Confirming their phone call, the Kremlin said Donald Trump had told Vladimir Putin that Washington was not informed in advance of Ukraine’s drone attack on its airbases.

According to Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, the conversation focused on the recent Ukrainian attacks and the second round of Russia-Ukraine negotiations.

In an operation more than a year in the planning, Ukraine used drones to target Russian airfields, wiping out swathes of Moscow’s bomber fleet, while also targeting Mr Putin’s prized Kerch Bridge linking occupied Crimea to mainland Russia in a separate operation.

Donald Trump has revealed that he and Vladimir Putin held a lengthy phone call yesterday – but warned that the Russian president will “respond” to a recent Ukrainian drone attack.

In a post on his platform Truth Social, the US president said: “I just finished speaking, by telephone, with President Vladimir Putin, of Russia. The call lasted approximately one hour and 15 minutes.”

He added: “It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace.”

According to Mr Trump, Mr Putin told him “very strongly” that Russia “will have to respond” to the audacious Ukrainian drone attack last weekend that wiped out a significant portion of Moscow’s fleet of bomber jets.

Kyiv’s security agency said 117 drones were smuggled into Russia over the course of a year and simultaneously struck airfields in at least four regions – destroying 41 Russian aircraft as far away as Siberia.

Mr Putin said of his call with the Russian president on Wednesday: “We discussed the attack on Russia’s docked airplanes, by Ukraine, and also various other attacks that have been taking place by both sides.”

“President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields,” Mr Trump added.

At least 17 people were injured after Russian drones struck apartment buildings in Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, triggering fires, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said early today.

The wounded include two children, officials said.Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said seven apartment buildings had been damaged in the 1am strikes. Two buildings sustained direct hits.

Mr Terekhov said one drone hit an apartment building on the 17th floor, another on the second floor.

A photograph posted on line showed the mayor looking at an apartment reduced to rubble after he said a drone had pierced its walls.