Ukraine war latest news: Kyiv signs outline of Trump minerals deal while Russian missile kills one and injures 57 – UK Times

The Ukrainian air force said it shot down three Iskander-K cruise missiles and 23 drones in an overnight attack by Russia involving six missiles and 37 drones.

Meanwhile, at least five children were injured and one was killed among a total of 57 people affected by a Russian missile strike on the northeastern city of Kharkiv in the early hours of today, officials said.

The United States will stop trying to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace deal within days unless there are clear signs that a deal can be done, US secretary of state Marco Rubio said today.

Mr Rubio, speaking in Paris after meeting European and Ukranian leaders, said that president Donald Trump was still interested in a deal but had many other priorities around the world and was willing to move on unless there are signs of progress.

Russia’s UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya has said a full ceasefire in Ukraine is “unrealistic”.

His comments came as Russia called for a UN Security Council session yesterday over the energy infrastructure truce with Ukraine.

“We had an attempt at a limited ceasefire on energy infrastructure facilities, which was not observed by the Ukrainian side,” Mr Nebenzya said.

“Under the current circumstances, it is simply unrealistic to talk about a (full) ceasefire at this stage,” he said.

The signed memorandum between Kyiv and Washington is an initial step towards clinching an agreement on developing mineral resources in Ukraine, officials have said.

Although both sides had been poised in February to sign a deal for cooperation on natural resources, it was delayed after an Oval Office meeting between Mr Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy turned into a shouting match.

“We are happy to announce the signing with our American partners,” Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s first deputy prime minister and economy minister, said on social media after the signing.

Yesterday’s memorandum of intent paves the way for an economic partnership deal and the setting-up of an investment fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine, she added.

At least five children were injured, and one was killed, among a total of 57 people in a Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv in the early hours of today, officials said.

Ihor Terekhov, the mayor of Ukraine’s second biggest city, said the attack damaged 15 apartment buildings based on preliminary information.

The attack damaged apartment buildings, an educational institution and a civilian enterprise, emergency services said.

Photos from the scene showed emergency workers giving first aid to people with bleeding wounds near one of the apartment buildings.

The attack comes as Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said that Russia has reduced the number of its strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities but is attacking civilian infrastructure instead.

A Russian missile strike on Kharkiv has killed one person and injured at least 54 others, including a child, officials in Ukraine have said.

“According to preliminary information, the strikes on Kharkiv were carried out with ballistic missiles equipped with cluster munitions. That is why the affected areas are so extensive,” Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said on his Telegram channel.

At least 20 apartment buildings and 30 houses were damaged in the attack, the officials said.

The deadly attack comes just a day after Russian forces launched a massive drone attack on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, killing three people, including a child, and wounding dozens.

Ukrainian officials announced they have signed an outline of a minerals deal with the US and said a final accord could be reached by the end of next week.

Ukrainian economy minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, took to X and shared photos of her and US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, signing the outline of the preliminary minerals deal separately.

“We are happy to announce the signing, with our American partners, of a Memorandum of Intent, which paves the way for an Economic Partnership Agreement and the establishment of the Investment Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukraine,” she said on X.

The Ukrianian minister said that the signed document “notes the desire of the American people to invest together with the Ukrainian people in a free, sovereign, and secure Ukraine”.

Volodymyr Zelensky accused the US special envoy Steve Witkoff of “spreading Russian narratives” about the war in Ukraine and overstepping his position.

“I believe Mr Witkoff has adopted the strategy of the Russian side. Consciously or not, he is spreading Russian narratives,” he said at a press briefing in Kyiv yesterday.

“Either way, it does not help. And I do not see any mandate for him to speak about Ukrainian territories. These lands belong to our people, to our nation, and to the future generations of Ukrainians,” Mr Zelensky said.

The Ukrainian president has said the country will not negotiate its territory as he dismissed Mr Witkoff’s recent remarks of Ukraine’s sovereign land.

Mr Witkoff told Fox News earlier this week that a potential peace deal could centre on the status of five territories, without naming the five Ukrainian regions – Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – held by Russia.

“As I said, we are discussing an unconditional ceasefire – and until that happens, we are not discussing territories,” Mr Zelensky said. “You know my position and our red lines: we will not recognise any of our temporarily occupied territories as Russian,” he said.

“We believe that Chinese representatives are engaged in the production of some weapons on the territory of Russia,” he told reporters in Kyiv.

He did not specify whether he meant artillery systems or shells.

The allegation is likely to further strain relations between Kyiv and Beijing following the capture of Chinese nationals fighting for Russia. China has so far tried to maintain an outward perception of neutrality in the three-year war prompted by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.