Russian President Vladimir Putin told President Donald Trump in a phone call Wednesday that he was obligated to respond to Ukraine’s weekend drone attack, Trump said, setting up a potential escalation in the conflict just as the US president hopes to broker an end to the war.

Ukraine’s bold attacks targeting key assets in Moscow’s war effort have struck a nerve with Russia – which launched another deadly missile and drone attack overnight. Bombs hit Ukraine’s capital Kyiv,

In an Oval Office meeting with Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the U.S. president likened the war in Ukraine — which Russia invaded in February 2022 — to a fight between two children who hate each other