Russia said Wednesday attempts to resolve security issues relating to Ukraine without Moscow's participation were a "road to nowhere," and that much diplomatic work needs to be done before Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy are ever in the same room.

Ukrainian officials say more than 19,000 children have been unlawfully deported to Russia or occupied areas, with reports suggesting the number could be far higher.

Major questions remain over what both sides might accept after Trump held successive talks with Putin and Zelensky.

The second Oval Office meeting in six months between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went off smoothly, in sharp contrast to their disastrous encounter in February.

After a pair of historic summits, President Trump continues to push for a path to the end of the war in Ukraine. NBC News White House Correspondent Monica Alba, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel and former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul discuss the next phase of talks.

Russia has occupied a fifth of Ukrainian territory - and a big map showing the area shaded in red was put up in the Oval Office as if to emphasise that point for President Donald Trump's talks with Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday.

Russia’s illegal seizure of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 was quick and bloodless, and it sent Moscow’s relations with the West into a downward spiral unseen since the Cold War.

Ukraine’s Donbas region, consisting of Donetsk and Luhansk, is at the heart of Moscow’s goals. An industrial powerhouse in the Soviet era, it also has rich farmland, important rivers and a coastline on the Sea of Azov.

Kyiv’s allies urge Trump to deploy fighter jets to Romania as security guarantee - Russian foreign minister suggests China should join in ensuring Ukraine’s security guarantees, Russian news agency sa