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(LONDON) — A fire at an electrical substation near London’s Heathrow Airport has closed one of the world’s busiest airports.

Heathrow Airport said the fire at the substation, which supplies power to the airport, has caused a “significant power outage” and the airport is expected to be closed until 11:59 p.m. local time on Friday night.

In total, 70 firefighters and 10 fire trucks responded to the blaze in west London when the London Fire Brigade brigade was first called at 11:23 p.m. local time. The fire was out more than seven hours later at 06:28 a.m. Friday morning.

“This was a very visible and significant incident, and our firefighters worked tirelessly in challenging conditions to bring the fire under control as swiftly as possible,” Assistant Commissioner Pat Goulbourne said. “Thanks to their efforts and coordinated multi-agency response, we successfully contained the fire and prevented further spread. “We will maintain a presence at the scene throughout the day, assisting the National Grid as they assess the site.”

Firefighters safely evacuated 29 people from neighboring properties and, as a precaution, a 200-meter cordon was established with around 150 people evacuated.

“Due to the significant smoke, we strongly advise local residents to keep their windows and doors closed, as some smoke will remain for a number of hours today. Scientific advisors will also be on-site this morning to conduct further assessments and monitor the air quality,” Goulbourne continued. “Our Control Officers handled more than 200 emergency calls, providing guidance and reassurance to the public. As the morning progresses, disruption is expected to continue, and we urge people to avoid the area whenever possible.”

British Airways, which has a hub at Heathrow Airport, said it is advising travelers not to go to the airport and that they are working to notify passengers of their travel options for the next 24 hours and beyond as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, inbound flights to Heathrow are being redirected to other U.K. airports, officials said.

“Due to a power outage in the London Heathrow area, London Heathrow Airport is currently closed,” British Airways said. “As a result, customers due to travel from Heathrow on Friday are advised not to travel to the airport until further notice. This will clearly have a significant impact on our operation and our customers and we’re working as quickly as possible to update them on their travel options for the next 24 hours and beyond.”

The fire has caused a power outage affecting a large numbers of homes and businesses and led to some evacuations, the fire brigade said. Firefighters led 29 people to safety from neighboring properties and, as a precaution, established a cordon around the area and evacuated about 150 people.

“This is a highly visible and significant incident, and our firefighters are working tirelessly in challenging conditions to bring the fire under control as swiftly as possible,” Pat Goulbourne, assistant commissioner of the London Fire Brigade, said in a statement shortly before 2 a.m. local time.

The cause of the fire is not yet known, the fire brigade said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(TORONTO) — The right main landing gear collapsed on impact when a Delta flight landed at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport last month, with the wing hitting the runway and fuel spray causing a massive fire, according to a preliminary report from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

There was no final cause of the crash in the report released Thursday, but the investigation found that the right main landing gear broke and collapsed on impact as the plane landed at a high descent rate.

The first officer, who was in her fifth straight day of flying, was at the controls of the plane, according to the report. She had 1,422 hours of flying total, which is below the Federal Aviation Administration minimum to be a commercial pilot.

She was able to fly commercially with a special exception from the FAA because she had a specific aviation degree and received a waiver, the report said.

All 80 people on board survived while 21 passengers were injured — two seriously, the report said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(PITTSBURGH) — Joshua Riibe, the 22-year-old Minnesota college student who was with University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki the night she went missing on a spring break trip to the Dominican Republic, will receive his passport back on Thursday, a source in the prosecutor’s office told ABC News.

Riibe — who is considered a witness and not a suspect in Konanki’s disappearance — had his passport and cellphone taken away as he was being interviewed over the last several days.

Earlier Wednesday, Riibe’s legal team confirmed to ABC News they were trying to get a new U.S. passport for Riibe from the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic so he could leave the country.

“The U.S. Embassy is in communication with Mr. Riibe, his family, and his lawyer and is providing all appropriate consular assistance,” the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic told ABC News.

A Dominican judge ruled during a habeus corpus hearing Tuesday that Riibe is free to move without police surveillance around the Dominican Republic, because he is only a witness of an accident, not a suspect. But the judge did not give Riibe his passport back, because he said it was not in his jurisdiction to hand over the passport. The judge did not specify whose jurisdiction it is to give the passport back.

“I can’t go anywhere. And I really want to be able to go home, talk to my family, give them hugs, tell them I miss them,” Riibe said in court on Tuesday. “I understand I’m here to help, but it’s been 10 days and I can’t leave.”

If the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic issues Riibe a new passport, he will be able to use it to leave the country.

Riibe said in court on Tuesday that he is “ready to go home and go back to my life.”

Authorities have said they believe Konancki died by drowning in Punta Cana early on March 6, officials told ABC News.

Riibe, who met Konanki that night, told prosecutors the two went swimming and kissed in the ocean. The two were then hit by a wave and pulled into the ocean by the tide, according to a transcript provided to ABC News from two Dominican Republic sources.

Riibe said he held Konanki and tried to get them out of the water. He said he tried to “make sure she could breathe the entire time,” which prevented Riibe from getting in enough air and he “took in a lot of water.”

Once they touched the sand, Riibe told prosecutors Konanki got up to get her belongings, but “she was not out of the water since it was up to her knee” and was “walking at an angle in the water.”

“The last time I saw her, I asked her if she was OK,” he told prosecutors. “I didn’t hear her response because I began to vomit with all the water I had swallowed. After vomiting, I looked around and I didn’t see anything. I thought she had taken her things and left.”

Riibe said he then passed out on a beach chair, woke up several hours later and returned to his hotel room.

Konanki’s family sent a formal request on Monday to Dominican police requesting they declare their daughter dead, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation.

On Tuesday evening, Dominican Republic’s Civil Defense said they are significantly scaling back the search-and-rescue efforts.

The judge will decide if Riibe will be charged with anything in a full ruling on March 28.

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(LONDON) — Israel has resumed “focused ground operations” in the “center of the Gaza Strip” over the past 24 hours, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Israeli forces have also taken control and “re-expanded their control to the center of the Netzarim” corridor — the line that separates northern Gaza from the south — an IDF spokesperson said.

As a part of the terms of the ceasefire deal that went into effect on Jan. 19, Israeli forces agreed to withdraw troops on the ground in Gaza to a buffer zone they carved out along the perimeter of Gaza, and troops remained in the Philadelphi corridor – the 8-mile-long border between Gaza and Egypt.

During phase one of the ceasefire deal, Israel withdrew completely from the Netzarim corridor.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned the residents of Gaza that “the evacuation of the population from the battle zones” in Gaza will “begin again soon,” in a video message in Hebrew on Wednesday.

Katz encouraged Gaza residents to go to “other places in the world for those who wish.”

“Take the advice of the U.S. President. Return the hostages and eliminate Hamas, and other options will open up for you — including going to other places in the world for those who wish,” Katz said.

Last month, President Donald Trump called for the forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, drawing wide international criticism and accusations from allies and the United Nations. He has since said that Palestinians should want to leave voluntarily due to the destruction.

Residents of Gaza are currently unable to leave on their own because the border crossing into Egypt is closed.

Israel’s current plan is to make Gaza unlivable, re-establish those so-called “humanitarian zones,” concentrate Palestinians in those bubbles or islands and from there offer voluntary transfer out of Gaza, retired Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi, a security hawk who continues to advise the military and defense ministry, told ABC News.

Avivi stressed leaving would be voluntary. They would be loaded on buses and sent through the Kerem Shalom crossing either to Ashdod port, or to an airport near Eilat.

Prior to resuming ground operations, an Israeli official told ABC News that its renewed campaign of strikes on the Gaza Strip would continue until all remaining hostages are released.

Palestinian health officials said that at least 436 people have been killed — including more than 130 children, according to UNICEF figures — since Israel renewed its bombardment of the coastal territory overnight Tuesday, marking the collapse of a ceasefire with Hamas that began in January. Another 678 people have been wounded, Palestinian officials said.

On Tuesday, an Israeli official told ABC News of Hamas, “They got hammered last night and they’re going to continue to be hammered until we get the hostages out.”

The official described the Israel Defense Forces’ renewed attacks against Hamas in Gaza as a “different form of negotiating,” and said Israel had “not closed the door” to talks resuming via mediators if Hamas is willing to accept further hostage-prisoner swaps.

An Israeli official told ABC News on Tuesday that the offensive will continue “as long as necessary,” and will “expand beyond air strikes.”

Far-right Israeli Minister Ben Gvir and his party have rejoined Netanyahu’s coalition in the Knesset, after leaving when the ceasefire went into effect earlier this year.

Gvir has extreme views and wants Netanyahu to go even further in Gaza. There is a vote on Israel’s budget at the end of March.

If Netanyahu’s coalition fails to pass that budget, his government falls, according to Israeli law.

Wednesday brought fresh strikes in Gaza. The IDF said it attacked what it called “a Hamas military site in northern Gaza where preparations were being made to fire projectiles at Israeli territory.”

The Israeli navy also “struck several vessels in the coastal area of the Gaza Strip,” which the IDF said were slated for use by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said Wednesday that one foreign staffer working for the United Nations was killed by an Israeli strike in central Gaza, with five others suffering “severe” injuries. The wounded were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the ministry said.

The IDF denied involvement. “Contrary to reports, the IDF did not strike a UN compound in Deir el Balah,” it said in a statement.

Israel’s renewed campaign in Gaza marked the end of nearly two months of relative quiet in the region, which has been devastated by intense fighting since October 2023. The ceasefire saw 33 Israeli hostages released from Gaza in return for the release of nearly 1,800 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.

Fifty-nine hostages are believed to remain in Gaza — 24 of whom are presumed to be alive. Edan Alexander is the last American-Israeli hostage still thought to be alive.

Several members of Hamas’ administrative and civil wings were killed in the renewed strikes. They included Deputy Minister of the Interior Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Abu Tuffah and Deputy Minister of Justice Omar al-Hatta.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that his country would act against Hamas “with increasing intensity.”

“From now on, negotiations will only take place under fire,” he said in a statement. “Hamas has already felt the presence of our force in the last 24 hours and I want to assure you: This is just the beginning.”

“The military strike on Hamas and the release of our hostages are not contradictory goals — they are goals that are intertwined,” Netanyahu said.

The renewed offensive prompted major protests in Israel, including from the families of those still being held hostage in Gaza.

“The greatest fear of the families, the kidnapped and the citizens of Israel has come true,” the Hostage Families’ Forum said in a statement issued on Tuesday. “The Israeli government has chosen to give up on the kidnapped.”

ABC News’ Guy Davies, Jordana Miller, Diaa Ostaz, Samy Zyara, Dana Savir and Victoria Beaule contributed to this report.

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(PITTSBURGH) — Joshua Riibe, the 22-year-old Minnesota college student who was with University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki the night she went missing on a spring break trip to the Dominican Republic, is trying to get a new passport to return back to the United States, according to his lawyers.

Riibe’s legal team confirmed to ABC News they are trying to get a new U.S. passport for Riibe from the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic.

“The U.S. Embassy is in communication with Mr. Riibe, his family, and his lawyer and is providing all appropriate consular assistance,” the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic told ABC News.

A Dominican judge ruled during a habeus corpus hearing Tuesday that Riibe is free to move without police surveillance around the Dominican Republic, because he is only a witness of an accident, not a suspect. But the judge did not give Riibe his passport back, because he said it was not in his jurisdiction to hand over the passport. The judge did not specify whose jurisdiction it is to give the passport back.

If the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic issues Riibe a new passport, he will be able to use it to leave the country.

Riibe said in court on Tuesday that he is “ready to go home and go back to my life.”

Authorities have said they believe Konancki died by drowning in Punta Cana early on March 6, officials told ABC News.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(LONDON) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said overnight missile and drone attacks launched by Russia showed that Moscow’s claimed support for a ceasefire in Ukraine is not “real.”

Ukrainian authorities reported airstrikes in several regions of the country, including a drone attack on a hospital in the northeastern city of Sumy. The barrage came hours after Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin agreed to a halt in attacks on energy infrastructure as part of the White House’s peace efforts.

“Now in many regions you can literally hear what Russia really needs,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. “About 40 Shaheds in our sky, air defense is working,” the president added, referring to the Iranian-designed strike drone used by Russia.

“Unfortunately, there are hits, and precisely in civilian infrastructure,” Zelenskyy continued. “It is precisely such night attacks by Russia that destroy our energy, our infrastructure, the normal life of Ukrainians. And the fact that this night was no exception shows that we must continue to put pressure on Russia for the sake of peace.”

Ukraine’s air force reported a total of six missiles and 145 drones fired into the country overnight. Seventy-two drones were shot down, the air force said, with another 56 lost in flight without causing damage. The Sumy, Odesa, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv and Chernihiv regions were affected by the attack, the air force wrote on Telegram.

“Today, Putin actually rejected the proposal for a complete ceasefire,” Zelenskyy said. “It would be right for the world to reject any attempts by Putin to drag out the war in response.”

“Sanctions against Russia. Aid to Ukraine. Strengthening allies in the free world and working towards security guarantees,” the president added. “And only a real cessation by Russia of attacks on civilian infrastructure as evidence of a desire to end this war can bring peace closer.”

Russia’s military claimed to have neutralized seven of its own drones after receiving Putin’s partial ceasefire order. The Defense Ministry said the drones were destroyed while in the air having been aimed at “Ukrainian energy infrastructure facilities related to the military-industrial complex” in the Mykolaiv region.

The Kremlin said Tuesday that the call between Trump and Putin was a “detailed and frank exchange of views.” Putin did not agree to the full 30-day ceasefire proposed by the U.S. and Ukraine, the Kremlin statement said, with the Russian leader again framing any pause in the fighting as beneficial to Ukraine’s armed forces.

The two sides did agree to a ceasefire on energy infrastructure attacks, the Kremlin said, after which Putin “immediately gave the relevant order to the Russian troops.”

Hours later, Russian authorities reported a drone attack on an oil depot facility in the southern Krasnodar Krai region’s Kavkazsky district.

“Due to falling debris there was a fire at the oil depot,” the local administration said in a statement posted to Telegram. “The pipeline between the tanks was damaged.”

Local authorities reported no casualties, though added that 30 workers were evacuated from the area and operations suspended.

The region’s Operational Headquarters Telegram channel said the fire at the depot spread to more than 18,000 square feet in size via a leak in a tank. “Emergency services are keeping the situation under control,” it said, noting that “179 people and 54 units of equipment are involved in extinguishing the fire.”

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 57 Ukrainian drones overnight. The ministry said the attack in Krasnodar Krai represented “another provocation specially prepared by the Kyiv regime aimed at disrupting the peace initiatives of the U.S. president.”

The Russian federal air transport agency Rosaviatsia said operations were temporarily suspended at airports in the cities of Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Nizhnekamsk, though did not specify the reason. Flights at Russian airports are regularly disrupted during drone attacks.

The White House said on Tuesday after the call between Trump and Putin that the two leaders “agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace. These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East.”

Trump, in his own social media post later Tuesday, called the hourslong conversation “very good and productive.”

“We agreed to an immediate Ceasefire on all Energy and Infrastructure, with an understanding that we will be working quickly to have a Complete Ceasefire and, ultimately, an END to this very horrible War between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump wrote.

Trump also said securing the 30-day ceasefire sought by Ukraine “would have been tough,” in a released clip of a pre-taped interview on Fox News.

ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler, Oleksiy Pshemyskiy, Tanya Stukalova and Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.

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(LONDON) —  Israel’s renewed campaign of strikes against Hamas in the Gaza Strip will continue until all remaining hostages are released, an Israeli official told ABC News.

Palestinian health officials said that at least 420 people were killed — including more than 130 children, according to UNICEF figures — when Israel renewed its bombardment of the coastal territory overnight Tuesday, marking the collapse of a ceasefire with Hamas that began in January.

On Tuesday, an Israeli official told ABC News of Hamas, “They got hammered last night and they’re going to continue to be hammered until we get the hostages out.”

The official described the Israel Defense Forces’ renewed attacks against Hamas in Gaza as a “different form of negotiating”, and said Israel had “not closed the door” to talks resuming via mediators if Hamas is willing to accept further hostage-prisoner swaps.

The official did not say whether Israel is planning a renewed ground incursion into Gaza.

An Israeli official told ABC News on Tuesday that the offensive will continue “as long as necessary,” and will “expand beyond air strikes.”

Wednesday brought fresh strikes in Gaza. The IDF said it attacked what it called “a Hamas military site in northern Gaza where preparations were being made to fire projectiles at Israeli territory.”

The Israeli navy also “struck several vessels in the coastal area of the Gaza Strip,” which the IDF said were slated for use by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said Wednesday that five foreign staffers working for the United Nations were “injured” after a strike in central Gaza. The wounded were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the ministry said.

Israel’s renewed campaign in Gaza marked the end of nearly two months of relative quiet in the region, which has been devastated by intense fighting since October 2023. The ceasefire saw 33 Israeli hostages released from Gaza in return for the release of nearly 1,800 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.

Fifty-nine hostages are believed to remain in Gaza — 24 of whom are presumed to be alive. Edan Alexander is the last American-Israeli hostage still thought to be alive.

Several members of Hamas’ administrative and civil wings were killed in the renewed strikes. They included Deputy Minister of the Interior Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Abu Tuffah and Deputy Minister of Justice Omar al-Hatta.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that his country would act against Hamas “with increasing intensity.”

“From now on, negotiations will only take place under fire,” he said in a statement. “Hamas has already felt the presence of our force in the last 24 hours and I want to assure you: This is just the beginning.”

“The military strike on Hamas and the release of our hostages are not contradictory goals — they are goals that are intertwined,” Netanyahu said.

The renewed offensive prompted major protests in Israel, including from the families of those still being held hostage in Gaza.

“The greatest fear of the families, the kidnapped and the citizens of Israel has come true,” the Hostage Families’ Forum said in a statement issued on Tuesday. “The Israeli government has chosen to give up on the kidnapped.”

ABC News’ Guy Davies, Jordana Miller, Diaa Ostaz, Samy Zyara and Dana Savir contributed to this report.

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(PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic) — Joshua Riibe, the Minnesota college student who was with University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki the night she went missing on a spring break trip to the Dominican Republic, said in court that he’s “ready to go home and go back to my life.”

The 22-year-old Iowa native — who has not been charged with a crime — said Konanki’s family hugged him and thanked him.

“Her mother gave me a hug and said, ‘Thank you for saving my daughter the first time,”‘ Riibe said in court Tuesday. “It was really tough.”

Riibe’s court appearance was for a habeas corpus hearing that was requested by his lawyers, who believe the 22-year-old is being detained illegally.

Prosecutors claimed in court that Riibe is a witness and is not detained.

Authorities have confiscated Riibe’s passport, and Riibe said in court that police have followed him to meals and watched him eat. Riibe’s attorneys asked to get his passport returned and to get the ability to leave the hotel without surveillance.

“I can’t go anywhere. And I really want to be able to go home, talk to my family, give them hugs, tell them I miss them,” Riibe said. “I understand I’m here to help, but it’s been 10 days and I can’t leave.”

Riibe’s father traveled to the Dominican Republic to support him. When asked by reporters if he would be able to take his son home, he replied, “I don’t even know where he’s at right now.”

“I’m just doing what I can, and at this point there’s nothing more I can do,” Riibe said during his appearance in court.

Following the court appearance on Tuesday, it was determined that Riibe will no longer be under police surveillance. However, Dominican Republic officials are not yet returning his passport.

The judge is expected to rule on the habeas corpus request on March 28.

Authorities have said they believe 20-year-old Konanki died by drowning in Punta Cana early on March 6, officials told ABC News. Her missing persons case is being treated as an accident, sources said.

Riibe — who met Konanki that night — told prosecutors the two went swimming and kissed in the ocean. He said they were then hit by a wave and pulled into the ocean by the tide, according to a transcript provided to ABC News from two Dominican Republic sources.

Riibe said he held Konanki and tried to get them out of the water.

“I was trying to make sure that she could breathe the entire time — that prevented me from breathing the entire time and I took in a lot of water,” he said.

“When I finally touched the sand, I put her in front of me. Then she got up to go get her stuff since the ocean had moved us,” Riibe told the prosecutor. “She was not out of the water since it was up to her knee. She was walking at an angle in the water.”

“The last time I saw her, I asked her if she was OK. I didn’t hear her response because I began to vomit with all the water I had swallowed,” he said. “After vomiting, I looked around and I didn’t see anyone. I thought she had taken her things and left.”

Riibe said he passed out on a beach chair and woke up hours later and returned to his hotel room.

Konanki’s family has sent a formal request to Dominican police requesting they declare their daughter dead, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation. The parents noted Riibe was cooperating with the investigation and they acknowledged there was no evidence of foul play, the sources said.

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(NEW YORK) — Astronomers have confirmed the existence of four planets orbiting a star less than 6 light-years away with help from some of the world’s most powerful telescopes.

Research published in October 2024 revealed that one planet was rotating around Barnard’s Star, the second-closest single star system to Earth. But a combination of telescopes all over the world confirmed the presence of four small exoplanets, according to a study published last week in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The Gemini Telescope in Hawaii and the Very Large Telescope in Chile were used to detect the additional rocky planets, the astronomers said.

“It’s signaling a breakthrough with the precision of these new instruments from previous generations,” said Ritvik Basant, Ph.D student at the University of Chicago and lead author of the paper, in a statement.

The first planet was detected using a 27-foot diameter telescope at the European Space Observatory’s Paranal Observatory in Chile and a spectrograph that could quickly detect changes in the star’s velocity, according to the 2024 paper, published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Barnard’s Star, a low-mass red dwarf, was discovered in 1916. Since then, astronomers have discovered that at least 70% of all stars in the Milky Way are this type of star, which is why researchers want to know about the types of planets that orbit them, according to the University of Chicago.

“It’s a really exciting find — Barnard’s Star is our cosmic neighbor, and yet we know so little about it,” Basant said.

The planets are 20% to 30% the mass of Earth and make a full orbit around the sun in days, according to the paper. They are likely rocky planets, rather than gas.

Since they are so close to Barnard’s Star, they are likely too hot to sustain life. The researchers ruled out the existence of other planets within the habitable zone of Barnard’s Star.

The planets are difficult to detect because their stars shine so brightly next to them, the researchers said.

Scientists from the Gemini Observatory, National Science Foundation NOIRLab, Heidelberg University and the University of Amsterdam calibrated and analyzed data taken during 112 different nights over three years, where they found “solid evidence” to the existence of the additional planets orbiting Barnard’s Star, according to the paper.

“We observed at different times of night on different days,” Basant said. “They’re in Chile; we’re in Hawaii. Our teams didn’t coordinate with each other at all.”

He added, “That gives us a lot of assurance that these aren’t phantoms in the data.”

 

 

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump will hold a high-stakes call with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Tuesday as he tries to win his approval of a 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine.

“It’s a bad situation in Russia, and it’s a bad situation in Ukraine,” Trump said on Monday. “What’s happening in Ukraine is not good, but we’re going to see if we can work a peace agreement, a ceasefire and peace, and I think we’ll be able to do it.”

That positive assessment follows his prediction Sunday night that “we’ll see if we have something to announce — maybe by Tuesday,” saying “a lot of work” had been done over the weekend. “Maybe we can. Maybe we can’t, but I think we have a very good chance.”

The Kremlin on Tuesday said it expects the call within a two-hour window beginning at about 9 a.m. ET. The encounter would be the first known call between Trump and Putin since peace talks between U.S. and Ukrainian officials a week ago in Saudi Arabia yielded Kyiv agreeing to an immediate, temporary stop to hostilities should Russia do the same.

Since then, Putin has been noncommittal on the proposal while fighting intensifies in Kursk.

Putin said he was “for” a ceasefire but raised concerns and set out his own conditions, such as certain security guarantees. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, has accused the Russian leader of obstructing peace and “prolonging” the war.

Trump on Monday said the only reason he was involved in negotiations is “for humanity.”

“A lot of people are being killed over there. And, we had to get Ukraine to do the right thing. It was not an easy situation. You got to see a little glimpse at the Oval Office, but I think they’re doing the right thing right now. And we’re trying to get a peace agreement done. We want to get a ceasefire and then a peace agreement,” he said.

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy will monitor the conversation between Trump and Putin with caution and great interest, a Ukrainian official informed about the matter told ABC News.

“We agreed to the U.S. ceasefire proposal with zero conditions, and if Putin is gonna start playing with Trump setting demands — it will not work,” the source added.

A key question moving forward is how far Trump will go in pressuring Russia to agree to a ceasefire and ultimately bring an end to the three-year conflict, which began when Putin’s forces invaded its sovereign neighbor.

The Trump administration took drastic steps in stopping military aid and pausing some intelligence sharing with Ukraine after the Oval Office clash between Trump and Zelenskyy. Those two tools resumed after Ukraine agreed to the ceasefire last Tuesday.

Plus, U.S. officials have said it would be unrealistic for Ukraine to return to its prewar borders and expressly ruled out its bid for NATO membership.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has not publicly made similar demands of Putin.

Trump on Sunday said land and power plants were on the table for Tuesday’s discussion, as well as “dividing up certain assets” between the two countries.

“Well, I think we’ll be talking about land. It’s a lot of land. It’s a lot different than it was before the wars, you know. And we’ll be talking about land, we’ll be talking about power plants. That’s a big question, but I think we have a lot of it already discussed, very much by both sides,” he told reporters on Air Force One.

Trump last week said his administration could ramp up pressure on Russia but hoped it wouldn’t be “necessary.”

“There are things you could do that wouldn’t be pleasant in a financial sense,” he said. “I can do things financially that would be very bad for Russia. I don’t want to do that because I want to get peace.”

ABC News’ Oleksiy Pshemyskiy and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.

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