A large-scale Russian drone and missile attack across Ukraine killed at least six people, even as U.S.-led efforts to end the war floundered and Ukraine’s president sought more foreign military help. Media reports say, repeated waves of missiles and drones targeted at least eight Ukrainian cities. Ukraine on the other hand claimed that it successfully launched a large-scale missile and air strike on a chemical plant in Russia’s Bryansk region that it calls crucial to Moscow’s war industry. Kyiv’s military said Storm Shadow missiles penetrated Russian air defenses, though the results were still being assessed.

 

 

Meanwhile, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special economic envoy, Kirill Dmitriev,  denied western media reports that plans for a summit between Mr Putin and US President Donald Trump in Budapest have been scrapped. Mr Peskov said the planned summit require careful preparation. He said no one wants to waste time, neither President Trump nor President Putin. 

 

 

Mr Trump had said that his plan for a swift meeting with Putin was on hold because he didn’t want it to be a waste of time. Ukranian President Mr Zelenskyy said today that Trump’s proposal to freeze the conflict where it stands on the front line was a good compromise, a step that could pave the way for negotiations.

 

 

The leaders of the US and Russia agreed during a phone call last week to meet in the Hungarian capital Budapest on an unspecified date.