Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kremlin welcomes meeting with Trump as ‘supermarket hit with US missile’ in Donetsk

Vladimir Putin’s forces have launched a fresh drone assault on Ukraine as Donald Trump revealed the Russian leader wants to meet him.

Russian troops fired up to 72 drones at Ukraine overnight, hitting various buildings in the northern region of Chernihiv, as Kyiv’s airforce was scrambled to down 33 of them, it said.

Ukraine’s army struck a supermarket on Friday in the Russian-held city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine in an attack that used US-supplied missiles and wounded two people, a senior Russian-backed official said.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine and Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.

Unverified photos posted on social media showed a burnt out car in front of a shattered two-storey circular building surrounded by debris.

Dashcam footage posted by a driver nearby appeared to show the moment the supermarket - called Moloko (Milk) - was struck, with an ensuing large explosion and flames soaring into the sky.

Moscow is alarmed at the incoming US president-elect Donald Trump’s plans to acquire Greenland, according to a senior Russian official and close aide of Vladimir Putin.

Mr Trump on Tuesday said he would not rule out the use of military force to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, as he declared US control of both to be vital to American national security.

“The Arctic is a zone of our national interests, our strategic interests,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, responding to Mr Trump’s remarks.

He added: “We are watching the rather dramatic development of the situation very closely, but so far, thank God, at the level of statements.”

Greenland, home to a large US military base, is an autonomous territory of Denmark, a longtime US ally and a founding member of Nato. Mr Trump cast doubts on the legitimacy of Denmark’s claim to Greenland.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency issued a new alert yesterday warning non-European carriers not to fly within western Russia airspace due to the risk of being unintentionally targeted by its air defence systems.

“The ongoing conflict following the Russian invasion of Ukraine poses the risk of civil aircraft being unintentionally targeted in the airspace of the Russian Federation due to possible civil-military coordination deficiencies, and the potential for misidentification,” EASA said.

EASA said the crash last month in Kazakhstan of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane, after Russian air defences fired against Ukrainian drones, demonstrated the high risk at play. At least 38 people died in the crash.

“EASA recommends not to operate within the affected airspace of the Russian Federation located west of longitude 60° East at all altitudes and flight levels.”

The warning was for third-country operators authorised by EASA, given Russian airspace has been closed to European Union airlines since the bloc imposed Ukraine-related sanctions targeting Russia’s aviation sector.

Four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan’s investigation told Reuters last month that Russian air defences had mistakenly shot the airliner down. Passengers said they heard a loud bang outside the plane.

North Korea is “significantly benefiting” from its troops gaining battlefield experience fighting alongside Russian forces as it makes them more capable of waging war against rivals South Korea and Japan, a US official warned the UN.

Nearly 12,000 North Korean soldiers have been training in Russia and fighting to repel the Ukrainian incursion in the Kursk region, deputy US ambassador Dorothy Camille Shea told the UN Security Council, which was meeting to discuss Pyongyang’s launch of a new intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile on Monday.

North Korea “is significantly benefiting from receiving Russian military equipment, technology and experience, rendering it more capable of waging war against its neighbours”, Ms Shea said.

Russia has launched more than 51,000 guided aerial bombs against Ukraine since the start of its full-blown invasion nearly three years ago, the Ukrainian air force said yesterday.

Regions in proximity to the frontlines as well as those bordering Russia are most regularly targeted with these weapons, Ukrainian officials say.

Guided, or glide, bombs are highly destructive and very hard to intercept. The air-launched weapons are conventional, often Soviet-era ordnance that have been fitted with wings and satellite-aided navigation to extend their range and precision.

Volodymyr Zelensky and Lloyd Austin used their final meeting yesterday to press the incoming Trump administration not to give up on Kyiv’s fight, with the US defence secretary warning that to cease military support now “will only invite more aggression, chaos and war”.

“We’ve come such a long way that it would honestly be crazy to drop the ball now and not keep building on the defense coalitions we’ve created,” Mr Zelensky said. “No matter what’s going on in the world, everyone wants to feel sure that their country will not just be erased off the map.”

Mr Austin doubled down on the Ukrainian president’s appeal, saying “no responsible leader will let Putin have his way”.

President-elect Donald Trump’s remarks about pushing for a quick end to the war, his relationship with Russian president Vladimir Putin and uncertainty over whether he will support further military aid to Ukraine have triggered concern among allies.

The Biden administration has worked to provide Ukraine with as much military support as it can, including approving a new $500m package of weapons and relaxing restrictions on missile strikes into Russia, with the aim of putting Ukraine in the strongest position possible for any future negotiations to end the war.