Ukraine-Russia war latest: 5 killed and 61 injured after Putin launches overnight mass drone strike – UK Times

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his brief meeting with his US counterpart Donald Trump on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican a week ago was the best that the two men have had together.

In comments released by his presidential administration, Mr Zelensky said that he and Mr Trump agreed that a 30-day ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow was the correct first step towards peace in the war in Ukraine.

He said he raised the topic of sanctions with Trump at the meeting, and that the response of the US president on this question was “very strong” but did not give specifics on this.

Volodymyr Zelensky has insisted that Ukraine’s minerals deal with the US is beneficial to both sides.

The Ukrainian president said the agreement “gives Ukraine the opportunity to defend future US investments”.

He added that Ukraine and the US have an even 3-3 split of members of the minerals fund board.

The mayor of the Russian port city of Novorossiysk declared a state of emergency on Saturday after he said a Ukrainian drone attack had damaged residential buildings and injured at least five people, including two children.

Andrei Kravchenko, the mayor, announced his decision on his official Telegram account which showed him inspecting the damage to apartment buildings and giving orders to officials.

Kravchenko said one of the injured people, a woman, was in hospital in a serious situation.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine, whose air force said Russia had attacked Ukraine overnight with 183 drones and two ballistic missiles.

The US state department has approved a proposed $310m sale to Ukraine for F-16 training, sustainment, and related equipment, the Pentagon announced on Friday.

The announcement came just days after Ukraine signed a separate deal with the United States, widely promoted by Donald Trump, granting US firms preferential access to Ukrainian mineral rights and funding for reconstruction efforts.

Ukraine had previously received F-16 fighter jets from US allies, under a transfer program authorised by the Biden administration.

Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway are among countries that have supplied F-16 fighter jets and training support to strengthen Ukraine’s defence capabilities.

Russia attacked Ukraine overnight with 183 drones and two ballistic missiles, the Ukrainian air force said early on Saturday.

Of the 183 drones, it said it had shot down 77 and that another 73 had fallen without causing any damage.

Too many column inches have been wasted on inaccurate descriptions of the so-called minerals deal between the US and Ukraine. Much of the commentary was almost Trumpian in its hyperbole: “historic”, “momentous”, and a 180-degree change in America’s stances toward Ukraine… and therefore toward Russia as well.

Not so fast. Many have cheered that there was mention – an admission – of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from the American side, and an apparent commitment to a future Ukraine that is, at least by implication, sovereign and independent, writes James Nixey

UK foreign secretary David Lammy has criticised Russian president Vladimir Putin for obstructing meaningful peace negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

“Putin has stalled and hampered discussions for long enough. The world is losing patience,” Lammy posted on X, adding that the US and UK remain committed to helping bring the conflict to an end.

A man was killed in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region after a fallen Russian drone detonated while he was trying to remove it from a home, regional authorities said.

The incident came just hours after a major Russian drone strike on the eastern city of Kharkiv injured at least 46 people, including an 11-year-old child, when residential buildings were hit and fires broke out.

Elsewhere, four people were injured in a combined drone and artillery strike by Russian forces on areas east of Nikopol in southeastern Dnipropetrovsk.