Russia launches massive daytime attack with over 200 drones across Ukraine

• The Kremlin repeats Russian president Vladimir Putin’s assertion that the war in Ukraine was almost over
• At least six people were killed in Russian attacks on Ukraine after the US-mediated ceasefire expired. Russia launched more than 200 drones overnight and attacked Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown
• US president Donald Trump also said the war’s conclusion was “getting very close” even though Zelensky cautioned that “Moscow had no intention of ending it”

US president Donald Trump has said the Ukraine war’s conclusion was “very close”, even as the fighting continued to rage on the Russia-Ukraine border.

Speaking ​to journalists before departing on a state visit to China yesterday, Trump said a settlement between the two nations was approaching, but did not elaborate.

“The end of the war in Ukraine I really think ​it’s getting very close,” Trump said as he left the White House.

Trump ‌has ⁠convened multiple rounds of talks with the warring sides to try to end the conflict, but no peace deal has emerged.

Russia, which now occupies around a fifth of Ukraine, wants Kyiv to cede additional territory – a condition Kyiv has rejected outright.

Kyiv wants Russian troops to withdraw from the illegally occupied Ukrainian territories.

At least six people were killed after Russian forces launched attacks in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region yesterday, officials said.

Russia launched more than 200 drones overnight, putting an end to hopes that ⁠the three-day ceasefire that ended Monday would be extended.

A drone attack on an apartment building in Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown, the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, killed two and injured four, including the dead couple’s nine-month-old granddaughter, regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha and the head of the military administration Oleksandr Vilkul said on Telegram.

The ​child’s ⁠leg was severed, they said.

Zelensky denounced the strike as “cynical and devoid of all military logic”.

“After the end of the partial three-day ceasefire, Russia continues to kill and maim Ukrainians and ⁠pressure on it must therefore in no way be weakened,” he said.

Northeast of Kryvyi Rih, an aerial bomb strike killed four and injured three, Hanzha said.

Pausing, turning and pointing, like hounds catching a new scent, Europe’s leaders are picking up a blood trail from the Kremlin. Vladimir Putin’s forces were once the hunters – now they are bleeding and Ukraine has the whiff of victory in its nose.

In the latest sign that Ukraine’s systematic new policy of trying to kill at least 50,000 Russians a month is working, Putin has told his people that the end of the war he started is near.

And, in an act that was both desperate and doomed, he suggested that Gerhard Schröder, the former German chancellor, could act as Europe’s envoy in talks.

Andriy Yermak, who was until late last year the president’s closest advisor, was accused of laundering some UAH 460 million (£7.73m) through luxury accommodation near Kyiv. He denies ownership in the project.

Vladimir Putin appeared to stage a friendly encounter with a member of the public in a bizarre video shared by the Kremlin on Monday.

The Russian president was filmed making friendly small talk with a man in a hotel lobby during a planned meeting with an old schoolteacher in Moscow.

Volodymyr Zelensky has said Kyiv was working with its allies in Europe to develop technologies to defend against ballistic missiles, adding that 13 countries and Nato representatives had participated in talks on the issue on Tuesday.

“We are steadily advancing the issue of anti-ballistic capabilities production in Europe – we are forming an anti-ballistic coalition. This is something worth doing, and right now we are closer to a result than ever before,” he said in his nightly address.

Zelensky added that at least 13 countries and the Office of the Nato secretary general were represented at yesterday’s meeting at the level of NSAs on anti-ballistic solutions.

“Overall, Ukraine’s positions right now – on the frontline, in our long-range sanctions, and in our joint results with partners – are the strongest they have been in years,” he said.

A Scottish man who worked as a military instructor in Ukraine has been jailed for eight-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to spying for Russia.

Ross David Cutmore, from the city of Dunfermline in Fife, was recruited by a member of the Russian special services and transmitted information about the Ukrainian military in return for payment.

The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said that he had “acted out of selfish motives and with the intent to transmit this data to the aggressor country”.

Cutmore was jailed for eight years and six months after admitting his guilt in a plea deal at the Kyiv district court of Odesa on 30 April.

Cutmore arrived in the country in January 2024, according to prosecutors. He ran classes for Ukrainian service personnel in the city of Mykolaiv.

Russia has test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile as part of efforts to modernise the country’s nuclear forces, a launch hailed by president Vladimir Putin just days after his claim that the fighting in Ukraine is nearing an end.

Putin said that the nuclear-armed Sarmat missile would enter combat service at the end of the year. It was built to replace the aging Soviet-built Voyevoda.

The Sarmat — designated “Satan II” in the West — is meant to replace about 40 Soviet-built Voyevoda missiles. Its development began in 2011 and before Tuesday, the missile had only one known successful test and reportedly suffered a massive explosion during an abortive test in 2024.

“This is the most powerful missile in the world,” Putin declared, adding that the combined power of the Sarmat’s individually targeted warheads is more than four times higher than that of any Western counterpart.

The Russian leader has repeatedly brandished the nuclear sword after sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022 to try to deter the West from ramping up support for Ukraine.