Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has said that US president Donald Trump’s call for Ukraine and Russia to stop at the current frontlines was a “good compromise”.
But Zelensky said he doubted that Russian president Vladimir Putin would support it.
He told reporters: “[Trump] proposed ‘Stay where we stay and begin conversation’. I think that was a good compromise, but I’m not sure that Putin will support it, and I said it to the [US] president.”
It comes as plans for Trump-Putin talks have been put on hold as Ukraine—backed by its European allies—continues to press for a ceasefire that does not involve giving up any territory.
Trump told reports last night that he did not want a “wasted meeting” with the Russian president, saying “ I don’t want to have a waste of time, so I’ll see what happens.”
It marks the end of a brief round of diplomacy that started with a two-hour long call between Trump and Putin last Thursday.
Zelensky has said he believes his country is one “the same page” as its Western allies, but claims Russia has become “less interested” in serious negotiations.
The Ukrainian president is visiting Sweden on Wednesday to discuss a possible export deal with Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson.
Meanwhile, Russia launched a wide drone and missile attack across Ukraine on Wednesday, killing at least six people, including a mother and her two daughters, Ukrainian officials said.
Repeated waves of missiles and drones throughout the night targeted at least eight Ukrainian cities, as well as a village in the Kyiv region where a strike set fire to a house in which a mother and her six-month-old and 12-year-old daughters were staying, regional head Mykola Kalashnyk said.
At least 25 people, including five children, were injured in Kyiv alone, authorities said.
Russian drones also hit a kindergarten in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, during the day on Wednesday when children were in the building, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
One person was killed and six were injured but no children were physically harmed, he said.
Even so, Zelensky said many of the children were in shock after being rescued from the building by emergency crews.
Russia fired 405 strike and decoy drones and 28 missiles at Ukraine, mainly targeting Kyiv, Ukraine's air force added.
The attack caused emergency power blackouts across the country, Ukraine's energy ministry said. Repairs were under way where possible and electricity would be restored "as soon as possible", it added.
"Another night that proves Russia does not feel enough pressure for prolonging the war," Mr Zelensky said in a statement.
He said the strike caused damage in the cities of Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia, as well as Odesa, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, and the wider regions of Kyiv, Cherkasy, and Sumy.
Mr Zelensky urged the European Union, the US and the Group of Seven industrialised nations, or G7, to take steps to sanction Russia.
"It is very important that the world does not remain silent now and that there is a united response to Russia's treacherous strikes," he said.
Pressure can be applied on Moscow "only through sanctions, long-range (missile) capabilities, and coordinated diplomacy among all our partners," he added.
More international economic sanctions on Russia are likely to be discussed at an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, while on Friday, a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing - a group of 35 countries who support Ukraine - is due to take place in London.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's army general staff said the country's forces struck a chemical plant in Russia's Bryansk region late on Tuesday night using air-to-surface Storm Shadow missiles.
The plant is an important part of the Russian military and industrial complex producing gun powder, explosives, missile fuel and ammunition.
