The Kremlin has welcomed a meeting with US president-elect Donald Trump just days after he claimed Vladimir Putin wanted to sit down with him.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said there could be progress on setting up the meeting after Trump is sworn in as US president on 20 January.
Trump claimed Putin wanted to meet with him as he spoke with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, earlier this week.
“President Putin wants to meet. He has said that even publicly and we have to get that war over with. That’s a bloody mess,” he said.
On Thursday, Trump pushed back his campaign pledge to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours and said six months was a more realistic target.
“The whole [Trump] team is obsessed with strength and looking strong, so they’re recalibrating the Ukraine approach,” a European official told the Financial Times.
Meanwhile, Russia accused Ukraine of carrying out a missile strike on a supermarket in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk with US-supplied weapons.
Dashcam footage posted by a driver nearby appeared to show the moment the supermarket was struck, with an ensuing large explosion and flames soaring into the sky.
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Russia dropped more than 50,000 glide bomb on Ukraine since Feb 22, says Kyiv
Russia has launched over 51,000 of guided aerial bombs on Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine‘s air force said on Thursday.
About 40,000 of the total number was used in 2024, it said on Telegram.
Europe expects Trump to stay engaged with Ukraine, says Meloni
Europe expects US president-elect Donald Trump to continue supporting Ukraine and strike a balance between diplomacy with and deterrence against Russia, Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni has claimed.
Ms Meloni says she does not expect Mr Trump to disengage from Ukraine despite concerns he could sacrifice Ukrainian interests to push for an end to its war with Russia.
But she added that security guarantees are needed for Ukraine to prevent another Russian invasion.
Zelensky says allies’ deployment in Ukraine one of best ways to bring peace closer
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the potential deployment of partners’ contingent in Ukraine “is one of the best instruments” to force Russia into peace.
“Let’s be more practical in making it possible,” he said in an address to allies at the Ramstein military base in Germany.
French president Emmanuel Macron remains the only European leader to have spoken openly about the possibility of Paris’ troops being sent to Ukraine.
The Russian glide bombs changing the face of the war in Ukraine
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Winged explosives weighing up to 1,500 kilograms – and nicknamed the ‘building destroyer’ – have had a devastating impact wherever they have been used, writes Tom Watling. Kyiv is battling them as best it can but needs Western allies to step up and provide more weapons, air defences and ammunition
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Source: independent.co.uk