The Kremlin said that Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump discussed the conflict in Ukraine in a “constructive” phone call on Saturday.

Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said that Putin congratulated Trump and the American people on the 250th anniversary of America’s independence during the call that lasted nearly an hour and half, their fourth conversation so far this year.

Ushakov said that Trump reaffirmed his “readiness to help achieve a quick cessation of hostilities and search for peaceful solutions to settle the crisis” in Ukraine, while Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will continue mediation efforts and stand ready to visit Moscow.

The Kremlin adviser said Putin once again emphasized Russia’s “preference for a diplomatic settlement of the conflict, provided that Russia’s well-known, fundamental positions are taken into account.”

At the same time, Putin charged that Kyiv and its European allies are “betting on prolonging, and even escalating the conflict,” arguing that “the European ‘party of war’ proceeds from a flawed perception of the overall situation and the state of things along the line of contact,” Ushakov said.

He added that Putin told Trump about the “real situation on the battlefield, where Russian armed forces are confidently advancing, liberating one settlement after another.”

The Russian leader specifically mentioned the capture of the Ukrainian stronghold of Kostyantynivka, describing it as a key step toward the “liberation” of the entire Donetsk region.

Kyiv has denied the Russian claim of capturing Kostyantynivka. Ukraine’s General Staff reiterated that the embattled city remains under Ukrainian control in a statement on Telegram on Sunday, a day after Zelensky said that Russia’s claim to have taken control was “just another Russian lie.”

Ukraine has refused to halt shelling of the town of Kostiantynivka in the east of the country to allow Russia to hand over the bodies of fallen Ukrainian soldiers, the Russian defence ministry claimed yesterday.

Russian ⁠military commanders told president Vladimir Putin on Friday ⁠that Moscow’s forces had ​taken ⁠control of Kostiantynivka, though ‌Ukraine denied the claim, saying its forces remained in control ‌of the town.

Ukraine’s defence ministry ⁠and general staff did not immediately comment on the remarks from Russia.

Kostiantynivka is a key locality whose capture Moscow has long sought in its military campaign in the Donetsk region.

Russia said it had proposed a six-hour ceasefire in and around Kostiantynivka on Monday to facilitate the handover of Ukrainian ‌servicemen’s bodies and had ​given Kyiv until ‌0900 GMT on Sunday ⁠to respond.

US president Donald Trump will meet with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky while in Turkey this week for a Nato summit to make a renewed push to end the war in Ukraine, a senior US official said.

Trump is scheduled to arrive at the summit on Tuesday. His first meeting will be with the summit host, Turkish president Rcep Tayyip Erdogan. Trump will also meet with Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa and hold a news conference, the White House said.

A senior US official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity about the trip said Trump will meet with Zelensky on Wednesday to discuss “how we can end the war.”

“The battlefield has clearly frozen over the last couple of months and ⁠neither side is making a lot of progress,” the official said.

“The president feels a ​real ⁠sense of urgency to try to ‌bring this to a stop,” the official said.

Trump will also urge Nato allies to increase their defence spending, the official said.

“He will deliver that message in person,” the official said.

Russia launched waves of missiles and drones targeting Kyiv overnight into Monday, officials said.

The attack, which was still underway early Monday morning, involved waves of ballistic and cruise missiles as well as drones.

Explosions echoed across the city as civilians sought shelter in metro stations.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky had warned hours earlier of another large-scale Russian attack on the city.

Monday’s attack comes days after a combined Russian attack killed at least 31 people in Kyiv last week.

Russian missiles and drones struck the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on Monday, killing at least seven people and hitting apartment blocks and other buildings, Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration, said on Telegram.

Rescue crews were pulling residents from buildings shattered by the overnight barrage, said Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko.

Reuters witnesses reported a series of explosions in and around the capital and said air defences were in action against Russian drones.

Tkachenko said the death toll included two bodies pulled out of a heavily damaged apartment building in the historic Podilskyi district.

Altogether, 24 people were injured throughout the city. He ⁠said four residential buildings had been struck in the Podilskyi district alone.

Klitschko said rescuers were pulling residents from apartments damaged on both sides of a building.

“From a building in the Podilskyi district, where ​a ⁠partial collapse occurred, rescuers evacuated 15 ‌people,” he wrote on Telegram.

“Three women and six children were taken down from the upper floors.”

Klitschko said two people had died in the eastern Darnytskyi district, where drone fragments struck a 25-storey apartment building, and rescue teams were working to free residents trapped on upper floors.

He also said a fire had broken out in a 30-storey building in Darnytskyi, where many died in a strike last Thursday, when Russia launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at the city, killing at least 30 people.

Residents on the ground in Kyiv tell Tom Watling of their shock following overnight onslaught of missiles and drones on the capital in ‘night of horror’:

We will rise up and rebuild,” was the defiant message from Ukrainians after Russia unleashed one of the biggest attacks of the war on the capital Kyiv, leaving at least 30 dead, 91 hurt and 130 buildings damaged.

The EU ambassador to Ukraine said that “Russia unleashed hell on Kyiv” in the overnight attack, with 74 missiles and 496 drones launched, according to the Ukrainian air force. Foreign minister Andrii Sybiha described the assault as a “night of horror”.

The attack caused the widest destruction in Kyiv so far this year, and was the deadliest since at least May, when 24 people were killed in a strike that brought down an apartment block. Footage and images from the city showed widespread destruction as residents were left picking up the pieces.

In case you missed this one from James C. Reynolds:

The explosion was so powerful that it sent the huge disc-shaped lid of an oil storage tank flying high above the city on a cushion of black smoke and flame.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited Armenia on Thursday, promising to provide a 18-million euro ($20.5-million) aid package and the elimination of import duties on most Armenian farm products to support the South Caucasus nation’s push for closer ties with the European Union and pivot away from longtime ally Moscow.

Last month, the party of Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan extended its hold on power in a parliamentary election that was widely seen as a vote on its geopolitical future. Weeks before the vote, Moscow introduced a slew of trade sanctions, imposing import bans on Armenian flowers, brandy, wine, fruits and more.

Von der Leyen said “Armenia is still facing significant economic pressure from Russia,” describing it as “nothing short of economic coercion.”

Russia’s advances in eastern Ukraine are slowing and hundreds of thousands of troops have been killed. As Kyiv seizes the upper hand, Alex Croft looks at the data that shows why Moscow is struggling:

Nearly four-and-a-half years since Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s frontline advances have slowed almost to a halt, as Ukrainian counter-attacks and defensive tactics become more effective.

Successes in local counterattacks have become more frequent, as Ukrainian forces scale up their use of ground robots and short-range drone warfare.