Donald Trump after a phone call withVolodymyr Zelenskyycalled for “ideally, a 30-day unconditional ceasefire”.“If the ceasefire is not respected, the US and its partners will impose further sanctions,” Trump posted. Zelenskyy said after the call on Thursday that he told Trump that Ukraine was ready for talks on the war with Russia “in any format” but first “Russia must show that it is serious about ending the war, starting with a full and unconditional ceasefire”.
The call betweenDonald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyyon Thursday went “very well”, said a senior Ukrainian official. The conversation lasted about 20 minutes and focused on diplomacy and the genuine ceasefire that the US and Ukraine are trying to establish, while the presidents also discussed theUkraine-US minerals deal, ratified on Thursday by the Ukrainian parliament.
Ukraine hasaccused Russia of violating Vladimir Putin’s self-declared ceasefire734 times within its first 12 hours. Kyiv’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, called it a “farce”. The Russian president’s unagreed ceasefire aims to protect parades and other proceedings on Russia’s biggest secular holiday, the 80th anniversary of victory over Germany in the second world war.
In its opening hours, Russian bombs struck north-east Ukraine, killing at least one civilian, said Ukrainian officials who added that artillery assaults took place across the 1,000km (620 mile) frontline, although with less intensity than in the previous 24 hours. Russia carried out 63 assaults along the frontline. Attacks took place near Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region.Large-scale missile and drone attacksabated for a short time, the Ukrainian air force said. ButRussian forces fired a missile in central Ukraine’s Poltava region, a top regional official said, damaging roofs of houses when air defences brought it down.
The Russian defence Ministry accused Ukrainian forces of attacking its positions and said Russian forces would continue to “mirror” Ukraine’s actions during the Kremlin’s ceasefire.The Russian regions of Belgorod, Lipetsk, Orenburg, Ryazan and Tambov issued drone alerts, but there were no reports of any drones being shot down or intercepted. Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia briefly imposedrestrictions on flightsto and from the airport in Nizhny Novgorod.
Reuters journalists with a Ukrainian drone unit near the front in eastern Ukraine said aRussian infantry raiding party tried to advance on Thursday, but was stopped by drones. “The infantry are still coming,” said one of the soldiers in the unit, a 33-year-old who identified himself by his callsign Mikha. A second person who identified himself as Nazar said in the six hours since the Russian ceasefire started there had been three strikes on his section of the front:“The facts speak for themselves.”
Germany said Trump voiced support forEuropean efforts to end the Ukraine warin a first phone call with the newGerman chancellor, Friedrich Merz. A German statement said: “Trump said he would strongly support Germany’s efforts, together with France, Great Britain, Poland and other European partners, to achieve lasting peace.” Merz assured Zelenskyy of his support and remained open to arming Ukraine with Germany’s Taurus cruise missiles, which the previous chancellor, Olaf Scholz, refused to do.
Britain has announced furthersanctions targeting Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers. Keir Starmer, the prime minister, said his government was sanctioning up to 100 tankers responsible for carrying more than $24bn worth of cargo since the start of 2024. The UK also said theships are damaging critical subsea cablesin Europe.
Starmer is due to attend ameeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF)in Oslo on Friday where Ukraine and Arctic security are on the agenda. The British-led military alliance is expected to announcefurther support for Ukraine’s armed forces including intensive training exercises and efforts to counter disinformation. The JEF consists of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, the Netherlands, and Sweden, as well as the UK.