Donald Trump is ramping up pressure on Volodymyr Zelensky to accept a peace deal with Russia. The Ukrainian president is meeting European leaders in London today, seeking to ensure any deal deters a future Russian attack. The US president slammed Zelensky, implying he was playing for time when Ukraine’s own negotiators “love” the draft deal which, Trump claimed, Vladimir Putin would agree to.

The full details of the latest changes to the original 28-point plan are not yet clear, but it appears Ukraine will be required to cede territory in exchange for security guarantees from the United States. Zelensky will today brief Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, and Friedrich Merz on the results of intense US-Ukrainian talks when the leaders of Britain, France, and Germany gather in Downing Street, ahead of a crucial decision.

Trump appeared to take a swipe at Zelensky over the deal, claiming “Russia is fine with it”, although there is no clear evidence that Vladimir Putin is ready to end the war.

The US president said: “I have to say that I am a little bit disappointed that President Zelensky hasn’t yet read the proposal. That was as of a few hours ago. His people love it.

“Russia’s fine with it. Russia, I guess, would rather have the whole country [Ukraine] when you think of it.

“Russia is, I believe, fine with it. But I’m not sure that Zelensky is fine with it. His people love it. But he hasn’t read it.”

Zelensky did not reply directly to Trump but said his own remote talks with the US president’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had been “constructive, though not easy”.

The meeting follows three days of talks in Florida, where Zelensky’s chief negotiator pushed for changes to a White House plan widely considered to accommodate central Kremlin demands. Ukraine’s two negotiators – Rustem Umerov and General Andrii Hnatov – were flying from Florida to Europe today to brief Zelensky face-to-face.

The acute pressure on Zelensky came as Russia again bombarded Ukraine in overnight strikes – once more targeting civilians.

A man, 51, was killed and two children were among five wounded in strikes on residential properties in Dnipropetrovsk.

A day earlier, four Ukrainian civilians were killed.

Seven Ukrainians were injured in a brutal strike on an apartment building in Okhtyrka , Sumy region.

In the Kyiv region, Russian forces hit Fastiv – a key rail junction – for the third consecutive day.

Russia, meanwhile, was forced to temporarily close its airspace in Moscow due to Ukrainian drones.

A Turkish Airlines flight had to divert to St Petersburg, and a FlyDubai flight was forced to reroute to Nizhny Novgorod.