Losing the territory strips Ukraine of one of its few solid bargaining chips in possible peace negotiations

• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates

Under constant attack from drones attached to fibre optic cables, the soldiers scrambled in groups of two or three along hidden tracks or through fields, often walking miles on foot to get back into Ukrainian territory.

The Ukrainian retreat from the Kursk region, carried out in stages over the past two weeks, appears to mark the end of one of the most audacious and surprising operations of the conflict, and strips Ukraine of one of its few solid bargaining chips in possible peace negotiations with Russia.

Donald Trump has shown that he can get Ukraine to back a deal, but what about Russia? Patrick Wintour and Pjotr Sauer report

After weeks of diplomatic tension, on Tuesday the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, announced that Ukraine had signed up to a 30-day ceasefire agreement. As the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour , explains to Michael Safi , this deal would cover the whole of Ukraine and by accepting it, Ukraine will again receive military aid and intelligence sharing from the US. However, issues such as borders, elections and Ukrainian membership of Nato or the EU are not a part of this deal and will need to be finalised at a later stage.

Having followed Russian negotiations during the Syrian civil war, Wintour describes the Russians as ‘masters at delay’ and on Thursday night at a press conference in Moscow, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, made it clear that while he supported the US attempt at a deal he could not sign up to it as is.

US president also repeats refuted Putin claim that Ukrainian troops in Kursk are surrounded by Russian army

• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates

Donald Trump has said the US had “very good and productive discussions” with Vladimir Putin and that “thousands of Ukrainian troops” were surrounded by the Russian army, a claim refuted by the Ukrainian military and independent analysts.

In a post on Truth Social on Friday, Trump added that there was a “very good chance” the war between Russia and Ukraine could “finally come to an end”.

Chancellor-in-waiting put forward proposal to relax debt brake and backing of Greens is tantamount to getting deal through

Germany’s conservative chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz , has said he has secured the support of the Green party for his radical plan to increase spending on defence and infrastructure after marathon talks that went through the night, paving the way for its approval in parliament.

“Germany is back,” Merz said in Berlin on Friday. “Germany is making its large contribution to the defence of freedom and peace in Europe.”

Debates about the ‘triple lock’ that underpins our neutrality miss the point. In a Trumpian world, Ireland must finally commit to its own security

The arrival of Trump 2.0 in the White House has disrupted the foreign and defence policies of all states and shattered existing paradigms of world order. Political leaders across the globe are having to assess how they respond to this more unpredictable and precarious world. For Ireland, the task is all the more difficult because the country’s core geopolitical anchors – the US and EU – are under stress.

Donald Trump’s Maga policy challenges Ireland’s political economy, which relies on extensive US investment. Although cordial, taoiseach Micheál Martin’s recent meeting with Trump in the Oval Office provided the US president with the opportunity to level the charge that Ireland “took” the US’s pharmaceutical companies , and that the US now wants them back. Moreover, Ireland is not insulated from the tensions surrounding the emerging trade war between the US and the EU. At the same Oval Office meeting, the taoiseach had to sit and listen to a tirade against Europe, in which Trump claimed the EU was “set up in order to take advantage of the United States”.

Ukraine president accuses Russian president of pretending to accept proposal before rejecting it later

The Kremlin said there were “reasons to be cautiously optimistic” in discussion on ceasefire, but “there is still much to be done," in further discussions between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

Speaking after last night’s visit of US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “when Mr Witkoff brings all the information to President Trump, we will determine the timing of a conversation (between Trump and Putin).”

Insiders say UK national security adviser avoids limelight, but it found the ‘calm operator’ this week

In the topsy-turvy world in which Keir Starmer and his aides operate, the US putting the onus on Russia to agree to a truce with Ukraine marked a significant victory.

The proposed 30-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine is the culmination of two weeks of high-wire negotiations involving Ukraine, the US, UK, France and Germany.

Satellite technology may help with the daunting task of monitoring violations along vast frontline

Ending a war is seldom straightforward. Even agreeing to a ceasefire comes with complications. Though Ukraine signed up to a 30-day ceasefire proposal after discussions with the US in Jeddah this week, the joint statement between the two does not begin to explain how a halt in fighting might be enforced.

“Monitoring has to begin immediately,” says John Foreman, a former British defence attache to Moscow and Kyiv. “If there’s meant to be a 30-day ceasefire, the big question is whether it is adhered to.” Given Russia has a record of violating ceasefires and peace agreements, a robust process is critical.