Kremlin brands Starmer plan 'unacceptable' - as Trump doubles down on Zelenskyy attack

Ukraine needs to "tone it down" and "sign that deal", US national security adviser Mike Waltz has warned, referring to a critical minerals deal with Washington.

In an interview with Fox News, Waltz said Kyiv needs to stop criticising the US, which is trying to secure a peace deal acceptable to all sides.

"They need to tone it down and take a hard look and sign that deal," said Waltz, who was in Saudi Arabia for the first round of peace talks between Washington and Moscow this week.

At the same time, he added differences between the US and Kyiv could still be reconciled.

He spoke as US envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg gets ready to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv later today. 

We've been bringing you reports today on Donald Trump's doubling down on his criticism of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

He accused Zelenskyy of being a "dictator" for postponing elections due to the ongoing war and said he "better move fast" when it came to negotiating a deal at a speech in Miami - after making these very same comments on Truth Social.

Our US correspondent Mark Stone asked the UK's new ambassador to the US, Lord Peter Mandelson, about his thoughts on the comments as he was leaving the Miami speech in a car. 

You can watch the brief exchange below...

By Ivor Bennett, Moscow correspondent

It's clear the Kremlin sees an opportunity here.

These latest comments from spokesman Dmitry Peskov show that Moscow recognises the growing rift between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and it wants to make it a chasm. 

Russia and the US on one side, Ukraine on the other.

"The fact that Zelenskyy's rating is falling is an absolutely obvious trend," Peskov said, echoing Trump's false claim that the Ukrainian president's approval ratings have fallen to 4%.

Trump likes people to agree with him, and the Kremlin clearly knows that.

And that wasn't all. Alluding to Zelenskyy's comments yesterday that Trump was trapped in a "disinformation bubble", he said: "The rhetoric of Zelenskyy and many representatives of the Kyiv regime leaves much to be desired."

You couldn't see Peskov's face as he made the comments because he was speaking on a telephone conference call, but you can imagine his wry smile.

It felt like he was trolling Zelenskyy and teasing him - casting Russia and the US as the grown-ups, and Ukraine as the immature child throwing a tantrum.

By distancing Washington further from Kyiv, Moscow is seeking to strengthen its own position. It has Trump's ear and it wants to secure as many concessions as possible before other voices are heard.

The latest is on Ukraine's future security guarantees. Before the talks in Riyadh this week, Russia's red line used to be on NATO membership - Ukraine wasn't allowed to join.

But now it's gone further, with Moscow claiming the presence of any NATO member troops in the country would be unacceptable, regardless if they were representing NATO or not.

On British plans to send troops to Ukraine as a possible peacekeeping mission, Peskov said: "This causes concern for us, because we're talking about sending military contingents.

"This takes on a completely different meaning from the point of view of our security."

It's unclear what Ukrainian security guarantees Russia would agree to, but at the moment, they don't have to. For now, they're calling the shots.

Emergency crew have been working at the site of a residential high-rise building in Kherson today after it was hit by a Russian airstrike overnight.

Six people suffered injuries in the attack, including 14-year-old twins, the region's governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.

Kherson was the only major city captured by Russian forces following its invasion in February 2022.

But just a few months later, Ukrainian troops were able to liberate the southern region.

We have more comments coming through from the Kremlin today after Donald Trump's scathing comments about Ukraine and its president in the last 24 hours.

On disagreements between Ukraine and the US, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "The Kyiv regime is accustomed to uncontrolled dependency. It likes the money of foreign taxpayers and likes the uncontrolled use of this money. 

"And, of course, the Kyiv regime does not like to report on the money already spent."

Peskov also said the idea of a possible new prisoner exchange between Russia and the US was on the agenda after Moscow and Washington agreed to start work on restoring relations at all levels.

"A decision was made to begin resuming the Russian-American dialogue on all parameters. Of course, this topic is on the agenda of our bilateral relations. Therefore, this cannot be ruled out," Peskov said.

At least 10 Americans remain behind bars in Russia, including two who have been designated as "wrongfully detained" by Washington. 

Russia is trying to take advantage of the growing rift between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump, our Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett says.

Bennett says the idea of British troops being deployed to Ukraine "has not gone down well in Moscow". 

He notes comments made by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in which he said such a proposal was unacceptable. 

"This is a new red line from Russia," Bennett says.

"You get the sense that the Kremlin sees there is an opportunity here - they recognise there is a growing rift between Trump and Zelenskyy.

You can watch his full analysis here...

US envoy Keith Kellogg, who is currently in Kyiv, will meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy today as relations between Donald Trump and the Ukrainian leader deteriorate.

As he arrived in the capital yesterday, Kellogg said he understood "the need for security guarantees," adding that part of his mission would be "to sit and listen."

Zelenskyy said it was important that the meeting and work with America in general is "constructive".

Tensions between the Zelenskyy and Trump flared in the last 24 hours after the American leader appeared to suggest Ukraine was the cause of the war against Russia.

Zelenskyy retaliated by accusing Trump of being caught in Russia's "disinformation bubble", whilst Trump responded by calling his Ukrainian counterpart a "dictator" and a "terrible leader".

It's hard to overstate just how dramatic the landscape has changed in Europe after Donald Trump's turn to Russia on the war, our security and defence editor Deborah Haynes says. 

Haynes notes there is "swirling confusion being felt in capitals across Europe" after Trump held a call with Vladimir Putin and appeared to echo Russia's talking points about the war and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"This is a crisis and the Europeans are now having to scramble," she says.

"The UK as well is having to take up that leadership role that it has in the past adopted.

"It is doing this now, unfortunately from a position of weakness, given that successive governments have cut back in defence spending.

"Now they have had this massive wake-up call - they should have had it on 24 February 2022, if not before then.

"With America now talking in a way that is incoherent for European ears - the Europeans it seems are finally responding."

On the details of a plan to send British troops to Ukraine, Haynes says she was told it would be fewer than 30,000 troops, and they would not be positioned on the frontline but around major cities near critical national infrastructure.

"These wouldn't be peacekeeping troops - they are being described as a reassurance force to enable the public here to get back to life," Haynes adds. 

She notes that as well as troops on the ground, the skies would also need to be protected and this could involve air patrol, and the coast would need to be protected too.

Any British plan to send troops to Ukraine as part of a potential peacekeeping mission would be unacceptable for Russia, the Kremlin has said this morning.

After Sir Keir Starmer said British troops could be deployed to Ukraine as part of a peace deal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the proposal is unacceptable.

He said it would not work for Russia because it would involve forces from a NATO member and therefore have ramifications for Russia's own security.

"The idea of deploying troops from NATO countries to Ukraine is unacceptable for Russia," Peskov said.

Asked about Zelenskyy's remarks and Donald Trump, Peskov told reporters that "the rhetoric of Zelenskyy and many representatives of the Kyiv regime leaves much to be desired".

"The fact that Zelenskyy's rating is falling is an absolutely obvious trend," Peskov added, repeating an attack line used against Zelenskyy by Trump.

For context: Trump has said several times that Zelenskyy has low approval ratings in Ukraine, suggesting he had just 4% approval.

The Ukrainian president's rating is actually around 50%, similar to Trump's. 

Responding to the claims, Zelenskyy said yesterday that Trump was trapped in a "disinformation bubble".

As Donald Trump doubles down on his accusation that Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a "dictator" for postponing elections due to the ongoing war, our US correspondents Mark Stone and James Matthews discuss how quickly a war of words appears to have shifted US foreign policy.

They also get the reaction of the UK ambassador to the US, Lord Mandelson, as well as US Senators from both sides of the aisle to Trump's comments, and his plans for peace in Ukraine.