Ukraine war live: Child killed in Russian strike after Zelensky says Putin sabotaging talks

Western officials have admitted that Europe must “get real” about the prospect of Donald Trump abandoning Ukraine.

As they discussed plans for a peacekeeping force in Ukraine, British and French officials acknowledged concerns the US president will step back from his role as mediator in ceasefire talks.

Amid a bleak mood at a meeting in the Hague, a Western official told The Telegraph: “Let’s get real and admit the US will never be on board.”

A European diplomat said: “It was mostly about how to sustain the necessary support to Ukraine when we assume that the US would only continue providing some specific assets, such as intelligence.

“We also agreed on the need to step up economic pressure on Russia.”

And when they all come together in Istanbul on Monday for ceasefire talks with Russia the Kremlin’s reaction will be “ish-to” – so what?

Vladimir Putin is facing no significant consequences from either Donald Trump or Europe for his continued war in Ukraine.

The Independent’s world affairs editor Sam Kiley writes:

Russia has told the UN Security Council that a ceasefire alone is not enough to end Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.

“To achieve a sustainable and lasting settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, we need to address its root causes,” Russia’s UN envoy Vassily Nebenzia told the council yesterday.

“What we’re proposing is a second round of talks in Istanbul this coming Monday… where we can exchange memoranda about both parties’ approaches to the negotiations process.”

Ukraine, meanwhile, resisted US and Russian pressure to commit to attending another round of peace talks scheduled for Monday, saying it first needed to see Russian proposals.

US president Donald Trump is urging Moscow and Kyiv to work together on a deal to end their three-year-old war, and Russia has proposed a second round of face-to-face talks with Ukrainian officials next week in Istanbul.

A child was killed and a teenager sustained injuries in Russia’s overnight attack on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

The 9-year-old girl was killed in the Polohivskyi district of Zaporizhzhia Oblast in a Russian missile attack, governor Ivan Fedorov wrote on Telegram.

“One house was destroyed. Several other houses, cars, and outbuildings were damaged by the blast wave,” he added.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin has ordered his office to prepare federal guidelines for memorial practices for the soldiers killed in Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

“The government of the Russian Federation, together with the administration of the president of the Russian Federation, will develop unified recommendations for commemorating the defenders of the Fatherland, including those killed in the special military operation,” the Kremlin’s website said.

The deadline for this task is 1 September.

The heads of the regions have been tasked with honoring the memory of Russia’s soldiers, TASS news agency reported.

The US and 10 allies on Thursday said the military cooperation between Russia and North Korea flagrantly violated UN sanctions and enabled Moscow to increase its missile strikes on Ukrainian cities.

They made the allegations in their first report since joining hands to monitor sanctions against North Korea after Russia vetoed a resolution in March 2024 to continue the monitoring by a UN Security Council panel of experts.

The panel had been issuing reports of Pyongyang’s sanctions violations since 2010.

The report by the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team – comprised of the US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea – said it had gathered evidence showing that North Korea and Russia engaged in “myriad unlawful activities” explicitly prohibited by UN sanctions resolutions.

A dozen Russian soldiers were awarded about $195,000 each for shooting down an F-16 fighter jet in Ukraine, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.

Ukraine’s Air Force in late August last year confirmed that a pilot had been killed during Russia’s mass attack, which shot down one of the US-delivered F-16 jets.

“Forces has delivered on its earlier promise to transfer 15 million rubles to members of the Russian Armed Forces for downing the first F-16 in the special military operation zone,” the company said.

The US Senate is set to move ahead next week with a bill imposing more sanctions on Russia over its three-year-old war in Ukraine, Senator Lindsey Graham has told the Ukrainian president.

Mr Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, was accompanied on a visit to Kyiv by Connecticut Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, who co-sponsored the Senate sanctions measure, which sets a 500 per cent tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other products.

Mr Graham said the legislation, which had 82 co-sponsors, would impose “bone-breaking sanctions” on Russia and its customers.”So, I would expect next week that the Senate will start moving the sanctions bill. There are House members that are ready to move in the House, and you’ll see congressional action,” he said.

To become law, the measure must pass the Senate and House of Representatives and be signed by president Donald Trump.

Mr Trump has expressed frustration with Russian president Vladimir Putin’s action in Ukraine but has held off on more sanctions, saying he worries they would hurt prospects for a peace deal.

Mr Graham said his aim was to muster bipartisan congressional support “for tools that would help President Trump get Putin to the peace table. These sanctions would do that”.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky told his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan that a ceasefire was needed to move forward towards a settlement of the war with Russia.

“There must be a ceasefire to move further toward peace. The killing of people must stop,” Mr Zelensky wrote on Telegram after his conversation with the Turkish leader.

“We share the view that this meeting cannot and should not be empty.”

Mr Zelensky also said that the two men discussed the possibility of organising a four-way meeting with the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United States.