Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kremlin says it has ‘no idea’ when Trump-Putin summit will take place

European leaders including those of Britain, France, Germany, Ukraine and the European Union have issued a joint statement in support of US President Donald Trump’s position on ending the fighting between Ukraine and Russia.

“We strongly support President Trump's position that the fighting should stop immediately, and that the current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations,” the statement published by several European governments including the UK on Tuesday, said.

“We must ramp up the pressure on Russia's economy and its defence industry, until Putin is ready to make peace. We are developing measures to use the full value of Russia's immobilised sovereign assets so that Ukraine has the resources it needs.”

For a man who prides himself on conducting diplomacy by instinct and through personal relationships, Donald Trump’s susceptibility to Vladimir Putin has long puzzled observers – and rightly caused extreme distress to those who stand to lose the most from it. He really doesn’t seem to be able to see Vladimir Putin for what he is: a cunning, ruthless and cruel imperialist, and a danger to the West.

A Russian drone attack has killed four people in Ukraine’s Chernihiv region. Four others have been injured in the strike, according to the Suspilne broadcaster who cited police.

Russia has said its terms for peace have remained unchanged since it began its military action against Ukraine in 2022.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he was surprised by an “unscrupulous” CNN report that suggested the White House had postponed its meetings with Russia this week due to diverging views about the end of the conflict.

“I want to officially confirm: Russia has not changed its position compared to the understandings that were reached during the Alaska summit,” Lavrov told reporters on Tuesday.

He said he had told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio the same during a phone call on Monday.

Ukraine’s Parliament has voted to increase its defence spending by $7.7bn for the next year, it was announced on Tuesday.

The bill was based by 297 lawmakers, a comfortable majority.

The country is forced to spend a significant amount of its annual budget on fighting Russia, after it invaded its territory in February 2022.

As the lights went out in her hometown, 40-year-old Zinaida Kot could not help but think about her next dialysis treatment for kidney disease. Without electricity, the machine that keeps her alive stops working.

Kot is among millions of Ukrainians who are bracing for another winter of power cuts and possibly blackouts as Russia renewed its campaign of attacks on the country’s energy grid. Analysts and officials say that this year Moscow has shifted tactics, targeting specific regions and gas infrastructure.

Reuters news agency is reporting that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky will travel to Brussels to attend a summit of the European Council on Thursday.

The summit is expected to discuss Ukraine and European defence, among other things, the European Union says.

Mr Zelensky is then expected to travel to London on Friday to attend a meeting of Kyiv's allies known as the "coalition of the willing".

People gather next to destroyed shops following what local authorities called a Ukrainian overnight drone attack in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Bataysk in the Rostov region, Russia on 21 October 2025.