Ukraine war live: Kyiv struck by massive missile attack after Trump slams Zelensky

After Volodymyr Zelensky refused to cede Crimean territory to Russia, Donald Trump has once again accused him of not being serious about peace.

But why is the peninsula, illegally seized by Russia in 2014 so strategically important?

Russia’s Black Sea base in Sevastopol, which was leased from Ukraine, gives Moscow access to the Mediterranean.

Russia has frequently used Crimea as a launchpad for missile and drone attacks on Ukraine since sending tens of thousands of troops into the country on February 24, 2022 in what Putin calls a “special military operation”. Ukrainian forces have also fired missiles at Crimea since Russia’s 2022 invasion.

After its full-scale invasion in 2022, Russia enforced a de facto blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports which severely restricted grain exports that had been vital to Kyiv’s pre-war economy.

This resulted in a rise in world food prices and the threat of famine in lower-income countries. A deal known as the Black Sea Grain Initiative was reached in July 2022 to allow safe passage from certain ports but it later collapsed.

Mobile phones are being heard ringing beneath the rubble as rescue efforts in Kyiv continue following Russia’s mass drone and missile attack.

Climbing specialists and sniffer dogs are in action as rescuers operate across 13 sites in the Ukrainian capital. Forty fires also broke out following the attack, which has killed at least nine people and injured more than 70.

“Mobile telephones are heard ringing beneath rubble. The search will continue until it become clear that they have got everyone,” Kyiv’s emergency services said.

Fires broke out in garages and administrative buildings, with falling metal fragments striking vehicles below.

An air raid alert has been in effect in the capital over the past six hours.

“There was the air raid siren, we did not even have time to dress to go out of the apartment. One blast came after the other, all windows were blown out, doors, walls, my husband and son were thrown to the other side,” Kyiv resident Viktoria Bakal said.

Volodymyr Zelensky has described the Oval Office spat with Donald Trump in late February – after which he was booted out of the White House – as “not helpful for Ukraine”.

It came during an interview with American conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, which is due to be released in two parts on Thursday and Friday.

Mr Zelensky was also asked about the money donated to Ukraine as US military aid, a trailer for the interview shows, with Mr Shapiro saying there are “lots of questions about where the money is going”.

“There’s nothing to hide,” Zelensky said. “We are absolutely open.”

The Ukrainian president also described his country as a “living shield against Russia’s invasion to the civilized world”.

Volodymyr Zelensky is refusing to make any concessions in peace talks and is only open to a ceasefire on its own terms, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

Ms Zakharova accuse the Ukrainian president of derailing consultations on the peace process held this week in London with US, Ukrainian and European officials, accusing him of being ready to torpedo the settlement process at any price.

Russia has repeatedly said it will not move forward with ceasefire negotiations until a number of its own issues are addressed.

On Wednesday, Mr Zelensky said the London talks had been marked by emotions and expressed hope that future joint work with Kyiv’s Western allies would lead to peace.

Russia launched 215 drones and missiles in a massive overnight attack on Ukraine, Kyiv’s air force said.

Air force units shot down 48 missiles and 64 drones, while 68 drones were redirected by electronic warfare, the air force said in a post on Telegram.

Volodymyr Zelensky will cancel part of his programme in South Africa and return to Ukraine following a massive Russian attack on Kyiv, which has killed nine and injured dozens more, with many feared to be under the rubble.

Mr Zelensky said in a Telegram post that he will fly back to Kyiv after meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The Ukrainian leader had hoped to recruit further South African support in efforts to end his country’s war with Russia, which is now in its fourth year.

Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha will conduct all meetings in South Africa to inform leaders about the situation in Ukraine, Mr Zelensky said.

A man has been pulled alive from the ruins of a destroyed house in Kyiv following the massive Russian drone and missile attack overnight, emergency services have said.

Reported to be under 30 years old, the survivor was trapped for more than six hours before he was found under the rubble in the Sviatoshynskyi district, Kyiv’s State Emergency Service spokesperson Pavlo Petrov told Ukrainian media.

“Rescue workers have found a man alive. He is reported to be under 30 years old. He had been trapped under the rubble for over six hours.”

The man was conscious, which allowed rescuers to locate him, Mr Petrov said according to Ukrainska Pravda.

“We took a moment of silence, and he responded to the rescue workers’ voice,” Mr Petrov said.

The emergency service said on Telegram that the “search is continuing for people under rubble” following last night’s “destruction”.