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.

Read more: The deepening ties that led to the controversial Tates flying to freedom in US

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.

Hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members have been deported by the White House to a supermax prison in El Salvador, even as a US judge blocked the removals.

US District Judge James E Boasberg issued an order on Saturday temporarily blocking the Trump administration deportations, but lawyers told him there were already two planes with immigrants in the air – one headed for El Salvador, the other for Honduras.

Mr Boasberg verbally ordered the planes be turned around, but the directive was not included in his written order.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Sunday: “The administration did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order.

“The order, which had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist TdA (Tren de Aragua gang) aliens had already been removed from US territory.”

In a court filing Sunday, the Department of Justice, which has appealed Mr Boasberg’s decision, said it would not use the Trump proclamation he blocked for further deportations if his decision is not overturned.

President Donald Trump sidestepped a question over whether his administration violated a court order while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday evening.

But he added: “I can tell you this. These were bad people.”

Asked about invoking presidential powers used in times of war, Mr Trump said: “This is a time of war.”

He also described the influx of criminal migrants as “an invasion”.

“Oopsie…Too late,” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who agreed to house about 300 immigrants for a year at a cost of $6m in his country’s prisons, posted on X above an article about Mr Boasberg’s ruling.

The immigrants were deported after Mr Trump’s declaration of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which has been used only three times in US history – during the War of 1812 and the First and Second World Wars.

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Tren de Aragua originated in an infamously lawless prison in the central state of Aragua and accompanied an exodus of millions of Venezuelans, the overwhelming majority of whom were seeking better living conditions after their nation’s economy came undone during the past decade.

The Trump administration has not identified the immigrants deported, provided any evidence they are in fact members of Tren de Aragua or that they committed any crimes in the US.

It also sent two top members of the Salvadoran MS-13 gang to El Salvador who had been arrested in the US.

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Video released by El Salvador’s government showed the shackled men – who had their heads shaved – being transported to prison in a large convoy of buses guarded by police and military vehicles and at least one helicopter.

The immigrants were taken to the notorious CECOT facility.

The bar on deportations stands for up to 14 days and the immigrants will remain in federal custody during that time.

Mr Boasberg has scheduled a hearing Friday to hear additional arguments in the case.