Trump has reaffirmed his intention to broker peace in Ukraine, declaring earlier this month that “Putin wants to meet” and that such a meeting is being set up. In the past, he has criticized U.S. military aid for Ukraine and even vowed to end the conflict in a single day if elected.

Russia says it has detected a shift from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and his team towards recognising the "realities" on the ground in Ukraine, and sees this as a welcome sign as it prepares to study his plan for ending the war.

Russia welcomes signals coming from President-elect Donald Trump over the Ukraine conflict, less than a week before the Republican takes office.

Ukraine introduced emergency power cuts in six regions amid what authorities described as a "massive" Russian missile strike, the national grid operator said on Wednesday.

Ukraine is under a massive raid red alert early on Wednesday amid reports of a large-scale attack launched by Russia. Air raid alerts indicate that there is a potential threat of an attack. The alerts may be issued when Russian warplanes take off,

Ukraine fired six US-made ATACMS ballistic missiles, six British Storm Shadow cruise missiles and at least 146 drones into Russia in a mass attack, says Moscow. It threatened retaliation against the air strikes.