Ukraine war latest: Putin 'trying to sabotage' ceasefire - as Russian leader heaps more praise on Trump

Thanks for following today's updates on the war in Ukraine.

Before we go, here's a summary of the key events over the last 24 hours:

• US envoy Steven Witkoff, Donald Trump's chief negotiator, returned from Moscow and talks with Vladimir Putin after little more than 12 hours. He is reported to have been given a series of conditions by the Russian president for the 30-day ceasefire that Ukraine has already agreed to.

• Trump, along with US secretary of state Marco Rubio, both claim the talks went well and indicate they are optimistic about progress but do not provide details.
• Volodomyr Zelenskyy says Putin is seeking to "sabotage" the proposed 30-day ceasefire, calling on Trump to exert pressure on Moscow and expressing the view that "American strength" can force Russia to agree to the pause in hostilities.
  
• While Ukraine loses its foothold in the Russian region of Kursk, Putin claims Ukrainian soldiers are surrounded by Russian forces and called for them to surrender. Kyiv has dismissed this claim as false, with a series of analysts also suggesting they are untrue. Despite neither he nor Putin providing evidence to support the account, Trump has today repeatedly echoed the Russian leader's version of events - saying "thousands" of Ukrainian troops are encircled and "in grave danger".
• Putin continued his policy of flattery towards Trump, saying he was "doing everything to restore at least something of what was basically destroyed by the previous US administration".
• In a meandering speech during a news conference ostensibly about the US Justice Department, Trump appeared to blame Ukraine for the war with Russia, saying "you don't want to pick on somebody that's a lot larger than you". Russia began the war with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

We reported in our 20.40 post about a Russian missile strike on a residential area in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on today.

The regional governor in Dnipropetrovsk, Serhiy Lysak, says the number injured has now risen to 11, including two children.

Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the city's military administration, said two areas took direct hits. One of the sites hit was a nightclub, he said.

Kryvyi Rih, Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown, has been the target of repeated attacks, with a Russian missile attack on Wednesday killing one person and damaging an infrastructure facility, high-rise apartment blocks and administrative buildings.

In the southern region of Kherson, Russian guided bombs struck a series of targets, including a residential area in the city of Kherson, killing one person, the regional governor.

And near the Black Sea city of Odesa, Russian drones attacked the nearby port of Chornomorsk, cutting power completely to its residents, the regional governor said.

Donald Trump has been speaking about Ukraine this evening while making a series of announcements regarding the US Justice Department.

In a characteristically rambling address, he says Ukraine has agreed to a ceasefire but that getting Russia to do so "is not easy".

He goes on to say he and Vladimir Putin had a "good" and "professional" relationship during his previous term as president.

The US president then makes a vague reference to "some very good results", saying: "I haven't wanted to say it until just before I came here, I got some pretty good news, but we have to see what happens."

Trump also again repeats Putin's claim - which neither has provided evidence for and which a number of analysts has said is untrue - that Russian forces have encircled a "large number" of Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk.

In increasingly meandering remarks that will further alarm leaders in Kyiv and Europe, he then says "Biden should have never let this war happen" before appearing to suggest Ukraine was to blame for the conflict with Russia.

"First of all, you don't want to pick on somebody that's a lot larger than you," he said.

"Even with the money... there's a lot of money that we gave them and a lot of equipment... we make the best military equipment in the world but even with all that, erm, it's er... unbelievable right now."

The war began when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

We return now to a key theme of reporting around the war today - Vladimir Putin's claims that large numbers of Ukrainian troops are encircled by Russian forces in Kursk.

Despite no evidence seemingly having been provided to support the claim, it is one Donald Trump has echoed, saying "thousands" are surrounded in the Russian region.

A number of analysts have indicated the assertion is untrue, with one suggesting Putin's motive in attempting to propagate it.

Janis Kluge, a senior associate at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said the Russian president was seeking to "distract" Trump from the 30-day ceasefire proposal - a plan Ukraine has agreed to and accused Putin of attempting to "sabotage" (see 16.38 post).

While much of today's reporting has centred on the diplomacy surrounding efforts to bring the war to an end, hostilities have continued largely unabated on the ground.

A regional governor said a Russian missile struck a residential area in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih today, injuring four people.

Governor Serhiy Lysak also posted a photo on his Telegram channel, showing damage to a building which appeared to house a number of businesses.

Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the city's military administration, warned people to remain inside shelters because of the danger of a repeat strike at the site, a recurring Russian practice.

Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's home town, has been the target of repeated attacks in the three-year-old war against Russia.

A Russian missile attack on Wednesday killed one person and damaged an infrastructure facility, high-rise apartment blocks and administrative buildings.

Germany's chancellor-in-waiting expects the country to release 3bn euros (£2.52bn) in military aid for Ukraine once the upper house has passed a plan to allow drastically higher public spending, he has said.

"There will be no shortage of financial resources to defend freedom and peace on our continent," Friedrich Merz said, announcing an agreement with the Social Democrats and Greens on constitutional reform to exempt defence and security spending from debt rules.

As pressure continues to mount on Vladimir Putin to accept a ceasefire deal, there's one key figure that's credited with being the architect of the peace plan and the bridge between the Trump administration, Europe and Ukraine.

Sir Keir Starmer appointed Jonathan Powell to be his national security adviser at one of the most critical points in European security since the Cold War. 

He has spent years at the heart of government, helping to broker the peace deal in Northern Ireland and more recently the controversial Chagos deal. 

On this episode of the Sky News Daily, Niall Paterson looks at the key role Powell is playing in working towards a lasting peace deal with political correspondent Rob Powell, and former national security adviser Lord Peter Ricketts. 

You can also follow the podcast here, so you never miss an episode. 

Donald Trump "doesn't do plans" and that won't be any different as he tries to negotiate peace, his former national security adviser John Bolton has said.

"What we're seeing now is Vladimir Putin manoeuvring to get to the point where he has a one-on-one phone conversation with Trump," he told our presenter Jonathan Samuels.

Asked whether he thinks Russia's president is manipulating Trump, Bolton said: "I think so.

"If you look at the American position on the war, the only regret in the Kremlin is they didn't ask for more."

He said that leaves Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a "difficult place" to have the US negotiate with him and then separately negotiate with Russia.

But when asked whether Trump could be hiding a plan that we're all unaware of as he tries to secure peace, Bolton said: "No, of course not.

"He doesn't do plans. He thinks relations between states are the real equivalent of the personal relationships between the leaders."

Bolton added that while Trump is looking forward to his call with Putin, he explained "that's not Putin's view" and that the Russian president views Trump as an "easy mark".

Earlier, we brought you comments from US secretary of state Marco Rubio who was speaking about the ceasefire deal from the G7 meeting in Canada.

Watch what we had to say below...