Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump says ‘strong words’ exchanged in call with European leaders

Donald Trump says he and European leaders exchanged “pretty strong words” on a call discussing his proposal to end the Ukraine war.

Sir Keir Starmer, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Friedrich Merz spoke with Trump late on Wednesday, and said afterwards that it was a “critical moment for Ukraine, its people and for shared security across the Euro-Atlantic region”.

Trump also said Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky “has to be realistic” about his country’s position on a peace plan, and said the US will “make a determination depending on what they come back with”.

As tension builds around a US forced push for a settlement, the leaders of Germany, Britain and France spoke to Trump by phone and requested a meeting this weekend with the US and Ukraine.

Washington’s goal of a swift compromise to stop the fighting that followed Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 is reducing Kyiv’s room for manoeuvres.

Zelensky is walking a tightrope between defending Ukrainian interests and showing Trump he is willing to compromise, even as Moscow shows no public sign of budging from its demands.

Volodymyr Zelensky has been told by Donald Trump that Ukraine has until Christmas to accept his deal to end the war with Russia.

The latest deadline was relayed to the Ukrainian president by Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner during a two-hour phone call, reported The Telegraph.

The Trump administration has resumed its efforts to pressure Ukraine into ceding territory to Russia in exchange for undefined security guarantees, Ukrainian officials were quoted as saying.

Ukrainian negotiators have said they feel like they have not been offered sufficient details about potential security guarantees from Washington in order to decide on the matter of giving up territory, which they have always held as a non-negotiable in the peace talks.

Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia says operations have been suspended at all airports in the Moscow area.

At least 31 drones en route to Moscow were shot down on Wednesday evening and overnight, the city’s mayor said.

Pulkovo airport in St Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, said on Telegram it was handling flights diverted from the capital.

Several airports in central Russia also suspended arrivals and departures.

Russian air defences shot down at least 31 drones en route to Moscow on Wednesday evening and overnight, the city’s mayor said.

The drones were downed over a period of about three and a half hours, said mayor Sergei Sobyanin. One drone was downed in the afternoon, he said.

Sobyanin said emergency crews were dispatched to examine debris on the ground. He gave no indication of any damage or injuries.

Moscow typically only confirms how many Ukrainian drones it has downed, and does not provide the total number fired.

A British soldier killed on duty in Ukraine has been named by the Ministry of Defence.

Lance Corporal George Hooley, 28, of the Parachute Regiment, died in a “tragic accident” while observing Ukrainian forces testing a new defensive capability on Tuesday morning.

Paying tribute at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Sir Keir Starmer said: “Lance Corporal Hooley was injured in a tragic accident away from the front lines while observing Ukrainian forces testing a new defensive capability.

“His life was full of courage and determination. He served our country with honour and distinction around the world in the cause of freedom and democracy, including as part of the small number of British personnel in Ukraine.”

A Russian mechanised attack took place inside the eastern city of Pokrovsk yesterday, Kyiv’s military said.

“The Russians used armoured vehicles, cars, and motorcycles. The convoys attempted to break through from the south to the northern part of the city,” Ukraine’s 7th rapid response corps said in a statement on Wednesday morning’s assault.

It comes as part of Moscow’s campaign to seize the entire industrial Donbas region, in which Russian troops have pushed forward in small infantry groups for months to capture of former logistics hub.

Russia has claimed it has full control of Pokrovsk, but Kyiv maintains that it holds the northern part of the city, where fierce urban battles have raged.

Ukrainian sea drones hit and disabled a tanker involved trading Russian oil as it sailed through the Black sea in Ukraine’s exclusive economic zone on its way to the Russian port of Novorossiysk, a Ukrainian official reported.

This marks the third sea drone in two weeks on vessels which form Russia’s “shadow fleet” of unregulated ships which Kyiv says are helping Moscow export oil and fund its war.

Insurance costs for ships sailing to the Black sea have peaked as the conflict spills into sea lanes.

The European Union’s enlargement chief said on Wednesday that she is Ukraine’s EU membership is “inevitable”, and that she is confident Hungary will not derail it’s path.

“I’m not worried,” Commissioner Marta Kos told reporters while visiting a thermal power plant in Western Ukraine that was badly damaged by Russia’s campaign against civilian infrastructure. “I would be worried if there were real concerns.”

“On EU membership of Ukraine — which is inevitable — I see this as a political anchor of security guarantees,” she said, noting that “There has never been a war on the territory of the European Union.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has opposed launching membership talks while the war continues, arguing it would be a disaster for the EU, including Hungarian farmers.

Yet, Kos dismissed his objections saying “We do not need Orbán to do the reforms which are necessary for Ukraine to become a member of the EU.”

Kyiv applied for EU membership in 2022 shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Ukraine hopes to join the block by the end of the decade, meanwhile its path to NATO membership looks uncertain.