Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin bombs energy plant hours after agreeing 30-day halt during Trump call

China has said it is ready to assist countries involved in the Ukraine conflict with post-war reconstruction.

Beijing has remained a close ally to Russia throughout the war and refused to condemn Vladimir Putin’s invasion, while offering to act as a mediator for peace.

“We are ready to continue to provide assistance within our capacity according to the wishes of parties involved, which, of course, includes post-war reconstruction,” said Li Ming, spokesperson for the China International Development Cooperation Agency.

He added that Beijing has already delivered four batches of humanitarian aid to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s all-out invasion.

China remains committed to being a “positive force for world peace and stability and a progressive force for global fairness and justice,” the spokesperson said.

Since returning to the White House in 2025, US President Donald Trump has dramatically reshaped US policy toward Russia, adopting a markedly softer stance on Vladimir Putin and the ongoing war in Ukraine. This approach has included cutting military aid to Ukraine, and pressuring Kyiv to accept unfavourable terms to end the fighting.

Trump is also weakening America’s negotiating position by repeatedly and prematurely signalling the concessions the US is willing to make.

Historically, Russia has responded to strength, not appeasement.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has criticised his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin’s rejection of a full ceasefire, noting that Moscow’s drones continue to bombard his country hours after Putin’s call with Donald Trump.

“Right now, in many regions, you can literally hear what Russia truly needs. Around 40 “Shahed” drones are in our skies, and air defence is active,” Mr Zelensky said on X.

He confirmed drone hits on civilian infrastructure.

“A direct hit by a ‘Shahed’ drone on a hospital in Sumy, strikes on cities in the Donetsk region, and attack drones currently in the skies over the Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Chernihiv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, and Cherkasy regions,” Mr Zelensky said.

He added: “Today, Putin effectively rejected the proposal for a full ceasefire. It would be right for the world to respond by rejecting any attempts by Putin to prolong the war.”

Russia is still facing active fighting at its border between Belgorod region and Ukraine, the region’s governor said this morning, a day after Moscow said its forces had thwarted Kyiv’s troops from pushing across the border.

“The situation in Krasnoyarsk district remains difficult,” the governor of the southwestern Russian Belgorod region said in a video posted on his Telegram channel.

Russia’s defence ministry, in a statement reported by Russian news agencies, said Russian forces had thwarted five Ukrainian attempts to push across the border into its southwestern Belgorod region.

Russian forces launched a major air raid on energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s Slovyansk city late last night, just hours after the Russian leader told Donald Trump he would pause such attacks.

Shortly after the call between Trump and Vladimir Putin ended last night, air raid sirens wailed and explosions rang out in Ukraine.

Military officials told the Kyiv Post that Russia’s airstrikes left the entire city of 100,000 people without electricity.

Mr Putin had told Mr Trump in a phone call earlier on Tuesday that he would temporarily stop attacking Ukrainian energy facilities and claimed to have issued orders along these lines.

The strike on Slovyansk’s energy infrastructure was carried out using an aerial bomb, Ukrainian military correspondent Bohdan Miroshnykov said.

US envoy Steve Witkoff has said talks with Russia on the Ukraine war will take place on Sunday in Jeddah.

“The devil is in the details. We’ve got a team going to Saudi Arabia, led by our national security adviser and our secretary of state, and I think, you know, we’ve got to figure out those details,” Mr Witkoff told Fox News’ “Hannity” show last night, referring to top US diplomat Marco Rubio and White House national security adviser Mike Waltz.

A Ukrainian drone attack sparked a small fire at an oil depot located near the village of Kavkazskaya in the Krasnodar region, Russian regional authorities said this morning.

Officials claimed that no one was injured in the fire that spread across 20 square metres (215 square feet). But 30 employees were evacuated, the administration of the southern Russian region said on Telegram.

“The work at the facility has been suspended,” the administration said.