK, France and Germany, that have pledged to protect peace in Ukraine once it is achieved.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called this “significant progress”.
The group will hold a call on Sunday afternoon before Zelensky visits the White House on Monday.
European leaders – including Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen – said “the next step must now be further talks including President Zelensky”.
“It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory,” they said, adding: “International borders must not be changed by force.”
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer praised Trump’s efforts to end the war, saying they had “brought us closer than ever before”, but said the “path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without” Zelensky.
In Kyiv, Ukrainians have described feeling “crushed” by the scenes from Alaska.
“I understand that for negotiations you shake hands, you can’t just slap Putin in the face when he arrives,” Serhii Orlyk, a 50-year-old veteran from Donetsk, said.
“But this spectacle with the red carpet and the kneeling soldiers – it’s terrible, it makes no sense.”
Monday’s White House meeting will be Zelensky’s first since he was hectored by Trump and his Vice President JD Vance in February.
They appeared to reconcile in April, in what the White House described as a ‘very productive’ 15-minute meeting on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral.
[BBC]
Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan and Harris Rauf are among more than 950 players to have registered for the Hundred’s inaugural auctions next month, as the ECB faces scrutiny over whether new Indian investors will effect an IPL-style ‘shadow ban’ on Pakistani players.
No active Pakistan international has featured in the IPL since the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, and only a handful of players have appeared for foreign franchises run by IPL ownership groups since their global expansion.
Richard Gould, the ECB’s chief executive, insisted last year that the involvement of Pakistani players in the Hundred would be unaffected by the league’s privatisation, with four franchises now part-owned or fully run by IPL ownership groups.
But the BBC reported on Thursday that no IPL-owned Hundred teams will bid for Pakistani players at the auctions next month, citing messages from a “senior official” at the ECB to an agent. The ECB say that they have not been shown the messages in question and pushed back against the story, but Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, urged the board to address the issue more proactively.
“The ECB need to act fast on this,” Vaughan wrote on X. “They own the league and this should not be allowed to happen .. the most inclusive sport in the country is not one that allows this to happen.”
ESPNcricinfo has learned that more than 50 Pakistani players – including Afridi, Shadab, Rauf, Saim Ayub and Usman Tariq – have registered for next month’s draft, which will be held in Piccadilly, London on March 11 (women’s) and 12 (men’s).
Babar Azam and Mohamed Rizwan are notable absentees from the longlist of nominated players, though in any case their availability would be significantly limited by Pakistan’s scheduled Test series against West Indies in August. Pakistan’s limited-overs teams are not due to play in the Hundred’s window from July 21 to August 16.
Mustafizur Rahman the Bangladesh seamer whose contract with Kolkata Knight Riders was cancelled last month at the BCCI’s request, has also registered for the Hundred auction.
Only nine Pakistani players have featured in the first five seasons of the Hundred, with teams often reluctant to sign them on account of clashes with international fixtures and a handful of high-profile, late-notice withdrawals, including Afridi and Naseem Shah in 2024.
Four IPL franchises are now involved in the Hundred as part-owners or full owners: Mumbai Indians (MI London), Lucknow Super Giants (Manchester Super Giants), Sunrisers Hyderabad (Sunrisers Leeds) and Delhi Capitals (Southern Brave).
Teams run by Capitals co-owners and Southern Brave owners GMR Group have previously signed Pakistani players, including Imad Wasim, Zaman Khan (both Seattle Orcas) and Shan Masood (Hampshire). The other three franchises have not previously signed active Pakistan internationals for any of their teams.
Geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan escalated last year, and the recent group-stage match between the two teams at the T20 World Cup was nearly cancelled after the Pakistani government threatened to boycott the fixture.
An ECB spokesperson said: “The Hundred welcomes men’s and women’s players from all over the world and we would expect the eight teams to reflect that.
“Almost 1,000 cricketers from 18 nations have registered for The Hundred auction, with representation on the longlist of over 50 players respectively from Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan and West Indies.”
Franchises without IPL investors may see a potential ‘shadow ban’ as an opportunity to sign Pakistani players at next month’s auctions. The American-owned Desert Vipers picked four Pakistanis in the side that won the ILT20 final earlier this year and were the only team in the tournament to select Pakistani players.
James Thomas, Birmingham Phoenix’s performance director, told ESPNcricinfo that the franchise will be “really open” to signing overseas players regardless of nationality.
“Birmingham is a hugely diverse city,” Thomas said. “You’ve got to pick players for what they can bring in terms of performance but when you look at the bigger picture… We want our teams to be representative of the city and the region as well. If we align, and we get players who speak to the different demographics of the city, that’s brilliant.”
The longlist of players for the Hundred auctions includes several high-profile England players such as Jonny Bairstow, Adil Rashid, Joe Root (men’s) and Tammy Beaumont, Dani Gibson, Linsey Smith (women’s), though Ben Stokesis a notable absentee as he tapers his workload outside of his commitments as Test captain.
Sophie Devine, Beth Mooney and Deepti Sharma are among the overseas players available in the women’s auction, while Trent Boult, Aiden Markram and Sunil Narine have registered for the men’s. Most of Australia’s men’s Test players have not registered due to a clash with their home series against Bangladesh in August.
The auctions – which will be live-streamed, though not broadcast live – will both start with a marquee set of ‘hero’ players based on nominations submitted by the eight franchises. Each team has already made up to four pre auction signings, with new investment in the Hundred prompting a “reset” among the squads.
Salary caps in the Hundred have risen sharply for 2026 to £2.05 million (men’s) and £880,000 (women’s). Each team will also be permitted to field four overseas players per match, an increase from three in previous seasons.
[Cricinfo]
US President Donald Trump says he will direct US agencies, including the defence department, to “begin the process of identifying and releasing” government files on aliens and extraterrestrial life.
Trump made the declaration in a post on Truth Social, after he accused Barack Obama earlier in the day of revealing classified information when the former president said “aliens are real” on a podcast last week.
“He’s not supposed to be doing that,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, adding: “He made a big mistake.”
Asked if he also thinks aliens are real, Trump answered: “Well, I don’t know if they’re real or not.”
Former US President Obama told podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen that he thinks aliens are real in an interview released last Saturday.
“They’re real, but I haven’t seen them, and they’re not being kept in Area 51,” Obama said.
“There’s no underground facility unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States.”
After the comment made headlines, Obama sought to clarify he thinks it’s statistically likely life exists beyond Earth, given the vastness of the universe.
In a follow-up post on Instagram, Obama, who served as US president between 2009-17, clarified: “I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!”
Obama’s initial comments were made during a quickfire “lightning” round of questions on the podcast.
There was no indication that Obama relied on classified information when he gave the interview. The BBC has contacted Obama for comment. The Democrat and Trump, a Republican, are longstanding mutual political antagonists.
For his part, Trump said on Thursday on Air Force One that while a lot of people believe in the existence of aliens, he never talks about it, and “doesn’t have an opinion on it”.
Then a few hours later, he posted on Truth Social that “based on the tremendous interest shown” he will seek the release of files “related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters”.
In a 2024 report, the Pentagon said there was no evidence that the US government had encountered alien life, and that most UFO sightings were just ordinary objects.
In 2023, the US House of Representatives held a panel on unidentified anomalous phenomenon (UAPs), known more colloquially as UFOs.
The hearing produced no major bombshells or confirmation of alien life.
[BBC]
Oman have suffered three heavy defeats to Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, and Ireland at the 2026 T20 World Cup, and had been thumped by Australia the only other time these two teams met, at the 2024 edition. But captain Jatinder Singh says his team sees their final match of this tournament as an opportunity to surprise a wounded Australia team.
Australia have nothing to gain from the match against Oman in Pallekele on Friday, aside from preserving some pride. Perhaps the gloom around the Australia camp will give Oman an opening. In fact it might be “the best time to crush them”.
“One hundred percent this is an opportunity,” Jatinder said. “And our boys are looking forward to it. Because T20 is a game of momentum and the moments, and if you play those moments right, you can do anything on that particular day. Australia is not doing well at the moment… it is the best time to crush them.
“The boys are really positive. They are looking forward to the match against Australia to make their mark.”
On how to make Oman more competitive in the long term, Jatinder believed franchise cricket opportunities for Oman players could be one route. Oman did not have a heavy cricket schedule in 2025, playing only 15 T20Is that year in addition to eight ODIs.
“Well if I have to sum up how Oman can improve, it would be if we have the franchise cricket happening in the country or our guys get a chance to play franchise cricket elsewhere,” Jatinder said. “I think we can fill that gap and they can bring vast amount of experience for our national team.
“But if we don’t get to play competitive cricket, whereas other teams are getting to play the competitive cricket, we will need to fill that gap. There have been instances where we’ve been inviting the teams to come and play in Oman. The response has been really delayed, or we don’t get any response. So I think if we have the franchise cricket, that would really fill the gap.”
[Cricinfo]
Development activities in schools within plantation areas should be carried out in coordination with District Coordinating Committees – PM
Asos co-founder dies after Thailand apartment block fall
BCB central contracts: Taskin, Mushfiqur demoted; no player in A+ category
ECB push back at Pakistan ‘shadow-ban’ reports ahead of Hundred auction
Mystery donor gives Japanese city $3.6m in gold bars to fix water system
Trump directs US government to prepare release of files on aliens and UFOs
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