Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin’s forces launch fresh drone assault as Trump says Putin wants to meet him
Vladimir Putin’s forces have launched a fresh drone assault on Ukraine as Donald Trump revealed the Russian leader wants to meet him.
Russian troops fired up to 72 drones at Ukraine overnight, hitting various buildings in the northern region of Chernihiv, as Kyiv’s airforce was scrambled to down 33 of them, it said.
It comes as US president-elect Donald Trump said Putin wants to meet him and a meeting was being set up as the war in Ukraine crosses 1050-day mark.
“He wants to meet, and we are setting it up,” Mr Trump said in remarks before a meeting with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.
“President Putin wants to meet. He has said that even publicly and we have to get that war over with. That’s a bloody mess,” Trump said about the Russia-Ukraine war.
On Thursday, Trump pushed back his campaign pledge to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours and said six months was a more realistic target.
“The whole [Trump] team is obsessed with strength and looking strong, so they’re recalibrating the Ukraine approach,” a European official told the Financial Times.
