Our Asia correspondent Shweta Sharma reports:

US president Donald Trump has claimed that Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has agreed to halt the import of Russian oil, even as New Delhi has clarified that the discussions on the topic are ongoing.

India’s increasing import of Russian energy since the start of the war in Ukraine has emerged as one of the most contentious points in India-US relations under Mr Trump’s second term. The US has directed its anger towards India for taking advantage of the discounted prices offered by Moscow, which Mr Trump claims have helped fund Vladimir Putin’s war efforts.

The Trump administration imposed secondary sanctions on India with a 50 per cent tariff on goods from the country as a punishment for India’s reliance on Russian energy, putting a strain on India-US ties for the first time in years.

Talking to reporters at the White House, Mr Trump said Mr Modi agreed to phase out the purchase of Russian oil during a conversation on Wednesday, which was previously not disclosed.

Mr Trump called it a “big step” and said India will halt imports "within a short period of time".

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban said he will talk to Russian president Vladimir Putin today.

Earlier, he said Budapest had begun preparations to host a summit between Putin and US president Donald Trump after the two leaders agreed to meet in Hungary.

Orban said the meeting “will be about peace” and if there is a peace deal, that would lead to a new phase of economic development in Hungary and Europe.

Trump said he made “great progress” in his own phone call with Putin on Thursday, describing the conversation as “very productive”.

The European Union has unveiled a strategy to bolster its defences, to be fully operational by the decade's end, amidst concerns over Russian incursions.

A key component is the “European Drone Defense Initiative,” to detect, track, and neutralise rogue drones, following troubling airspace violations across Europe, some near Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian borders.

Complementing this is “Eastern Flank Watch,” a scheme to fortify its eastern frontier across land, Baltic and Black seas, air, and against hybrid attacks.

Initial operation for both is December next year, the drone system fully functional by late 2027 and Eastern Flank Watch in full swing by the end of 2028.

Separate air and space shields are also envisioned.

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US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin are set to meet in Budapest, with the location reportedly suggested by Trump and immediately agreed to by Putin, according to the Kremlin.

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban welcomed the news enthusiastically. He called Hungary an “island of peace” and confirmed that preparations for the summit were underway after speaking directly with Trump.

Budapest is not new to hosting high-level US–Russia talks. It was among the shortlisted locations for the last Trump–Putin summit in Alaska, and it carries significant historical weight in the context of Ukraine.

In 1994, Ukraine handed over the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal under the Budapest Memorandum, receiving security guarantees from Russia, the US, and the UK in return.

Those guarantees were intended to protect Ukraine’s sovereignty – promises that were broken first with Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and later with the full-scale invasion in 2022.

The US president has shown he loves to back a winner – especially one that uses US weapons – which means Zelensky must convince him that he’s the one to back with Tomahawk missiles, writes Sam Kiley in Dnipro:

Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orban has expressed strong support for the planned summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

“The planned meeting between the American and Russian presidents is great news for the peace-loving people of the world. We are ready!” he said.

The Hungarian leader added that he had spoken by phone with Trump and that preparations for a US–Russia summit were already underway.

Earlier, Trump announced he would be taking part in a new meeting with Putin in Hungary, with the timing yet to be agreed.

He is meeting the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington DC later today.

A crowd of young people gathered to sing anti-war songs in Kazanskaya Square, including the proscribed song “Swan Lake Collective” by Russian rapper Noize MC, in footage that has now gone viral on social media.

The song, banned from distribution by the Primorsky District Court in May, features anti-Putin lyrics including “The old man still clings to his throne, afraid to let go” and “When the tsar dies, we’ll dance again — ‘Swan Lake’ on every screen.”

Crowds could be heard chanting the chorus: “I want to watch the ballet, let the swans dance. Let the old man shake in fear for his lake”.

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A date has not been set, but Mr Trump wrote on social media that the meeting would take place in Budapest.

“I believe great progress was made with today's telephone conversation,” the US president wrote after the conversation, which lasted more than two hours.

Their previous summit, in Alaska in August, ended without any significant diplomatic breakthroughs for Mr Trump. Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, said the Russian president initiated the call, which he described as “very frank and trusting”.

It came as Mr Zelensky was heading to the White House to push for more military support, including long-range Tomahawk missiles that would allow Ukraine to strike deeper into Russian territory.

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Russian president Vladimir Putin’s latest phone call with Donald Trump may have slowed growing US momentum to toughen its stance on Moscow, according to a former US State Department official.

“Putin is trying to derail the momentum toward greater pressure on Russia,” said Dan Fried, a former US State Department official and veteran diplomat who oversaw sanctions policy under multiple administrations.

“We’ll see what happens tomorrow [on Friday, with Zelensky due to meet Trump] but the chances of moving toward a ceasefire by pushing Russia to get serious seem to have diminished.”

The Kremlin described Thursday’s Trump and Putin call as “extremely frank and trustful”.

Earlier, Trump had appeared to harden his position, voicing frustration with Russia’s continued attacks and hinting at a possible decision to provide Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine.

Explosions were reported overnight in both occupied Donetsk and the Russian resort city of Sochi, as suspected Ukrainian drone attacks targeted sites deep inside Russian-held territory.

“An air defence system is active in Sochi. An attack by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is being repelled,” Sochi Mayor Andrei Proshunin said.

In Donetsk, local channels reported that a Russian ammunition depot had been struck, setting off a series of explosions and large fires visible across the occupied city.

Videos circulating on social media appeared to show multiple blasts lighting up the night sky, Kyiv Independent reported.

Ukrainian officials have not commented on either incident.