Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky demands Trump explain new ceasefire proposal after Putin’s call with US president – UK Times

Residents in Tuapse have been advised to stay indoors and avoid drinking tap water following recent drone strikes on the port. Russia’s consumer safety watchdog cited raised benzene levels in the air and urged people to limit time outside and keep windows closed.

Local health authorities said residents should use bottled water as a precaution. Schools have been closed and May holiday events cancelled.

Some residents have questioned official assurances. “How about she comes to visit us and tries our fresh air?” one person wrote online, responding to claims from Rospotrebnadzor head Anna Popova that the situation posed no health risks.

A Ukrainian drone struck Russia’s Black Sea port of Tuapse for the fourth time in a week, sparking a fire at the sea terminal, local authorities said early on Friday.

“In Tuapse, as a result of a drone attack by the Kyiv regime, a fire broke out on the territory of the seaport terminal,” the Krasnodar region’s general headquarters said on Telegram.

Officials said emergency crews were deployed to contain the blaze, with 128 firefighters and 41 vehicles at the scene. No injuries were reported.

Tuapse, particularly its oil terminal, has been repeatedly targeted in recent days as Ukraine has intensified attacks on Russian energy infrastructure.

During a phone call with Donald Trump last night it was Vladimir Putin who proposed a temporary ceasefire to mark 9 May and the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Second World War, the Kremlin said.

Kremlin ⁠aide Yuri Ushakov said the telephone call lasted more than an hour and a half and was “conducted in a friendly manner, candid and business-like”.

“Trump actively supported this initiative, noting that the holiday ‌marks our common victory over Nazism in World War Two,” he said.

He ​added: “Donald Trump believes that a deal to put an end to the ‌conflict in Ukraine is already close.”

He ⁠said Putin told the US president that Russian forces in Ukraine “hold the ⁠strategic initiative and are pressing on enemy positions”.

Putin, Ushakov said, “clearly said that Kyiv was resorting to openly terrorist ‌methods by attacking civilian ​sites on Russian territory,” a reference to frequent ‌Ukrainian strikes on key infrastructure, ​particularly in Russia’s oil sector.

Russian drones attacked Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa ​overnight, for the second time this week, wounding at least 18 people and damaging residential buildings, officials said this morning.

The strikes caused the worst damage ⁠in the central Prymorskyi district, where high-rise and five-storey residential buildings were damaged, said Serhiy Lysak, the head of the local military administration. The attacks triggered large fires in upper floors and ⁠on a roof, which have ​since ⁠been contained, Lysak said on Telegram.

Emergency services said the number of injured could still change.

Odesa, a major ⁠Black Sea port and a focal point for Ukrainian exports, ​has ⁠been a repeated target ‌of Russian attacks during more than four years of Russia’s war.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia had ‌launched one ballistic missile and 206 drones at the country since 6pm (1500 GMT) yesterday, of which 172 drones were downed ⁠or neutralised. One missile and 32 drones hit at 22 locations, it added.

Lysak said a 17-year-old boy was among the injured and two of the wounded were in intensive care in a serious condition.

He added that a kindergarten building was substantially damaged, and reported damage to a ‌shopping centre, a hotel and administrative premises.

He posted photos ​of a fire raging in a building ‌with its upper floor damaged, ⁠and flames and heavy smoke billowing from a high-rise ⁠building.

Dozens of buses and cars have been destroyed or damaged at several ‌parking areas, ​he added.

In another district, strikes ‌were recorded at infrastructure facilities, warehouse ​buildings and a garage cooperative, he said.

EU members are looking to compile a package of short-term benefits for Ukraine as the prospect of giving Kyiv fast-track full membership looks increasingly unlikely.

Interim perks could include greater market access and deeper participation in EU programmes and institutions, four diplomats told Politico.

This comes after Volodymyr Zelensky rejected the idea of being given “symbolic” membership of the bloc, something suggested by German chancellor Friedrich Merz and French president Emmanuel Macron.

One of the diplomats said the EU is looking at “accelerated gradual integration”, under the EU would bring Ukraine into shared markets, funding schemes and political institutions in a phased way.

Another method being pushed suggests Kyiv be given some kind of “acceding state” status to show that it is firmly on track to join the EU, Politico reported citing the Lithuanian proposal.

EU leaders in March rejected the European Commission’s “reverse enlargement” proposals that would allow Ukraine to join the bloc without completing major reforms.

“From the moment of the dinner … member states have been clear it would be very difficult to see membership in the short term,” one of the diplomats said. “But we need to have a positive offer for how we can better move forward together before then.”

Donald Trump said Vladimir Putin offered to help on the issue of Iran’s enriched uranium, a key obstacle to a deal to end the Iran war, but “I said I’d much rather have you be involved with ending the war with Ukraine.”

“I said, before you help me, I want to end your war,” said Trump.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov did not say what proposals Putin had made on ‌Iran. Moscow has previously offered to take enriched uranium out of ​the country.

Ushakov added that Trump, in a ‌friendly and businesslike conversation lasting ​over one to one-and-a-half hours, had said he ‌believed a deal to end the Ukraine ​war was close.

Rapid military adoption of artificial intelligence is becoming essential to Ukraine’s survival, even as full integration across the battlefield may still be several years away, according to a senior AI official.

Danylo Tsvok said AI is already helping Ukraine hold territory, while reducing risks to its soldiers as it faces a larger, better-resourced adversary.

“We need to be faster than the enemy in decision-making,” he told The Associated Press, adding that AI is “not only a competitive advantage. It’s about our survival.”

Tsvok, 35, leads the Defense Artificial Intelligence Center, which was established last month by the Defense Ministry. He previously served in the government’s top civilian AI role.

Donald Trump has once again taken aim at German chancellor Friedrich Merz, continuing a war of words between the two.

Mr Merz said he should focus on trying to end the Russia-Ukraine war and spend “less time on interfering” with the effort to tackle the “Iran’s nuclear threat.”

Trump made his comments in a Truth Social post.