Russia drone attacks make mockery of ceasefire talks

Russia launched a mass drone attack on Ukraine’s energy grid yesterday just hours after Vladimir Putin agreed with Donald Trump to halt such strikes, although the US president has claimed efforts to secure a ceasefire are very much on track”.

- CHRIS STEVENSON

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said the overnight barrage proved Mr Putin’s word was “very much at odds with reality” before holding his own call with Mr Trump yesterday, a call the US president said had been “very good” and had helped to “align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs”.

“We are very much on track,” Mr Trump said on the Truth Social platform straight after the call – the first time he had spoken to Mr Zelensky since a public bust-up between the two at the White House last month. Lasting an hour, the call was significantly shorter than the one held with Mr Putin the previous day, but was called “fantastic” by the White House.

The strikes launched by Russia highlight just how big a gap Washington must bridge over a peace deal, with Mr Putin having refused to back a full 30-day ceasefire already agreed by Kyiv. Mr Zelensky said the drone strikes had knocked out the electricity for parts of the city of Slovyansk in eastern Ukraine, and had hit other civilian infrastructure, including two hospitals and more than 20 houses. Ukraine’s state railway company said that part of the network was hit both in the early strikes and later yesterday afternoon.