Ukraine war live: Trump claims he didn’t want meeting with Putin ‘waste of time’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has attacked Russia’s diplomacy efforts, saying they mean “nothing” after it attacked its capital Kiev overnight.

“Russian words about diplomacy mean nothing until the Russian leadership realizes there are serious problems,” Zelensky wrote on X/Twitter.

“And this can only be ensured through sanctions, long-range capabilities, and coordinated diplomacy among all our partners.”

He called for a “strong sanctions package” supported by the EU and sanctions measures from the US and the G7.

Zelensky added: “And whoever helps Ukraine with long-range capabilities will bring the end of the war closer.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said more people were confirmed dead after overnight attacks, including in the country’s capital Kiev.

“Kiev, Odessa, Chernihiv, Dnipro, Kirovohrad, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhia, Cherkasy and Sumy regions were attacked,” he wrote on X/Twitter.

“As of now, 17 people are known to be injured. Unfortunately, 6 people died, including 2 children. My condolences to their families and loved ones.”

US President Donald Trump said he does not want to “waste” his time as long-awaited talks between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin were cancelled.

This meeting was to be held in Budapest, the capital of Hungary.

However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has said that preparations for the discussions will continue.

“(Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter) Szijjarto is in Washington,” he wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.

“Preparations for the peace summit are ongoing. The date is still uncertain. We will hold it when the time comes.”

Russia and Ukraine spent last night in tit-for-tat attacks on its logistics and energy infrastructure using cruise missiles and long-range bombing attacks.

Ukraine bombed Russian facilities in Bryansk and Smolensk inside Russia as part of its campaign to disrupt the Kremlin’s efforts to supply its troops inside Ukraine.

Two people were killed in Kiev by Kremlin forces, who also attacked Zaporizhia, Dnipro and electrical power plants across the country as part of Vladimir Putin’s efforts to disrupt energy supplies as winter approaches and temperatures drop.

Yesterday Russian forces launched a significant ground attack on the southern border near Zaporizhia, using armored vehicles and even tanks.

Ukrainian drone footage shows these being destroyed on a large scale, but it is unclear whether Russian infantry has managed to gain a foothold in the blasted villages to use as bridgeheads in future attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will visit Sweden on Wednesday for a meeting with Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.

The Swedish leader told Swedish Radio: “My meeting with President Zelensky will take place today at Saab and we will discuss a quite important export deal”.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said on Wednesday that at least two children have been killed in a Russian attack in Kiev.

A total of three people were killed in the attack involving drones and missiles and which targeted the energy sector, according to officials.

“A massive combined missile and air strike was carried out, including the use of air launched storm shadow missilesWhich successfully penetrated the Russian air defense system. The consequences of the attack are being assessed,” the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a post on X.

“The Bryansk chemical plant is a key facility of the military-industrial complex of the aggressor state,” the Ukrainian military said.

Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of Bryansk, where the plant is located, acknowledged that Ukraine was attacking the area with drones and missiles on Tuesday afternoon. He said that no one was injured in the attack and there was no news of any damage.

At least two people have been killed in a significant Russian drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian capital.

Emergency services in Kiev said they rescued 10 people early today after a fire caused by drone debris broke out on the sixth floor of a 16-story residential building in the city’s Dnipro district, where two people were found dead, local officials said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said on his Telegram channel that windows at a medical facility were also blown out in the attack and debris was found in another residential building.

Emergency services were responding after drone debris hit a 17-storey residential building in the capital’s Darnitsky district, causing a fire across five floors. Fifteen people, including two children, had to be rescued.

Large-scale overnight airstrikes also targeted other cities in Ukraine, including Zaporizhia and the port city of Izmail in the southern Odessa region.

“Russia’s attacks on civilians have long become the signature of a terrorist entity disguised as a state. Ukraine has already agreed to the US proposal for a ceasefire. Moscow, however, is doing everything possible to continue the killing,” top presidential official Andrey Yermak said in a post on Twitter.

The choice of Budapest as the summit venue had raised many questions ahead of the now-cancelled meeting between Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Perhaps chief among them was the symbolic issue that the same location hosted a 1994 conference at which Russia promised not to invade Ukraine in exchange for giving up the nuclear weapons it inherited after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

While Budapest has remained an outlier among European capitals since the start of Putin’s war on Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has maintained warm relations with otherwise isolated Russia.

The venue was also potentially problematic because Putin is wanted at the International Criminal Court – of which Hungary is a treaty member. However, it was considered unlikely that the Hungarian government would cooperate with the warrant, as it is in the process of leaving the court.

The matter was also complicated by Budapest’s geography – any visit to the Hungarian capital would require Putin to fly over the airspace of other less friendly EU countries.

Poland said on Tuesday it could forcefully shoot down Putin’s plane and arrest him on an international warrant if it flew over its territory. Ultimately Bulgaria said that Putin could use its airspace to reach the meeting.

Sir Richard Branson, who has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine and a critic of the Kremlin, said, “The whole irony of Putin and Trump meeting in Budapest so soon to jointly seal Ukraine’s fate is that no one should have to suffer through it.”

He said, “This is the same city where the US, Britain and Russia came together 31 years ago and gave Ukraine a firm assurance that in return for giving up one-third of the world’s nuclear weapons (to Russia!) its territorial integrity would be respected and protected within existing borders.”

“Ukraine trusted the US, trusted Britain, transferred all its nuclear weapons to Russia and joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”