Russia insists that the peace proposal still needs “radical changes” before Moscow can accept it, according to some local media reports.

Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said the US must “make serious, I would say, radical changes to their papers” on Ukraine.

His remarks contrast sharply with comments from US envoy Keith Kellogg, who earlier suggested an agreement was “really close”, with only two obstacles remaining: the status of the Donbas and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Territory remains the key point of contention. Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly ruled out ceding land, arguing that doing so would only invite future Russian aggression.

The first draft of the US plan, however, proposed that Ukraine relinquish Donetsk and Luhansk – despite Kyiv still holding significant parts of the Donbas.

Ukraine’s ambassador to Washington, Olga Stefanishyna, earlier said that “difficult issues remain”, in the talks between the US and Ukraine.

She told CNN that the “main challenges at this stage concern questions of territory and guarantees, and we are actively seeking optimal formats for addressing them”.

The Kremlin has portrayed Donald Trump’s newly released national security strategy as a positive shift that closely mirrors Russia’s own perspective.

Moscow’s reaction comes after the White House unveiled the document on Friday, a report that takes aim at the EU and warns that Europe faces the threat of “civilisational erasure”, while also signalling Washington’s desire to improve ties with Moscow.

“The adjustments that we see correspond in many ways to our vision,” the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said yesterday.

He welcomed signals that the Trump administration was “in favour of dialogue and building good relations”.

He warned, however, that the supposed US “deep state” could try to sabotage Trump’s vision.

At least seven people were hurt after Russian drones hit a residential building in Okhtyrka, a city in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, according to governor Oleh Hryhorov.

The Sumy region, which borders Russia, has been subjected to almost continuous shelling and drone strikes since Moscow began its full-scale invasion in February 2022, with the conflict now approaching its fourth year.

In a message posted on Telegram, Hryhorov said the injured residents were taken to a hospital, where two were admitted for further care, while the remaining victims were treated and later released.

He reported that the multi-storey building suffered significant destruction and noted that some occupants managed to reach the basement after air-raid alerts, while emergency responders helped evacuate others from higher floors.

The Independent is unable to independently confirm the details, and Moscow has not yet issued a response to the incident.

Both Ukraine and Russia maintain that they do not intentionally target civilians, although thousands — most of them Ukrainian — have been killed since the war began.

It is the revelation that should shake Britain to its core.

Yvette Cooper put it plainly: “Putin and his agents are an active threat to Britain’s citizens, our security and our prosperity.”

Bill Browder reports:

The prime minister held a call with Dick Schoof on Sunday morning, in which he briefed his Dutch counterpart on the meeting with Mr Zelensky and French and German leaders.

A Downing Street spokesperson said the pair "agreed the need for sustained international support for Ukraine's defence" and "reiterated that Ukraine's security is vital for Europe's security".

They both also committed to "always stand with Ukraine", including through the "coalition of the willing" led by the UK and France.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared that Moscow intends to seize full control of Ukraine's Donbas region through military force, unless Ukrainian troops withdraw – a demand Kyiv has unequivocally rejected.

The declaration, made in an interview published on Thursday in India Today, follows Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which escalated an eight-year conflict between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces across the Donbas, comprising the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Speaking ahead of a planned visit to New Delhi, Mr Putin stated: "Either we liberate these territories by force of arms, or Ukrainian troops leave these territories," according to footage broadcast on Russian state television.

Thousands of allied troops could be sent to cities across Ukraine to help the army recover its strength and stand as an independent deterrent to Russian aggression – if both sides can agree to terms.

The Independent’s James C. Reynolds has more below:

Russian missile, drone and shelling attacks overnight and Sunday killed at least three people in Ukraine, after U.S. and Ukrainian officials wrapped up a third day of talks aimed at ending the war.

A man was killed in a drone attack on Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region Saturday night, local officials said, while a combined missile and drone attack on infrastructure in the central city of Kremenchuk caused power and water outages. Kremenchuk is home to one of Ukraine’s biggest oil refineries and is an industrial hub.

Still, no doubt, bathed in the warm, if also absurd, glow of being the first ever recipient of the Fifa Peace Prize, Donald Trump might be in the mood to promote a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, it would be nice to think. This would, aside from anything else, strengthen President Trump’s insistent claim on the Nobel Peace Prize, which has not quite been superseded in prestige by the cynical golden trophy that the president of Fifa, Gianni Infantino, presented to him.