Ukraine war latest: Trump envoy says UK to join US at next peace talks while Putin told ‘take the deal’

A Russian drone attack in Ukraine’s eastern region of Donetsk has destroyed a multistorey building, photos have shown.

Ukraine’s state emergency services posted footage of the attack on the residential building in Belozerske, Donetsk region.

They wrote: “Preliminary reports indicate that 2 more people may be trapped under the rubble. Rescue and search operations are ongoing.”

Vladimir Putin’s strategy is “simply to destroy lives”, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said, as he posted footage of a Russian drone strike on the northeast city of Kharkiv.

Zelensky’s comments come as Ukraine continues to decide whether to attend a second round of peace talks with Moscow in Turkey next Monday.

Earlier, Zelensky claimed the talks would be “meaningless” unless Russia abandoned its maximalist demands.

Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan has visited Kyiv days after meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Fidan will spend two days in the Ukrainian capital to discuss ongoing efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

Turkey has taken on a mediation role and is due to host talks next Monday between Russia and Ukraine, though Kyiv is yet to confirm if it will attend.

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said Fidan told him about the outcomes of the Moscow meeting and discussed the next steps towards peace.

Turkey hopes that Russia and Ukraine will largely finish work on technical issues at their next potential talks aimed at ending the war, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Friday.

He added that Ankara wanted to host a leaders’ summit afterwards with the Turkish and US presidents also present.

Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv, to where he travelled after talks in Moscow earlier this week, Fidan said the 16 May talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul – the first direct contact between them in three years – marked a new start, adding he believed further meetings were possible.

But a war of words erupted following the offer, with Kyiv accusing Moscow of failing to send a memorandum outlining proposals for a future ceasefire – something it says was agreed upon during the previous talks. The latest row comes after US president Donald Trump issued a two-week deadline for Vladimir Putin to demonstrate he actually wants to end the war he started three years ago.

Ukrainian police officers have been pictured examining the site of a Russian drone attack in the northeast city of Kharkiv.

Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said Russian attacks on the city damaged 30 apartment buildings.

Oleh Syniehubov, governor of the wider region, said eight people, including two 16-year-olds, were injured in an attack in the nearby village of Vasyliv Khutir.

Below you can see a map of Russia’s frontline in Ukraine, as detailed by the British ministry of defence.

Russian forces launched a drone attack overnight that targeted a Ukrainian town on the border with Nato member Romania, Ukrainian officials said on Friday.

The attack hit the town of Izmail, Ukraine’s biggest port on the Danube river, which is important for critical imports and which lies across the river from Romania.

A post office branch was destroyed in the drone attack, regional Governor Oleh Kiper said.

He reported no casualties.

Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, suggested last night that peace talks in Turkey, proposed by Russia on Wednesday, will go ahead.

The official also claimed that the UK, Germany and France would attend the talks, scheduled for 2 June.

But we remind you that Kyiv is yet to accept Russia’s proposal for talks. They have suggested that Moscow is using the meeting to drag out talks while it continues its attacks on Ukraine.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said last night that Russia’s refusal to send a memorandum of their demands for peace ahead of the meeting, as previously promised, made next week’s talks “meaningless”.

Russia said it would provide this document after the previous peace talks on 16 May. It has since repeatedly said it needs more time to create the document, before announcing earlier this week that they would present the memorandum to Ukraine on 2 June in Turkey.

Ukraine says it has already sent its document.

Kyiv claims that Russia’s document is likely to include maximalist demands that amount to calls to end Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence, and that it will be impossible to have constructive talks based on such a memorandum. They have repeatedly asked for time to consider the document before the talks.