A woman has been jailed for life in New Zealand for murdering her two children, whose bodies were found in suitcases in an abandoned storage unit more than three years ago.

Hakyung Lee, born in South Korea, was convicted in September after admitting using anti-depressant medication to kill her children, aged six and eight, in 2018.

Their bodies were discovered in the storage unit when its new owners were sorting through its contents after buying it in an online auction in August 2022.

Lee – a New Zealand citizen – had money troubles and stopped paying rent on the Auckland storage unit.

The 45-year-old was extradited to New Zealand in late 2022, after fleeing to South Korea shortly after the murders and changing her name.

Her lawyers claimed the killings happened after she “descended into madness” following the death of her husband in 2017, and on Wednesday, argued that a life sentence would be unjust given her mental health issues.

But prosecutors said there was no evidence Lee was suicidal at the time of the killings, according to the New Zealand Herald.

Judge Geoffrey Venning rejected calls for a lesser penalty, but he did approve compulsory treatment at a secure psychiatric facility on the condition that Lee would return to prison once deemed mentally fit, the newspaper reported.

The judge told Lee: “You knew your actions were morally wrong… perhaps you could not bear to have your children around you as a constant reminder of your previous happy life.”

Lee was sentenced to life imprisonment and must serve a minimum non-parole period of 17 years.

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Detective Inspector Tofilau Faamanuia Va’aelua said: “Yuna and Minu would have been 16 and 13 today.

“Our thoughts are with the wider family today for the tragic loss of these two young children.”

Jimmy Sei Wook Jo, the children’s uncle, was in court, where a lawyer read a statement on his behalf.

“I never imagined such a profound tragedy would ever befall our family,” the statement said, according to local news outlets.

“I feel like I failed to look after my niece and nephew.”

Donald Trump has claimed Russia is “making concessions” in talks to end the Ukraine war – and that Kyiv is “happy” with how talks are progressing.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One as he flew out to his Florida estate for Thanksgiving, Mr Trump said “we’re making progress” on a deal and said he would be willing to meet with both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy once they are close to an agreement.

He also said his previously announced deadline of Thursday, which is Thanksgiving, was no longer in place – and that the White House’s initial 28-point peace plan, which sparked such concern in Kyiv, “was just a map”.

Asked if Ukraine had been asked to hand over too much territory, Mr Trump suggested that “over the next couple of months [that] might be gotten by Russia anyway”.

Moscow’s concessions are a promise to stop fighting, “and they don’t take any more land”, he said.

“The deadline for me is when it’s over,” he added. “And I think everybody’s tired of fighting at this moment.”

Read more: A plan with Russian fingerprints all over it

Before boarding the plane, Mr Trump claimed only a few “points of disagreement” remain between the two sides.

Mr Trump’s negotiator Steve Witkoff will be meeting with Mr Putin in Moscow next week, the president said, while American army secretary Daniel Driscoll is due to travel to Kyiv for talks this week.

The chief of Ukraine’s presidential staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote: “Ukraine has never been and will never be an obstacle to peace. We are grateful to the US for all its support.

“The meeting between the presidents will be thoroughly and promptly prepared on our part.”

Zelenskyy warns against ‘behind our back’ deal

Yesterday, a virtual “coalition of the willing” meeting that featured Ukraine’s allies took place, which was attended by US secretary of state Marco Rubio.

In a speech, Mr Zelenskyy told attendees: “We firmly believe security decisions about Ukraine must include Ukraine, security decisions about Europe must include Europe.

“Because when something is decided behind the back of a country or its people, there is always a high risk it simply won’t work.”

A joint statement from coalition leaders Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, and Friedrich Merz said they had agreed with Mr Rubio “to accelerate joint work” with the US on the planning of security guarantees for Ukraine.

But a Ukrainian diplomat has warned major sticking points remain in the peace deal being thrashed out – primarily the prospect of territorial concessions.

A warning from the Kremlin

Meanwhile, Moscow has stressed that it will not allow any agreement to stray too far from its own objectives.

Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov warned any amended peace plan must reflect the understanding reached between Mr Trump and Mr Putin over the summer.

“If the spirit and letter of Anchorage is erased in terms of the key understandings we have established then, of course, it will be a fundamentally different situation,” he said, referring to the two leaders’ meeting in Alaska.

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As negotiations continue, so have Russian attacks, with Kyiv hit by a barrage of missiles and hundreds of drones early yesterday morning.

Seven people were killed with power and heating systems disrupted, as residents sheltered underground.

Meanwhile, three people died and homes were damaged after Ukraine launched an attack on southern Russia.

‘A critical juncture’

French President Emmanuel Macron has said peace efforts are gathering momentum, but “are clearly at a critical juncture”.

And during the annual White House turkey pardon ahead of Thanksgiving, Mr Trump told reporters: “I think we’re getting close to a deal. We’ll find out.

“I thought that would have been an easier one, but I think we’re making progress.”

In this story, there’s no substitute for hard news.

To learn of US envoy Steve Witkoff and his Russian interactions is to understand the handbrake turn towards Moscow.

If there was much surprise and confusion about the origins of a peace proposal that had Russian fingerprints all over it, there is less now.

The Bloomberg report of Witkoff’s recent involvement distills eye-watering detail of his contact with Yuri Ushakov, Vladimir Putin’s senior adviser on foreign policy.

Among the revelations, it tells of the American advising the Russian on dealing with Trump.

In a phone call last month, Witkoff told Ushakov that Zelenskyy was coming to visit the White House, and suggested Putin speak to Trump beforehand.

Witkoff reportedly said: “The president will give me a lot of space and discretion to get to the deal.”

He spoke of Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan and suggested that “maybe we do the same thing with you”.

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A good impression of a useful idiot

Subsequently, Witkoff drafted the controversial peace proposal with his Russian counterparts, and the US pressured Ukraine to accept it.

The report paints an unflattering picture of Trump’s envoy doing a good impression of a useful idiot.

There must be serious questions surrounding his engagement with the Russians and serious concerns around consequences that are potentially catastrophic.

Moscow’s threat to Ukraine and to the security infrastructure of Western Europe is strengthened on his handshake.

He’ll press the flesh in Russia once more – Donald Trump is sending Witkoff back to Moscow for further talks aimed at bridging the Ukraine-Russia impasse.

Scandal isn’t what it used to be

Putin has given the Americans little to no encouragement around their reworked plan and Kyiv will shudder at what Trump’s “Mr Fixit” might fix next.

They will despair of his continued involvement at any level and what it says about Trump’s perspective and where his loyalties lie.

In any other job, Witkoff might have been sacked for being irredeemably compromised.

At any other time, this would have been viewed, universally, as a major scandal.

But under Donald Trump, scandal isn’t what it used to be.

The president and his point man continue to consort with Vladimir Putin.

On the evidence of Steve Witkoff’s interaction, the power dynamic leans less Trump than we might have thought.