Donald Trump will speak to Vladimir Putin by phone later today – with the White House saying “we’ve never been closer to a peace deal” in Ukraine.

In a post on Truth Social, the US president said he would be speaking to his Russian counterpart on Tuesday morning – adding: “Many elements of a Final Agreement have been agreed to, but much remains.

“Thousands of young soldiers, and others, are being killed. Each week brings 2,500 soldier deaths, from both sides, and it must end NOW.”

While aboard Air Force One, Mr Trump had told reporters that land and power plants were part of the conversation on bringing the war to a close.

After crunch talks in Saudi Arabia between US and Ukrainian diplomats, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last week that Kyiv would accept a 30-day pause in fighting if Russia committed to it as well.

Since then, Mr Putin has said he agrees fighting in Ukraine should end – but warned “lots of questions” remain over the proposed ceasefire.

He has also met US envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss the details of the proposal.

It comes as Ukraine’s air defence units said they shot down 90 of 174 drones launched by Russia in an overnight attack on Monday.

Russia has been attacking the Odesa region with drones and missiles on a daily basis for three weeks, the air force said – adding that 70 other drones were disrupted in the attack.

Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper added a civilian was injured during the strikes, which damaged a kindergarten, a house, a shop and a car.

Biden children’s security detail revoked

In other developments, Mr Trump said on Truth Social that he is “immediately” revoking Secret Service protection that was being given to Joe Biden’s children.

He claimed 18 agents were assigned to Hunter Biden’s protective detail while in South Africa this week – and added Ashley Biden had 13 agents assigned to her detail who “will be taken off the list”.

Mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor has met Donald Trump in the Oval Office after complaining about Ireland’s “illegal immigration racket”.

The 36-year-old told Mr Trump that his work ethic was “inspiring”, with the two men sharing jovial comments about the fighter’s suit and a map featuring the Gulf of Mexico labelled as the Gulf of America.

In comments made in the White House briefing room before the meeting during the St. Patrick’s Day visit, he said he was visiting the White House to “raise the issues the people of Ireland face”.

“What is going on in Ireland is a travesty,” he said. “Our government is the government of zero action with zero accountability.”

McGregor warned “Ireland is at the cusp of potentially losing its Irishness” due to the “illegal immigration racket”.

“Ireland and America, we are siblings. We consider America our big sibling. So it’s important for Ireland to be a peaceful, prosperous country for 40 million Irish Americans to have a place to visit, [to] come back to their home.

“So we wish for our relationship with the United States to continue, and we wish to be taken care of by the big bro. The United States should look after its little bro. And that’s how we feel,” McGregor said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who appeared alongside McGregor in the briefing room, said: “We couldn’t think of a better guest to have with us on St. Patrick’s Day.”

At a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin last week, Mr Trump said McGregor was his favourite Irish person partly because “he’s got the best tattoos I’ve ever seen”.

But Mr Martin and deputy prime minister Simon Harris have been critical of today’s Trump-McGregor meeting.

In a post on X, Mr Martin said: “McGregor’s remarks are wrong, and do not reflect the spirit of St Patrick’s Day, or the views of the people of Ireland.”

Meanwhile, Mr Harris said that McGregor was not in the US to represent Ireland and did not speak for the people of Ireland, and “has no mandate to”.

In exclusive comments made to Sky News’ David Blevins about Mr Martin’s comments, McGregor said: “Shame on him for saying that, speaking down on an Irish man.”

He added: “Every metric available to us has shown that the government of Ireland has failed the people of Ireland.”

Mr Trump is well known for his support of Ultimate Fighting Championship, which McGregor is best known for competing in, and attended bouts during the 2024 presidential campaign.

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McGregor is a controversial figure in Ireland after a woman who accused him of raping her won her civil case and was awarded more than £200,000 in damages.

Tesco was among the retailers that stopped selling alcohol brands linked to McGregor after Nikita Hand was awarded €248,603 (£206,000) after a jury found McGregor assaulted her in a hotel in 2018.

McGregor is appealing against the outcome of the civil case.

McGregor also pleaded guilty to assaulting a man in a Dublin pub in 2019 and has been subject to several other allegations of assault and sexual assault.

His social media posts were also linked to the 2023 Dublin riots. Irish police were reportedly investigating McGregor’s posts for alleged incitement to hatred in relation to the riots.

McGregor, nicknamed the Notorious, rose to worldwide prominence for winning several UFC championships.

Two astronauts stuck in space for more than nine months have left the International Space Station on their 17-hour journey back to Earth.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams blasted off to the ISS on 5 June, and were meant to be up there for just eight days.

They were testing out Boeing’s long-awaited Starliner, a ship designed to rival SpaceX’s Crew Dragon that is currently used to ferry astronauts into space.

Read more: What can being in space for so long do to your health?

But by the time they docked at the ISS, the Starliner had suffered major problems – with five helium leaks, five dead manoeuvring thrusters and a propellant valve that failed to close completely.

It returned to Earth without them, after it was decided the astronauts would be safer waiting in orbit.

Since then, the two US Navy veterans have completed spacewalks, experiments and even helped sort out the plumbing onboard.

The astronauts have repeatedly said they have enjoyed the mission, with Ms Williams describing the space station as her “happy place”.

“Every day is interesting because we’re up in space and it’s a lot of fun,” she said earlier this month, although she added the waiting was likely hard for family members on the ground.

The SpaceX vehicle that will take them home arrived at the space station in September, carrying NASA’s Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, along with two empty seats.

Mr Wilmore and Ms Williams then stuck around so that the other two astronauts could complete their mission, although their return was once more delayed because of problems with the SpaceX rocket that was going to bring them back.

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The crew replacing them all arrived at the ISS on Sunday, with hugs shared all around.

A ship’s bell, long used to welcome new crewmates to the space station, was rung as NASA’s Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, JAXA’s Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos’s Kirill Peskov came aboard.

The long-awaited crew is expected to splashdown off the coast of Florida at around 10pm GMT on Tuesday, after a 17-hour trip.

The group was planning to come back on Wednesday but “favourable” weather conditions meant their return could be brought forward by one day.