Russia's Defense Ministry said on Monday that Russian drones had hit a ship carrying military cargo to Ukraine as it sailed towards the port of the Ukrainian Black Sea city of Odessa, Reuters reported, noting that the incident came hours before Washington's special envoy Steve Witkoff was due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg.
The ministry in Moscow said its forces had also struck a drone warehouse in the city of Poltava, in central Ukraine, and an electrical substation serving the country's defense and industry, as well as logistics centers in the capital Kiev.
US President Donald Trump called on Ukraine yesterday to agree to a deal to end the war with Russia, Reuters reported.
"Ukraine must want to be "a solution to this war has been found," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.
The US president made the statement after a meeting in Oslo between his special envoy Steve Witkoff and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, dedicated specifically to the search for a diplomatic solution to the conflict. Tomorrow, Witkoff will visit Russia, where he will discuss the issue with President Vladimir Putin.
A Trump administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that Ukraine had presented "new ideas" in the Norwegian capital and that the purpose of the discussions with Putin was to "build on" the progress made with Ukraine and Europe and discuss proposals with Russia.
Trump suggested that Russia had the upper hand in the war because "it's a big machine - they just keep moving forward and that's exactly what they've done. They have taken over a very large piece of land."
The US President did not give details.