However, Russian officials, who over the weekend held their own talks with the U.S. team in the Sunshine State, continued to downplay any sense of progress and Moscow still shows little sign of yielding from the maximalist war demands that Ukraine surrender territory, reduce its army and never join NATO.

Russia plans to put a nuclear power plant on the moon in the next decade to supply its lunar space programme and a joint Russian-Chinese research station as major powers rush to explore the earth's only natural satellite.

Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine reportedly proceed "constructively" in Florida even as deadly missile strike hits Odesa, killing eight people.

Apart from disagreements about peace efforts in Ukraine, Witkoff has been at loggerheads with Rubio and State Department officials about the way he handles security.

Ukrainian forces say they have hit an oil terminal, a pipeline, two parked jet fighters, and two ships in a series of strikes on Russian soil.

Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev told reporters that this weekend’s ongoing peace talks in Florida have been constructive, amid the Trump administration’s latest push to strike a deal to end the war

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an address on Wednesday that Russia is preparing "the coming year as a year of war," despite ongoing peace talks.

For countries like Poland, having eyes on and under the Baltic is a pressing matter of national security. The sea teems with telecoms and energy infrastructure. A natural-gas pipeline, the Balticconnector,