Ukraine war latest: Trump says ‘strong words’ exchanged with European leaders

donald trump Says he and European leaders exchanged “very strong words” on the call in which they discussed the proposal to end it ukraine war.

Sir keir starmerof france Emmanuel Macron and germany Friedrich Merz Trump spoke late Wednesday night and afterward said it was “a critical moment for Ukraine, its people, and the shared security across the Euro-Atlantic region.”

Trump also called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky He “has to be realistic” about his country’s position on the peace plan and said the US would “make decisions based on what they come back with”.

As tensions rose over the US push for a deal, the leaders of Germany, Britain and France spoke by phone with Trump and requested a meeting with the US and Ukraine later this week.

Washington’s goal of a quick agreement to prevent fighting following a full-scale invasion by Russia in 2022 is reducing the room for maneuver for Kiev.

Zelensky is walking a tight rope between protecting Ukrainian interests and showing Trump he is willing to compromise, even though Moscow has shown no signs of publicly backing down from its demands.

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

According to the report, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner briefed the Ukrainian president about the latest deadline during a two-hour phone call. Wire.

Ukrainian officials have been quoted as saying that the Trump administration has renewed its efforts to pressure Ukraine to cede territory to Russia in exchange for undefined security guarantees.

Ukrainian negotiators have said they feel they have not been given enough details about possible security guarantees from Washington to make a decision on leaving the territory, which they have always considered non-negotiable in peace talks.

Rosaviatsiya, Russia’s civil aviation authority, says operations at all airports in the Moscow region have been suspended.

At least 31 drones headed for 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 that it was handling diverted flights from the capital.

Several airports in central Russia also suspended arrivals and departures.

Russian air defense forces shot down at least 31 drones headed for Moscow on Wednesday evening and overnight, the city’s mayor said.

The drones were shot down over a period of about three and a half hours, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. He said that a drone was shot down in the afternoon.

Sobyanin said emergency teams had been dispatched to examine the debris on the ground. He showed no signs of any damage or injury.

Moscow usually only confirms how many Ukrainian drones it has downed, and does not provide the total number shot down.

The Ministry of Defense has revealed the name of a British soldier killed while on duty in Ukraine.

Lance Corporal George Hooley, 28, of the Parachute Regiment, died in a “tragic accident” on Tuesday morning as he watched Ukrainian forces test a new defensive capability.

Paying tribute to the Prime Minister’s questions on Wednesday. sir keir starmer Said: “Lance Corporal Hooley was injured in a tragic accident far from the front line while watching Ukrainian forces test a new defensive capability.

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

Kiev’s military said a Russian mechanized attack took place inside the eastern city of Pokrovsk yesterday.

“The Russians used armored vehicles, cars and motorcycles. The convoy attempted to enter the northern part of the city from the south,” Ukraine’s 7th Quick Reaction Corps said in a statement on Wednesday morning’s attack.

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

Russia claims full control of Pokrovsk, but Kiev says it holds the northern part of the city, where fierce urban fighting has taken place.

A Ukrainian maritime drone hit and disabled a tanker carrying Russian oil as it was sailing through the Black Sea in Ukraine’s exclusive economic zone towards the Russian port of Novorossiysk, a Ukrainian official said.

It is the third maritime drone in two weeks on ships that make up Russia’s “shadow fleet” of irregular vessels that Kiev says are helping Moscow export oil and finance its war.

Insurance costs for ships bound for the Black Sea have reached a peak as the conflict has spread across sea routes.

The EU’s enlargement chief said on Wednesday that Ukraine’s EU membership is “inevitable”, and he is confident Hungary will not deviate from its path.

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

“On Ukraine’s EU membership – which is inevitable – I see it as a political basis for security guarantees,” she said, adding, “There has never been a war on EU territory.”

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

Nevertheless, Kos dismissed their objections, saying “We do not need Orbán to make the reforms that are necessary for Ukraine to become an EU member.”

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

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