Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv bombarded with drones and missiles ahead of Trump-Zelensky peace talks

President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of using apartment blocks in Belarus to attack Ukraine’s defences.

“We note that the Russians are trying to bypass our defensive interceptor positions through the territory of neighbouring Belarus. This is risky for Belarus,” the Ukrainian leader wrote on Telegram on Friday.

“It is unfortunate that Belarus is surrendering its sovereignty in favour of Russia’s aggressive ambitions.”

Belarus has remained a staunch ally of Russia, with President Vladimir Putin launching attacks on Ukraine from the territory in February 2022 that sparked the war.

Zelensky noted that Russian military were situated “in Belarusian settlements near the border, including on residential buildings.”

He added: “Antennae and other equipment are located on the roofs of ordinary five-storey apartment buildings, which help guide ‘Shaheds’ (Russian drones) to targets in our western regions. This is an absolute disregard for human lives, and it is important that Minsk stops playing with this.”

Poland has temporarily closed two airports in the south, Rzeszow and Lublin, after the Polish armed forces scrambled fighter jets due to Russian strikes on Ukraine, the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency said on Saturday.

Russia attacked Kyiv and other regions of Ukraine with missiles and drones on Saturday, ahead of what president Volodymyr Zelensky said would be a key meeting with US president Donald Trump to work out a deal to end nearly four years of war.

Before the overnight attacks, Mr Zelensky said his talks in Florida tomorrow would focus on the territory to be controlled by each side after a halt to the fighting that began in February 2022 with president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Russia’s smaller neighbour, Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two.

Explosions sounded in Kyiv as Ukraine’s air defence units went into action, and the military said on the Telegram messaging app that missiles were being deployed. The air force said Russian drones were targeting the capital and regions in the northeast and south.

An air raid alert remained in effect in the capital some four hours after being introduced, according to Reuters. There were no immediate reports of damage or power cuts

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he is open to putting his 20-point proposal, created during US-brokered peace talks, to a public vote if the US is not able to agree a “strong” position on the issue of territorial concessions.

He told Axios that he would be open to putting the proposal to a referendum, as long as Russia agreed to a 60-day ceasefire in order to allow Ukraine to prepare for and hold such a vote.

However, Volodymyr Zelensky said sensitive issues around territorial control in the country’s eastern industrial heartland, along with the management of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), remain unresolved.

However, Volodymyr Zelensky said sensitive issues around territorial control in the country’s eastern industrial heartland, along with the management of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), remain unresolved.

“This is a document referred to as a framework, a foundational document on ending the war, a political document between us, America, Europe, and the Russians,” Mr Zelensky said.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain reports:

Russian deputy foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov was positive about latest developments over peace deal, but accused Ukraine of trying to “torpedo” talks on the US plan.

“Our ability to make the final push and reach an agreement will depend on our own work and the political will of the other party,” Mr Ryabkov said on Russian television.

“Especially in a context where Kyiv and its sponsors – notably within the European Union, who are not in favour of an agreement – have stepped up efforts to torpedo it.”

He said the proposal drawn up with Mr Zelensky input “differs radically” from points initially drawn up by US and Russian officials in contacts in December.

“Without an adequate resolution of the problems at the origin of this crisis, it will be quite simply impossible to reach a definitive accord,” Mr Ryabkov added.

He said any deal had to “remain within the limits” fixed by Mr Trump and Russia’s president Vladimir Putin when they met in Alaska in August, or else “no accord can be reached”.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has issued special honours for Ukrainian military personnel as he hit out at Russian president Vladimir Putin and Moscow for “lies”.

In recent weeks Ukraine has claimed victory over significant parts of Kupiansk, a hotly contested region, but its success has been continuously denied by Russia.

“In recent weeks, I have heard partners thank us numerous times for Kupiansk – for our operation that restores faith in Ukraine and proves that Putin lies,” said Zelensky in a post on X/Twitter on Friday.

“It is clear to us that Moscow always lies; the world, however, must see at all times what is false and what is true. Our warriors know how to show the truth – know how to prove that Russia is wrong in this war, and that Ukraine’s partners are right in supporting our state and our people.”

A former Russian diplomat has been sentenced to 12 years in a maximum-security penal colony after being found guilty of treason.

Arseniy Konovalov, born in 1987, was accused of selling secrets to US intelligence while on a posting to America, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Friday.

“It was established that A S Konovalov, an employee of the Russian Foreign Ministry, during a long-term foreign assignment in the United States, proactively transferred secret information to American intelligence for money,” the FSB said in a statement.

Konovalov was first detained in March 2024.