Air ceasefire discussed ahead of Trump-Zelenskyy meeting

Ukrainian and US officials have discussed a proposal to offer Russia an air ceasefire, Reuters reports, citing a Ukrainian source. Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington on Tuesday. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday that Russia considers it premature to comment on any such ceasefire proposal. “We do not know how credible these reports are or where they come from. These are newspaper reports and nothing more. Therefore, it is premature to comment on them at this stage,” Peskov was quoted by Interfax as saying. “We have heard statements that some new formulas may be possible. We still need to learn more about them … What happens next will depend on how closely they correspond to our interests.”

Romania said it was summoning Russia’s ambassador after the NATO member’s military shot down a third drone in as many days. A Romanian F-16 fighter jet shot down the drone over the Black Sea, five minutes after it entered the country’s airspace, said Defense Minister Radu Miruță. Foreign Minister Oana Țoiu condemned “repeated violations”. President Nicușor Dan said that according to an investigation, a drone shot down on Friday was a “Shahed model used by the Russian Federation in its war of aggression against Ukraine”. Investigations into drones shot down on Saturday and Sunday continue.

The international cargo vessel Golden Leo sank off the coast of Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa on Sunday, a week after Ukrainian officials said it had been struck by Russian forces. Nine crew members were killed in the attack while eight were evacuated to safety. The ship had left the port of Chornomorsk with a cargo of corn when it was shelled by Russian forces on 19 July. Russia’s defense ministry said on Sunday that its forces had struck Ukrainian ports and shipping. Russia claimed the container terminal at Chornomorsk, near Odesa, handled “military cargoes”.

Russia launched seven ballistic missiles and 136 drones at Ukraine overnight into Sunday, the Ukrainian air force said. In the northern city of Chernihiv, a Russian drone hit a supermarket, killing two people – including a nine-year-old child – and wounding 25, emergency services said. In the eastern city of Kharkiv, one person was killed and 16 others required medical attention after a daytime drone attack, said Mayor Ihor Terekhov. A glide bomb attack killed one person and wounded six in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, said regional governor Ivan Fedorov. In Kyiv, a fire broke out on the seventh and eighth floors of a multi-storey apartment block in a central district after a missile attack, said Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Three people were wounded. In Sloviansk, Donetsk region, the national oil and gas company Naftogaz said two of its employees died in a Russian attack while trying to help residents affected by an earlier strike.

Russia said areas of Ukraine under Moscow’s control had also come under attack, with four people killed in a Ukrainian drone strike in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Horlivka. Twelve people, including two children, were injured in a drone attack on the Russian city of Belgorod, close to Ukraine’s border, regional authorities said early on Monday. Ukraine denies targeting civilians.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy will become Andy Burnham’s first overseas visitor as prime minister, in a visit that Burnham said underlined Britain’s “unwavering” backing for Ukraine, Peter Walker writes. Less than two weeks after Keir Starmer traveled to Kyiv for the final foreign visit of his prime ministership, Zelenskyy will on Monday join Burnham at a naval base where Ukrainian forces have been receiving training. According to statistics released by No 10, since Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, total UK support for the country has totaled £25bn, including £16bn in military assistance. Burnham and Zelenskyy are due to discuss joint projects including Stone Cloak, an electronic jammer for which the UK has shared the intellectual property, allowing Ukraine to use the system immediately to prevent Russia from shooting down Ukrainian drones. Since being proven on the Ukrainian frontline, the jammers are due to be fitted to new UK weaponry, including cruise missiles.