Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy states that he has spoken with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
“We just had a very detailed conversation lasting an hour and a half,” he wrote on X on Wednesday evening.
This news comes ahead of planned talks between Russia and Ukraine—at the official level—taking place next week. The discussions, which are set to be held in Abu Dhabi, will be mediated by the United States.
North Korea has once again launched cruise missiles as part of testing its new air defense system, state media reported on Thursday (local time), according to AFP.
Neighboring South Korea stated just hours earlier that it had detected several missiles launched from North Korea toward the Sea of Japan.
The country has conducted similar weapons tests in recent weeks, including tests involving attack drones and hypersonic missiles.
Saudi Arabia has reached out to the Houthi movement in Yemen to ask what it would take to end the escalating war, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The answer: the equivalent of approximately 500 billion Swedish kronor.
The Houthi authorities in Yemen justified their demand—$51 billion—as reasonable war reparations following many years of Saudi military action and a blockade, the newspaper writes, citing several anonymous sources.
Furthermore, one of the demands is reportedly that Saudi Arabia recognize the Houthis as the legitimate government of Yemen.
Saudi Arabia entered the civil war in Yemen more than a decade ago, supporting a weak, internationally recognized government against the Shia Islamist, Iranian-backed Houthi movement.
Amid an ongoing escalation, Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities and airports have been subjected to regular attacks. The Houthis also exert control over maritime traffic passing through the Red Sea.
Two oil tankers and a tugboat have reportedly been set on fire in the Strait of Hormuz.
One of the tankers struck a naval mine while attempting to traverse the “illegal southern passage through the Strait of Hormuz,” reports the Iranian state-affiliated news agency Fars, citing the Revolutionary Guard.
In the second incident, a supertanker was reportedly “engulfed in a major fire.”
“A tugboat that approached the supertanker to extinguish the blaze also caught fire,” the Revolutionary Guard stated. The force further claimed to have seized two American drones through the use of “electronic warfare.”
Since the outbreak of the Iran conflict in late February, maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has been severely restricted. The Iranian navy has blocked the strait and attacked vessels, while the United States has, in turn, imposed a naval blockade targeting Iranian ports.
