Ukraine war billed as 'existential'

The Kremlin said on Friday the Ukraine war was "existential" for Russia, after it launched a wave of retaliatory drone and missile strikes that killed at least five people.

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Meanwhile, Ukraine's air forces shot down a Russian Su-35 fighter jet yesterday morning, the Ukrainian military said.

The comments are Moscow's latest to dampen hopes for a breakthrough amid a flurry of meetings between Russian and Ukrainian delegations, as well as telephone calls between President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, aimed at stopping the fighting.

On Friday — days after the second round of Ukrainian-Russian ceasefire negotiations in Turkey ended without meaningful progress — the Kremlin cast its three-year invasion as nothing short of a battle for the “future” of Russia.

“For us it is an existential issue, an issue on our national interest, safety, on our future and the future of our children, of our country,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, responding to remarks by Mr Trump on Thursday comparing Moscow and Kyiv to brawling children.