Nato scrambles warplanes after Putin launches ‘murderous’ strikes across Ukraine

Nato has scrambled warplanes overnight after Russia launched one of its deadliest attacks on Ukraine’s capital since the war began.

At least ten people were killed and more than 70 wounded in the missile attacks on capital city Kyiv, with apartment blocks and homes hit.

Six children and a pregnant woman were also rushed to hospital in the deadly assault.

Putin’s armed forces also hit Kharkiv, Poltava region, Pavlohrad, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Zhytomyr.

Appearing in the House of Commons this morning, Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty described the assault as ‘absolutely horrific’ and a ‘stark reminder of the continued bloodshed and aggression perpetrated by Putin’ while Ukraine continues peace talks.

He added: ‘President Zelensky has shown his commitment to peace, President Putin must now agree to a full and immediate ceasefire without conditions as Ukraine has done.

‘We will not stop in our efforts to work with all the parties to that end.’

The Polish operational command announced it had scrambled its own and NATO aircraft due to the intensity of the Putin bombardment in Ukraine.

‘Due to the activity of long-range aviation of the Russian Federation, which is carrying out strikes on targets located, among others, in western Ukraine, the operation of Polish and allied aircraft has commenced in Polish airspace,’ said a statement.

The commander ‘activated all available forces and resources at his disposal’.

Hours before the assault, Donald Trump accused Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky of prolonging the ‘killing field’ by refusing to hand Russia land.

Trump has told Zelensky he is ‘frustrated’ with the speed of peace talks, as the White House demanded Kyiv give up territory as part of a long-sought peace deal to end the three-year war.

Moscow has captured about 20% of Ukraine, including Crimea, which it seized in 2014. Some 4.6 million Ukrainians have fled their homes in the occupied territories and Crimea.

But Zelensky said ceding territory is out of the question, declaring: ‘There is nothing to talk about. It is our land, the land of the Ukrainian people.’

His comment came after American media reports said the Trump administration was ready to accept recognition of annexed land in Crimea.

In a post on his Truth Social network, Trump accused the Ukrainian leader of ‘inflammatory’ comments that he claimed would drag the war out.

‘If he wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it eleven years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired?’ Trump wrote in the 260-word-long rant.

‘The statement made by Zelensky today will do nothing but prolong the “killing field,” and nobody wants that!’

He added: ‘It’s inflammatory statements like Zelenskyy’s that makes it so difficult to settle this War.’

The Ukrainian leader said accepting Crimea, which had been recognised as part of an independent Ukraine for 23 years before the annexation, as Russian territory would ‘violate’ Ukraine’s constitution.

Vice President JD Vance called on Ukraine to accept the American peace deal today, one that closely aligns with Putin’s wants.

Putin has long said that he would sign a peace agreement in which Ukraine withdraws troops from the four provinces he abruptly annexed in 2022.

The deal says that Ukraine and Russia would ‘freeze’ territorial lines, leaving Russian forces deep inside occupied eastern Ukraine. It would also stop Ukraine from joining NATO.

‘We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say yes or for the United States to walk away from this process,’ US Vice President JD Vance told reporters in India yesterday.

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