Vladimir Putin has reportedly told the US he is willing to end the war at the current frontlines. Elsewhere, top-level diplomats from the UK, US, France, Germany and Ukraine have pulled out of talks in London today. Submit a question for defence analyst Michael Clarke below.
Wednesday 23 April 2025 08:57, UK
Security and defence analyst Michael Clarke is back to answer your Ukraine war questions in his weekly Q&A this afternoon.
Submit yours in the box above to join in.
We mentioned in our last post about a Russian drone attack that Ukrainian authorities say killed nine commuters on a bus in the southern-central city of Marhanets.
We can now bring you some images of the deadly attack, which also left dozens injured according to the regional governor.
A Russian drone hit a bus carrying workers in the southern-central Ukrainian city of Marhanets this morning, killing nine people, officials said.
Serhiy Lysak, governor of the region, said at least 30 people were also injured in the attack, adding that “the number of victims is constantly growing”.
Russia also launched “a massive” drone attack on the central Ukrainian region of Poltava, injuring at least six people, the emergency service said in a post on Telegram messaging app.
“Solely the city’s civilian infrastructure was under enemy attacks,” the emergency service said on Telegram.
Several fires broke out and residential buildings, enterprises, warehouses, and garages were damaged, the emergency service said, posting photos of firefighters battling flames at night.
Air defence units were also engaged in repelling attacks on the Kyiv region and Ukraine’s second largest city of Kharkiv, regional governors said in posts on Telegram channels.
Energy facility destroyed
An energy facility in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson was destroyed in a Russian attack early this morning, the regional governor said.
“Our military fought all night to repel the enemy attacks. However, in the morning, the Russians succeeded in destroying the energy facility,” Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram.
He did not give details of the location of the facility, but said it was providing a city with electricity.
Russia launched 134 drones in overnight attacks targeting Ukraine, Kyiv’s air force says.
Air defence units shot down 67 drones, while another 47 drones were redirected by electronic warfare, the air force said in a post on Telegram.
The attacks caused damage in six Ukrainian regions, it added.
The top diplomats from the UK, US, France, Germany and Ukraine have postponed a plan to meet in London today for high-level talks on how to end Russia’s war.
Discussions will instead take place among senior officials from the five nations, though the Ukrainian foreign minister is also still due to be in the capital and will hold a bilateral meeting with David Lammy, it is understood.
The downgrading in the level of diplomacy is in contrast with an intensification in the pressure from Donald Trump and his team for Kyiv and Moscow to agree a ceasefire.
A US peace proposal that is due to be discussed in London would see the US recognise Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea – something rejected by Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday.
The plan, reported by US media at the weekend, also freezes the frontlines as part of a peace agreement, something Putin has reportedly offered (see our last post).
Vladimir Putin has reportedly indicated he could step back from his previous maximalist demands to end the war in Ukraine.
The Financial Times, citing people familiar with the matter, reported yesterday that Putin has offered to end the war at the current frontlines as part of efforts to reach a peace deal with Donald Trump.
It claims Putin told Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, during a meeting in St Petersburg earlier this month that Moscow could relinquish its claims to areas of four partly occupied Ukrainian regions that remain under Kyiv’s control.
As a reminder, Russia claimed the four Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson as its own in September 2022, despite still not holding all of their territory in 2025.
Putin’s previous red lines for peace have included all four regions being handed over to Russia officially.
Putin open to Zelenskyy talks
It comes as Putin this week signalled he is open to talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the first time since the early stages of the war.
Speaking to Russian state TV on Monday, Putin said Russia had “always looked positively on any peace initiatives. We hope that representatives of the Kyiv regime will feel the same way”.
“We need to sort this out,” he added. “Maybe even bilaterally.”
Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov sought to shift responsibility onto Ukraine yesterday in Moscow, telling a news conference Kyiv “must attempt steps to clear the way” for talks.
Speaking yesterday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was ready to hold direct talks with Russia “in any format,” but that this could only happen if Moscow first implemented a complete ceasefire – something, he said, it had failed to do over the Easter weekend.
Good morning and welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
We’ll shortly bring you up to speed with all the latest news, but here’s a brief rundown of the biggest stories this morning:
Stick with us for all the latest from London, as well as reports from the battlefield and around the world.
Thanks for following our live coverage, that’s all for today.
Before we go, here’s a round-up of the day’s key events:
Ukraine’s Kharkiv region came under “massive” Russian air attack today, according to local officials.
Oleg Synegubov, the region’s governor, said: “In broad daylight, the enemy struck four districts of the city with 16 drones.”
These images show police officers and firefighters working at the site of the drone strike…
Germany’s armed forces are approaching several major arms firms about whether they could provide logistics support if the country needs to deploy soldiers and equipment to NATO’s eastern border during a crisis, according to reports.
The Handelsblatt newspaper said Berlin was seeking to find out who could help move soldiers, ammunition and military equipment in the event of an attack on NATO territory by Russia.
Germany has committed to contributing 35,000 soldiers and over 200 aircraft and ships within 30 days of any major conflict involving NATO.
Defence giant Rheinmetall, airline group Lufthansa and state-owned railway operator Deutsche Bahn were among the firms approached by the army, according to Handelsblatt.
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