Ukraine war latest: Trump insists he has red line after Putin call

One person has been killed and six injured by Russian attacks in Donetsk which forced the evacuation of more than 250 people, Ukraine’s regional governor has said.

The fatality came in Siversk, where five houses were damaged, governor Vadym Filashkim said, with injuries also reported in Kramatorsk.

In Kharkiv, two women aged 45 and 73 were wounded in a Russian attack on the village of Starovirvka, the regional governor said, while five further injuries were reported following Russian strikes in Kherson said to have damaged a high-rise building and seven houses.

Russia has released a Greek-owned oil tanker which was detained in Russian waters on Sunday, and the vessel has resumed its journey towards the Dutch port of Rotterdam, according to Estonia’s public broadcaster ERR.

The Liberia-flagged Green Admire appeared to be underway in the Baltic Sea on Tuesday with its destination listed as Rotterdam, Reuters reported, citing LSEG ship tracking data.

The vessel was detained after leaving the Sillamae port in Estonia and using a designated navigation channel that crosses Russian territorial waters, the Estonian foreign ministry said on Sunday.

Estonia’s foreign minister has said Russia’s detention of the Green Admire was likely a response to a campaign by the Estonian navy to inspect tankers used to transport millions of barrels of Russian oil through the Baltic Sea.

While it is “very positive” that the Donald Trump administration is involved in the Ukraine peace effort, it is crucial that Europeans and Ukraine are consulted as well, Nato chief Mark Rutte has warned.

The head of the Western military alliance made his remarks ahead of a meeting with European ministers in Brussels.

Vladimir Putin is not really interested in peace in Ukraine and is only playing for time in talks with the US, Germany’s defence minister Boris Pistorius has warned.

Speaking ahead of a meeting with EU defence ministers in Brussels, Mr Pistorius insisted that Europe needs to increase the pressure on Russia by imposing more sanctions, especially on Russia’s energy sales.

Ukraine says it has successfully defended against 93 of the 108 Shahed and decoy drones fired overnight by Russia.

Of the 93 drones which were intercepted, 35 were shot down, while 58 were either lost or suppressed using electronic warfare, Ukraine’s air force said.

Casualties were reported in the regions of Donetsk, Kharkiv and Kherson, while the air force said infrastructure was damaged in Sumy. It also reported further impacts in Dnipropetrovsk and Zhytomyr.

Ukraine claims to have inflicted a further 1,030 casualties upon Russia in the past 24 hours of fighting, as another day of intense clashes were reported along the front line.

The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said there had been 177 combat clashes reported along the frontline as of 8am on Tuesday, with Russia launching 59 airstrikes, deploying nearly 3,000 kamikaze drones and firing more than 5,300 artillery shells.

Once again, the heaviest fighting came in the direction of Pokrovsk, with Ukraine claiming to have stopped 72 Russian assaults in areas close to the Donetsk city, which for months has been central in Vladimir Putin’s sights.

There is no fixed deadline for a memorandum aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

The process for Moscow and Kyiv to develop a unified text of a peace and ceasefire memorandum will be complex, Mr Peskov said in remarks published early this morning.

The remarks from Kremlin show first signs of reluctance in peace talks from Russia after the US president Donald Trump spoke to his Russian counterpart on a lengthy phone call yesterday.

“There are no deadlines and there cannot be any. It is clear that everyone wants to do this as quickly as possible, but, of course, the devil is in the details,” RIA state news agency quoted Mr Peskov as telling reporters.

“The drafts will be formulated by both the Russian and Ukrainian sides, these draft documents will be exchanged, and then – complex contacts to develop a single text,” the Kremlin spokesperson said.

Volodymyr Zelensky has emphasised on Donald Trump’s role in mediating the war in Ukraine after he spoke to the US president yesterday.

After speaking with Mr Trump, Mr Zelensky said Kyiv and its partners might seek a high-level meeting among Ukraine, Russia, the United States, European Union countries and Britain as part of a push to end the war.

“It is crucial for all of us that the United States does not distance itself from the talks and the pursuit of peace, because the only one who benefits from that is Putin. I thank everyone who supports this approach,” he said on X in a post.

He added: “If Russia refuses to stop the killings, refuses to release prisoners of war and hostages, if Putin puts forward unrealistic demands, this will mean that Russia continues to drag out the war, and deserves that Europe, America, and the world act accordingly, including with further sanctions.”

Donald Trump has warned that he can still end the US-led peace efforts in the Ukraine-Russia war after he spoke to Vladimir Putin.

Mr Trump said there were “some big egos involved.” Without progress, “I’m just going to back away,” he said, repeating a warning that he could abandon the process. “This is not my war.”

“… (I) have a red line in my head on when I’ll stop pushing on Russia-Ukraine,” he said.