Ukraine-Russia war live updates: Angry Trump officials admit fast peace deal with Putin now unlikely – UK Times

Vladimir Putin’s envoy for international cooperation is reportedly set to visit Washington this week for a meeting with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff.

In what would be the first visit by a Russian official to Washington since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow’s presidential envoy for international cooperation Kirill Dmitriev will meet with Mr Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, CNN report.

A close advisor to Putin, Dmitriev has been involved in recent US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia amid warming relations between Washington and Moscow.

He worked with Mr Witkoff to secure the release of American teacher Marc Fogel, who was arrested in Russia for trying to enter the country with a small amount of medical cannabis.

Dozens of people were evacuated from an apartment building in the Russian city of Kursk following a Ukrainian drone attack, a regional official said on Wednesday.

“As a result of the attack of enemy drones on Kursk, there is damage to an apartment building in the city centre,” the acting governor of the Kursk region, Alexander Khinshtein, said on Telegram.

At least 60 people were evacuated from the building which was hit with drone debris, he said. “Fortunately, there are no casualties.”

Ukraine has not yet commented on the attack, the size of which remains unclear.

Russian air defences destroyed 93 Ukrainian drones overnight, state news agencies reported on Wednesday.

A total of 87 were destroyed over Russia’s Kursk region bordering Ukraine, where Kyiv’s forces have been pushed back in the past month in a major Russian counteroffensive.

Moscow does not typically report the total number of drones fired by Ukraine.

Russia launched 74 drones at Ukraine overnight on Wednesday, the Ukrainian air force said, as it resumed mass drone attacks on civilian infrastructure.

Air defences shot down 41 of these drones and 20 others did not reach their targets, likely due to electronic warfare measures. It is unclear what happened to the remaining 13 drones.

It comes after Russia did not launch an mass drone attack on civilian infrastructure for the first time overnight between Monday and Tuesday.

Officials from the Trump administration are now urging their European allies to keep buying American-made arms – just weeks after Donald Trump asked the EU to take responsibility for its own defence and security.

Five US sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that the US has made outreach to its EU allies amid recent moves by the European Union to limit US manufacturers’ participation in weapons tenders.

According to two of the sources, US secretary of state Marco Rubio said any exclusion of US companies from European tenders would be seen negatively by Washington, which those two sources interpreted as a reference to the proposed EU rules.

One northern European diplomat, who was not part of the Baltic meeting, said they had also been recently told by US officials that any exclusion from EU weapons procurements would be seen as inappropriate.

Shortly after taking office, Mr Trump urged European allies to spend more on defence and take greater responsibility for their own security, and suggesting that his commitment to Nato is not absolute.

At least one person was killed and several injured, including an infant and a 7-year-old boy, in Russia’s overnight drone attacks on Ukraine, regional officials said early today.

A 45-year-old civilian was killed and two injured in a strike on a settlement near the frontline in the Zaporizhzhia region, the governor of the southeastern Ukrainian region said on his Telegram channel.

An infant, a child and six other civilians were injured in a Russian drone attack on Kharkiv, regional officials there said, in what seemed to be the latest in a series of bombings of the city not far from Russia’s border.

Volodymyr Zelensky has said that a minerals deal that Ukraine and the US are negotiating doesn’t mention his country’s Nato membership in the future.

“As for this agreement and the Nato question, there is no mention of Nato in this agreement, and there never was,” Mr Zelensky said, confirming earlier reports.

“A decision (regarding the deal) will be made in the coming days.”

His remarks come a few days after a source in the presidential office told the Kyiv Independent that Ukraine is “not tying” the minerals deal to Nato.

A Ukrainian overnight drone attack forced the evacuation of at least 60 people when falling drone debris hit their apartment building in the Russian city of Kursk, not far from the border with Ukraine, a regional official said this morning.

“As a result of the attack of enemy drones on Kursk, there is damage to an apartment building in the city centre,” the acting governor of the Kursk region, Alexander Khinshtein, said on Telegram.

“Fortunately, there are no casualties.” The scale of the attack was not clear.