MOSCOW, April 30. /TASS/. Russia and the US see possible common ground on Ukraine following Putin - Trump phone call; the US is shifting its Middle East strategy from direct strikes on Iran to a blockade-based approach; and global demand for gold reached a 13-year high in Q1 2026. These stories topped Thursday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.
Russia is ready to declare a ceasefire on the occasion of Victory Day celebrations, President Vladimir Putin said during a telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump, who supported the initiative. The US president noted that his representatives would continue contacts with Moscow and Kiev and that a settlement deal is already close. However, Ukraine is not showing a willingness to pursue peace and is instead intensifying strikes on civilian targets, Rodion Miroshnik, Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry on crimes of the Kiev regime, told Izvestia.
Ukraine is not showing readiness for peace and is instead increasing strikes on civilian targets, Miroshnik said. "We see that on the eve of the May holidays there is a fairly serious escalation across a number of areas, specifically in terms of the increased number of strikes on civilian targets: attacks on administrative buildings and passenger transport. The number of people affected by deliberate terrorist actions on the part of Kiev is increasing," the diplomat noted.
