Russian President Vladimir Putin told US envoy Steve Witkoff that Russia is ready to hold talks with Ukraine “without preconditions”, the Kremlin said on Saturday.

“During yesterday’s talks with Trump’s envoy Witkoff, Vladimir Putin reiterated that Russia is ready to resume negotiations with Ukraine without any preconditions,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, who also added that Putin has repeated the same several times.

This comes in the midst of US President Donald Trump’s talks with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in Rome, at the funeral of Pope Francis. 

In a post on Truth Social after his talks with Zelensky, Trump also said maybe Putin “has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?'”

He posted on his social media platform he said, “…there was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days. It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through “Banking” or “Secondary Sanctions?” Too many people are dying!!!”

Trump, who promised on the campaign trail to strike a deal between Moscow and Kyiv in 24 hours, has in three months failed to wrangle concessions from Russian President Vladimir Putin to halt his invasion.

The Republican had said over the weekend he hoped a peace deal could be struck “this week” despite no signs the two sides are anywhere close to agreeing even a ceasefire, let alone a wider long-term settlement.

Moscow’s forces occupy around a fifth of Ukrainian territory and tens of thousands have been killed since they invaded in February 2022.

The official programme of the ceremonies for Pope Francis:

9:00 am IST

St Peter’s Square opens.

1:00 pm IST

US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania arrive in St Peter’s Square.

1:30 pm IST

The funeral mass begins. It will be presided over by Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals.

Pope Francis’s wooden and zinc coffin, sealed on Friday evening, will be placed in front of the basilica before a temporary raised altar. To its left, facing St Peter’s, will sit the red-robed cardinals. To the right, official delegations from around the world, seated in alphabetical order.

The ceremony should last about 90 minutes, with 224 cardinals and 750 priests and bishops in attendance.

3:00 pm IST

The coffin leaves for Santa Maria Maggiore, the Rome basilica where Pope Francis will be buried.

4:30 pm IST

The coffin arrives at Santa Maria Maggiore, where it will be welcomed by a group of the “poor and needy”.

The burial, presided over by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who as camerlengo is running the Vatican’s day-to-day affairs until a new pope is elected, will take place in private.

Virginia Giuffre, who accused disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein and Britain’s Prince Andrew of sexual abuse, has taken her own life at her home in Australia, her family said Saturday. Giuffre, a US and Australian citizen, was 41.

“It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia,” the family said in a statement provided to AFP by her agent.

“She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking.”

She had accused Epstein of using her as a sex slave, and said she had sex with Prince Andrew when she was 17 — a minor under US law — after meeting him through the American billionaire.

In 2019, Epstein took his own life in a New York City jail cell, while awaiting his own trial for sex crimes.

Prince Andrew repeatedly denied her allegation of sexual assault and avoided trial by paying a multimillion-dollar settlement. As part of the deal, he reportedly gave money to a charity for sex-trafficking victims.

“There are no words that can express the grave loss we feel today with the passing of our sweet Virginia,” Giuffre’s family said, remembering her “incredible courage and loving spirit”.

“In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight. We know that she is with the angels.”

Giuffre left three children, Christian, Noah, and Emily, who were “the light of her life”, her family said.

Last month, she was hospitalised after a car she was in crashed with a school bus in a rural area north of the Western Australian capital Perth.

Giuffre initially posted a picture to social media from her hospital bed of her bruised face, saying she only had four days to live.

Her agent later said Giuffre had not realised the post had been published to the public.

Western Australia police said at the time it was a “minor crash” between a school bus carrying 29 children and another vehicle.

Giuffre’s lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, said Giuffre had been a “dear friend” and a champion for other victims.

“Her courage pushed me to fight harder, and her strength was awe-inspiring.”

New York-based agent Dini von Mueffling described her client as “one of the most extraordinary human beings”.

“Deeply loving, wise, and funny, she was a beacon to other survivors and victims,” she said.

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