The head of the Kremlin-backed government in annexed Crimea blamed Ukraine yesterday for a deadly drone strike, while Kyiv said a Russian attack had killed three people in the country’s southeast.

 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would meet US counterpart Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly next week as Russia intensified strikes across his country.

Ukrainian forces have pushed back some of the advances Russia made over the summer, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday, calling the operation an “important success” after months of battlefield setbacks.

Ukraine yesterday received 1,000 bodies from Russia that Moscow said were of fallen Ukrainian soldiers, a Kyiv government agency announced.

US President Donald Trump yesterday said his patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin was running out, as the Kremlin announced a “pause” in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.

A Russian airstrike killed 24 elderly people who were collecting pensions in a village in eastern Ukraine, officials said yesterday, prompting President Volodymyr Zelensky to urge Kyiv’s allies to increase pressure on Moscow to end its war.

The head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Andriy Yermak, said he discussed Sunday's attack -- the first of its kind in the more than three-year war -- with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio

Russia launched its largest air attack of the war on Ukraine overnight, setting the main building of the Ukrainian government on fire in central Kyiv and killing at least four people in the capital including an infant, Ukrainian officials said yesterday.

Russian strikes across Ukraine overnight killed at least two people and wounded dozens more, authorities said, as a nationwide air alert was declared

Russia launched “massive” strikes across Ukraine overnight, rescue services said yesterday, a new blow to peace efforts that drew a fresh appeal from President Volodymyr Zelensky for US and European help.

On the eve of a visit to China, Russian leader Vladimir Putin blasted Western sanctions as his country’s economy teetered on the brink of recession, wounded by trade curbs and the cost of his war in Ukraine.

Ukrainian Navy’s reconnaissance ship Simferopol, which was reportedly the largest ship commissioned by the country in over a decade, has been hit and sunk in a naval drone strike, the Russian Defence Ministry announced on Thursday.

"Europe must not miss this opportunity -– it should define real foundations for joint action," Zelensky said

Russia pounded Ukraine with deadly missiles and drone strikes early yesterday in a sweeping attack that President Volodymyr Zelensky said was Moscow’s answer to diplomatic efforts to end its war.

US President Donald Trump renewed a threat to impose sanctions on Russia if there is no progress toward a peaceful settlement in Ukraine in two weeks, showing frustration at Moscow a week after his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

Russia yesterday ruled out an immediate meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, as diplomatic tension escalated with the Ukrainian president and US mediation efforts appeared to stumble.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he could meet with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, but only after his allies agree security guarantees for Ukraine to deter future Russian attacks once the fighting stops.

Russia on Tuesday returned the bodies of what it said were 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers, five of whom died while in captivity, a Ukrainian government agency said.

US President Donald Trump yesterday said he hoped Russia’s Vladimir Putin would move forward on ending the war in Ukraine, but conceded that the Kremlin leader may not want to make a deal at all, adding this would create a “rough situation” for Putin.

Ushakov in his remarks did not specify what he meant by raising the level at meetings, and did not directly address the possibility of a trilateral meeting between the leaders