Could Ukraine hold a presidential election right now? Will Europe use frozen Russian assets to fund war? How can Ukraine rebuild China ties? 'Ukraine is running out of men, money and time' Trump spurns Kremlin's Putin residence attack claim, Russia kills 2 in Kyiv United States President Donald Trump has dismissed claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin's residence had been attacked by Ukraine as the war grinds on, saying he did not "believe that strike happened", after having initially accepted the Kremlin's version of events at face value. On Sunday night, Trump, on board Air Force One, told reporters that "nobody knew at that moment" whether a report about the alleged incident was accurate.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has opened a conference in Italy on rebuilding his war-battered country, as it comes under relentless ground and air attacks from Russia. The Rome gathering will see the Ukrainian leader hold a flurry of meetings on Thursday, including a video call with leaders from about 30 countries in the so-called "coalition of the willing", as he seeks to secure financing to bolster his country's air defence systems, which were this week strained by Russia's largest missile and drone attack in more than three years of war. The United Kingdom and France are spearheading talks among the coalition on how to support a possible ceasefire in Ukraine, including potentially deploying peacekeeping forces to police any future peace agreement with Russia. This week, the office of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the call would cover "stepping up support for Ukraine and further increasing pressure on Russia". The success of the coalition's operation hinges on United States backup with airpower or other military assistance, but the administration of President Donald Trump has made no public commitment to provide support. Amid growing uncertainty about US commitment to Kyiv's defence, despite Trump's recent U-turn on pausing critical weapons deliveries, Zelenskyy had a "substantive" meeting with Trump's Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, on Wednesday.

At least three people have been killed in a Russian drone attack near Ukraine's capital. The interior ministry said on Friday that drone debris killed two men and a woman in the overnight attack on the central Kyiv region, damaging a residential apartment building, eight houses, commercial buildings and several cars. The attack came as Russian authorities said the country's air defence systems intercepted and destroyed 121 drones launched by Ukraine overnight. The drones were downed over 13 Russian regions, including seven over Moscow and the nearby region, the defence ministry said in a statement on Telegram. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the drones had been intercepted at several locations around the capital.

Russia has accused Ukraine of planning to attack annexed Crimea with long-range United States and British missiles and warned it would retaliate if that happened. Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu told a meeting of military officials on Tuesday that Moscow possesses information that Ukraine plans to strike Crimea with US-supplied HIMARS long-range rocket systems and British-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles. "The use of these missiles outside the zone of our special military operation would mean that the United States and Britain would be fully dragged into the conflict and would entail immediate strikes on decision-making centres in Ukraine," Shoigu said. Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and considers it to be outside the scope of its invasion – which is focused in eastern and southern Ukraine, where Ukraine is fighting to retake territory. Kyiv, which says it is battling for its survival in a war of colonial conquest, said it wants to reclaim all of its territory, including Crimea, the home of Russia's Black Sea naval base.

Air raid sirens sounded in Ukraine's Kyiv after residents were subjected to drone attacks, spasms of gunfire and explosions during the fourth attack on the capital in as many days, according to officials. Officials said at least one drone was downed after anti-aircraft units went into action during the raid on Thursday evening, which began just after 8pm (17:00 GMT) and lasted about 20 minutes. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said there had been two impacts from downed drones. "During the last air alert, an unmanned aerial vehicle was spotted over Kyiv. The object was shot down by air defence forces," Kyiv city military administration head Serhiy Popko said on Telegram.