A Russian missile struck a hotel in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih late on Wednesday, killing two people and injuring 28, the regional governor said. Serhiy Lysak, governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, said on Telegram that a child was among the injured. Several people were seriously hurt, he said.
Ukraine’s Emergency Services said 14 people had been rescued from rubble at the hotel which suffered heavy damage. Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the city’s military administration, said rescue operations proceeded through the night.
The US has paused intelligence-sharing with Ukraine, CIA director John Ratcliffe confirmed on Wednesday, piling pressure on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to cooperate with Trump in convening peace talks. The suspension could cost lives by hurting Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russian missile strikes. Ukrainian officials suggested it would also hinder Ukraine’s ability to carry out effective long-range drone strikes on Russia. However, he expressed confidence that the pause on the intelligence and military front was temporary and would “go away”. He told Fox Business Network. “I think we’ll work shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine as we have to push back on the aggression that’s there, but to put the world in a better place for these peace negotiations to move forward.”
Several Democrats criticised the intelligence-sharing suspension. Senator Mark Warner, the vice-chair of the Senate intelligence committee, said the “ill-advised decision” showed that Trump had given American power to Russia. “Let me be clear: Cutting off intelligence support to our Ukrainian partners will cost [Ukrainian] lives,” the Virginia Democrat said in a statement.
European leaders aim to endorse bold measures to ramp up defence spending and pledge support for Ukraine on Thursday at a summit in Brussels, where leaders of the EU’s 27 countries will be joined by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Hungary has however refused to endorse a statement backing Kyiv. The European Commission – the EU’s executive body – has unveiled proposals that it said could mobilise up to €800bn ($862.9bn) for European defence, including a plan to borrow up to €150bn ($161.8bn) to lend to EU governments. On Tuesday, the parties aiming to form Germany’s next government agreed to loosen borrowing limits to allow billions of euros of extra defence spending.
“I want to believe that the United States will stand by us. But we have to be ready if that is not the case,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in an address to the French nation on the eve of the summit. In a sign of the gravity of the moment, Macron said France was open to discussing extending the protection offered by its nuclear arsenal to its European partners and said European forces could be deployed after a peace deal was agreed.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer welcomed Trump’s comments about the prospect of a peace deal, a spokesperson said. Asked whether the UK government welcomed what Zelenskyy said in his letter to Trump, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “President Zelensky said that the United States has done a huge amount to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence, and we’ve all said that we share President Trump’s desire for a secure and durable peace in Ukraine, and the prime minister believes a way forward can be found and welcomes President Trump’s comments overnight in that regard.”
Zelenskyy said on Wednesday there had been “positive movement” on talks with the US and that officials from the two countries could meet again soon. The White House national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said Donald Trump would consider restoring aid to Ukraine if peace talks were arranged and confidence-building measures taken. The White House said talks between the two countries over a minerals deal were ongoing. A senior administration official said on Wednesday that the signing was expected to happen soon and to be the first step in a longer negotiation between Ukraine, Washington and Russia on ending the war.
Russia questioned how Ukraine could attend potential talks when a 2022 Ukrainian decree rules out negotiations with Vladimir Putin. Zelenskyy “is still legally prohibited from negotiating with the Russian side,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said during a daily call with reporters. But he said the Kremlin was “generally positive” about the prospect of peace talks.
A Russian court said a British man captured fighting for Ukraine was sentenced to 19 years in prison. The court press service for the city of Kursk said James Scott Rhys Anderson, 22, was found guilty of a “terrorist act” and acting as a mercenary, after he was captured while fighting in the region in November 2024. Britain strongly condemned the sentencing, said a spokesperson for the Foreign Office, who called on Russia to respect its obligations towards “prisoners of war”.
French President Emmanuel Macron is considering travelling again to Washington along with Zelenskyy and Starmer to meet Trump, government spokesperson Sophie Primas said on Wednesday. Primas was speaking to reporters after the weekly meeting of the French cabinet.
