Ukraine war latest: Angry Trump team admit fast peace deal with Putin now unlikely

More from Volodymyr Zelensky, who called for a global response following Russia’s overnight drone attack.

In a direct message to Western allies, Mr Zelensky says “new and tangible pressure” is needed on Moscow to bring the war to an end.

The US and European countries must not wait until April 11, when it will be a month since Russia rejected the US ceasefire proposal, he added.

“This systematic and constant nature of Russian strikes clearly indicates that Moscow despises the diplomatic efforts of partners,” Mr Zelensky wrote on X. “Putin does not even want to ensure a partial ceasefire.

“We should not wait until April 11, when it will be a month since Russia said ‘no’ to the American proposal for a ceasefire. Action must be taken as soon as possible.”

Kyiv is ready to work with partners from the US and Europe to achieve a “dignified and lasting peace”, he added.

Three children were injured during the 74-drone attack on Ukraine by Russian forces, Volodymyr Zelensky added in his X post.

Kharkiv was the most heavily targeted area in the attack, facing at least 14 drones. The attack involved 54 Iran-made Shahed drones in total, the Ukrainian president added.

All the wounded are receiving the “necessary assistance” he said.

Russian attacks damaged multiple energy facilities in Ukraine, president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday.

Facilities in the Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions were damaged, with electricity cut to nearly 4,000 consumers, Mr Zelensky wrote on X.

A drone hit a substation in the northeastern Sumy region andn artillery fire damaged a power line in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, he said.

Kyiv and Moscow had agreed with the US to a pause on energy infrastructure attacks, but both side has accused the other of violating this truce.

The Ukrainian military recorded 176 clashes with Russian forces over the past day, 64 of which took place on the eastern Pokrovsk front.

Vladimir Putin’s forces have been steadily advancing near Pokrovsk, a strategic Ukrainian town which serves as a supply hub for other areas of the frontline. Russia has aimed to cut supply lines to and from Pokrovsk to other Ukrainian-controlled areas.

Clashes were also recorded on the fronts in Kharkiv, Kupiansk, Lyman, Toretsk, Kursk and others.

The grinding war of attrition in eastern Ukraine has seen Russia send large masses of troops charging towards stretched Ukrainian defences, claiming incremental territorial gains at the cost of large manpower losses.

Moscow cannot accept the current US proposals on ending the war in Ukraine, a Russian diplomat said on Tuesday, as Washington expresses the first signs of anger over Vladimir Putin’s stalling of a peace settlement.

Russia is giving serious consideration to the proposals but Washington must take into account what the Kremlin regards as the root causes of the conflict, deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said according to state media.

“We take the models and solutions proposed by the Americans very seriously, but we can’t accept it all in its current form,” he said.

“As far as we can see, there is no place in them today for our main demand, namely to solve the problems related to the root causes of this conflict,” he told Russia’s International Affairs magazine.

“It is completely absent, and that must be overcome,” he was quoted as saying.

After weeks of working with Vladimir Putin to reach a peace deal in Ukraine, Donald Trump has now said he is “p***** off” with the Russian leader.

In and NBC interview, the US president said he was “very angry” with Putin for attacking Volodymyr Zelensky’s governence.

“You could say that I was very angry, pissed off, when… Putin started getting into Zelensky’s credibility, because that’s not going in the right location,” Trump told NBC.

Last week, the Russian president said Ukraine should be put under external UN governance as part of the ceasefire process.

His suggestion that Zelensky’s leadership was illegitimate was met with condemnation from leaders around the world.

“New leadership means you’re not gonna have a deal for a long time,” Trump added in his interview with NBC.

Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s international cooperation envoy, has responded to reports that he is set to visit Washington this week.

“Maybe. The resistance to US–Russia dialogue is real—driven by entrenched interests and old narratives,” he wrote on X.

“But what if improved relations are exactly what the world needs for lasting global security and peace?”

He later posted a poll, asking his followers: “Are good U.S.–Russia relations good for the world?”

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, two sources told Reuters.

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.