Ukraine war briefing: Trump to meet Zelenskyy at Nato summit as US says battlefield progress ‘frozen’

Donald Trump will meet with Volodymyr Zelenskyy while in Turkey this week for a Nato summit and make a renewed push to end the war in Ukraine, a ⁠senior US official ⁠said. “The ​battlefield has clearly frozen over the last ‌couple of months and neither ‌side is making a lot of progress,” said the offical, briefing reporters in Washington on condition of anonymity. “The president feels a real sense of ‌urgency to try to bring this to a stop.” Trump would also urge Nato allies to increase their defence spending, the official said, adding: “He will deliver that message in person.” Trump spoke with Russian president Vladimir Putin in a lengthy call on Sunday during which the US leader offered to help find ⁠a solution to ​the Ukraine war, a Kremlin aide has said. Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, said he had also spoken with Trump – including about the war’s 1,200km frontline – and the conversation was “very good”.

The Ukrainian ⁠capital came under ⁠a Russian ⁠missile ​attack early on Monday ⁠and residents could be trapped ⁠under rubble ​in ‌a damaged ‌building, officials ‌said. Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said a residential building ‌had been hit in the city’s ​historic Podil district. “People are trapped on ⁠the seventh to ​ninth floors,” he said on Telegram. ​Drone debris ​also ‌fell ​in ​other districts. Zelenskyy said ⁠on ⁠Sunday ​that ‌intelligence ‌indicated ‌Russia was preparing ‌a ​huge new ​strike, just days after at least 27 people were killed and dozens injured in Kyiv in what Klitschko called the worst Russian attack on the city during the war.

The city of Sevastopol, on the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula, was left without electricity on Monday after a Ukrainian attack on energy infrastructure, said the Moscow-appointed city governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev. One person was killed in a Ukrainian attack on Crimea, according to Moscow-installed officials early on Sunday. Two others were injured in the attack on northern Crimea, including one in a serious condition, regional governor Sergei Aksyonov said.

Kyiv and Moscow’s troops were still battling for the key strategic eastern town of Kostyantynivka, Zelenskyy said on Sunday, after the Kremlin claimed to have captured it. “Putin has already claimed as his own, but it is obvious that he will never dare to appear there,” he said in his daily evening address. Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry claimed Ukraine had refused to halt ⁠shelling of Kostiantynivka to allow Russia to hand over the bodies of ⁠fallen Ukrainian soldiers. Ukraine’s ‌defence ministry ​and ​military did not immediately comment.