Venezuela has accused Donald Trump of a “colonial threat” after he said the airspace “above and surrounding” the country should be considered closed “in its entirety”.

Mr Trump made the declaration amid growing tensions with President Maduro – and as the US continues attacking boats it claims are carrying drugs from Venezuela.

He wrote on Truth Social: “To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.”

Venezuela’s foreign affairs office called it a “colonial threat” and “illegal, and unjustified aggression”.

It accused the president of threatening “the sovereignty of the national airspace… and the full sovereignty of the Venezuelan state”.

President Trump’s words were part of a “permanent policy of aggression against our country” that breached international law and the UN Charter, it added.

The Pentagon and the White House have so far not given any additional detail on the president’s statement.

Mr Trump’s post comes after the American aviation regulator last week warned of a “potentially hazardous situation” over Venezuela due to a “worsening security situation”.

The South American nation revoked operating rights for six major airlines that went on to suspend flights to the country.

Mr Trump warned a few days ago that land operations against suspected Venezuelan drug traffickers would begin “very soon”.

Such a move would be a major escalation in Operation Southern Spear – the US naval deployment in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific that’s so far attacked at least 21 vessels.

Venezuela has said the attacks, which have killed more than 80 people, amount to murder.

The US has released videos of boats being targeted, but hasn’t provided evidence – such as photos of their cargo – to support the smuggling claims.

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The Pentagon has sought to justify the strikes by labelling the drug gangs as “foreign terrorist organisations” – putting them on par with the likes of al Qaeda.

It claims the boats targeted are carrying drugs bound for the US, although Sky’s chief correspondent says the final destination is likely to be Europe and West Africa.

President Maduro has denied Mr Trump’s claims he is involved in the drugs trade himself and said his counterpart wants to oust him so he can install a more sympathetic government.

Venezuelan officials have also claimed Mr Trump’s true motivation is access to the country’s plentiful oil reserves.

Mr Maduro is widely considered a dictator who’s cheated elections and has been president since 2013.

Ukraine’s representatives are preparing for renewed peace talks in the US, while dramatic footage has shown Russian tankers being hit by naval drones.

President Zelenskyy said a delegation headed by national security chief Rustem Umerov was on its way to “swiftly and substantively work out the steps needed to end the war”.

They are due to be greeted by US secretary of state Marco Rubio, Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, and the US president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, a senior US official told Reuters news agency.

After the US-Ukraine talks, an American delegation is expected to travel to Moscow to meet President Putin.

It comes after Mr Trump released a 28-point proposal last week that would hand swathes of land to Russia and limit the size of Kyiv’s military.

It was widely seen as heavily favouring Russia and led Mr Zelenskyy to swiftly engage with American negotiators.

President Trump said on Tuesday his plan had been “fine-tuned”.

In his evening address on Saturday, the Ukrainian leader said: “The American side is demonstrating a constructive approach, and in the coming days it is feasible to flesh out the steps to determine how to bring the war to a dignified end.”

Mr Zelenskyy’s team in the US is without his former chief of staff and lead negotiator, Andrii Yermak, as he quit on Friday after officials raided his home amid a corruption scandal.

Tankers hit by ‘Sea Baby’ drones

Ukrainian drones were shown hitting two of Russia‘s so-called “shadow fleet” oil tankers in the Black Sea in footage released on Saturday.

Friday’s attack was carried out by the country’s security service and its navy, an official told Reuters. They said both ships “sustained critical damage” that took them out of service.

A security source told Associated Press that domestically-made “Sea Baby” drones were used.

The tankers were under sanctions and heading to a Russian port to load up with oil destined for foreign markets, the official said.

They have been identified as the Kairos and Virat.

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The 274m-long Kairos suffered an explosion and caught fire en route from Egypt to Russia on Friday, Turkey’s transport ministry said. The crew was evacuated.

The Virat was reportedly struck about 35 nautical miles offshore.

It was attacked by unmanned vessels and sustained minor damage to its starboard side, the Turkish ministry said.

Russia deploys a fleet of often ageing, uninsured and unmarked tankers to circumvent sanctions on its oil exports, which continue to help pay for the Ukraine war.

Another Ukrainian attack halted operations at an oil terminal near the Russian port of Novorossiysk on Saturday.

Andriy Kovalenko, from Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, said special forces were responsible.

“Naval drones managed to destroy one of the three oil tanker berths of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium in the Novorossiysk area,” he wrote on Telegram.

Six killed in aerial attacks on Ukraine

Russia carried out another onslaught on the Ukrainian capital overnight into Saturday, firing 36 cruise and ballistic missiles and launching around 600 drones.

Officials said three people were killed in and around Kyiv, two in the Dnipropetrovsk region and one in a midday attack in Kherson region in the south.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 29 others were injured in Kyiv, largely due to falling debris from intercepted drones hitting buildings.

The attacks also hit Ukrainian energy facilities and left hundreds of thousands without power in the capital. Supplies have since been restored.

Targeting such infrastructure has become a familiar tactic from Russia over the winter, in what Ukraine officials say is the “weaponising” of the cold.

Grief was not lonely today in Hong Kong. Three days after the worst fire in the history of modern Hong Kong, it feels as though it has barely sunk in.

The weekend at least lent them time to pay tribute, and gave them some space to reflect.

People came in droves to lay flowers, so many a queuing system was needed.

Official books of condolences were also set up in multiple parts of the city.

It was the first day large teams of investigators were able to enter the site. Dozens of them in hazmat suits were bused in, their work the grimmest of tasks.

Every so often you could see a flashlight peep through the window of an upper blackened window, a reminder that the fire services are still undertaking dangerous work.

But the reach of the authorities is ramping up here.

Yesterday a grass roots aid distribution centre was the vibrant heart of the response.

They received notice at 4am that they needed to pack up and move on. By 10.30am, the mountains of donations were gone, residents watched on, bewildered.

The task apparently will be handed over to professional NGOs.

“I think the government’s biggest concern is due to some past incidents,” one organiser tells us. “They may liken this to previous events. The essence looks similar.”

She’s careful with her words, but she’s clearly hinting at major pro-democracy protests that were crushed by authorities in 2019.

Any sort of mass gathering is now seen as a risk, the system is still very nervous.

And they might well be because people here are angry.

What, they ask, did the government know? What did it choose to ignore?

Indeed, Sky News has learnt that residents raised their fears over fire safety connected to extensive renovations on Wang Fuk Court as early as September 2024.

They flagged the suspected flammability of green nets being used to cover the building.

An email response from the Labour Department was sent a few months later to Jason Poon, a civil engineer-turned-activist, who was working with residents. It insists that “the mesh’s flame retardant properties meet safety standards”.

But many clearly didn’t believe it. Posts spanning many months on a residents’ Facebook group continued to voice their fears.

When a much smaller fire broke out in the city last month, one resident posted: “All the materials outside are flammable, I feel really worried.”

“I feel that same way” another replied. “The government has no sense of concern.”

For Poon, who dedicates much of his time to fighting lax safety standards in Hong Kong’s construction industry, the whole experience has been devastating.

“They knew all the maintenance was using corner-cutting materials, but they didn’t do anything,” he says.

“This is a man-made disaster.”

We put these allegations to Hong Kong’s Labour Department but they have not yet responded to our request for comment.

Grief may still be the prominent force here, but anger is not that far behind.