Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin’s forces strike Kharkiv with ‘most powerful’ attack since start of war

Moscow is planning to seize half of Ukraine by the end of 2026, according to a senior Ukrainian official.

However, it is unlikely to succeed as the flow of Western aid to Ukraine continues, according to Ukrainian Presidential Office deputy head Colonel Pavlo Palisa.

The Ukrainian official said Russia is likely seeking to create a buffer zone along the northern Ukrainian-Russian border by 2025 end.

He added that Russia seems intent on occupying the whole of eastern Ukraine by the end of 2026.

A map presented by the deputy head colonel suggests Russia plans to seize about 222,700 additional square kilometres of Ukrainian territory by the end of 2026.

Russia is ready to provide political asylum to Tesla titan Elon Musk if needed amid his ongoing public spat with American president Donald Trump, according to Dmitry Novikov, deputy chair of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs.

"He [Musk] won't need political asylum, although if he did, Russia could certainly provide it," Novikov told Russia's state-run TASS news agency.

Musk, a key figure in Trump's campaign and early administration, has been feuding openly with Trump over his "Big Beautiful Bill" tax proposal that could expand the US deficit by $600 billion.

The Tesla boss has earned support from Russian officials.

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, hinted as a joke that he would broker peace between Musk and Trump in exchange for Starlink shares.

The White House appears to be attempting to persuade Senator Lindsay Graham to soften his bipartisan bill calling for more sanctions against Russia.

The sanctions bill introduced by Mr Graham and Senate Democrat Richard Blumenthal on 1 April called for a 500 per cent tariff rate on all countries still purchasing Russian oil, according to the Wall Street Journal.

White House officials have sought Mr Graham to tone down the regulation, the WSJ added.

New sanctions would be in play only when it became clear that peace talks were not moving forward, the American president said, adding that any such move would apply to both Ukraine and Russia.

"It takes two to tango," Mr Trump said.

US president Donald Trump is reportedly holding back from confronting China over its support for Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine.

Trump is instead prioritising US-China relationship at the moment, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous officials privy to the matter.

The Trump administration has reportedly lowered the Ukraine-Russia war on its list of foreign policy priorities, focusing instead on resolving bilateral issues with China.

The US president is currently prioritising issues like tariffs, technology restrictions, and rare earths in talks with China, according to Bloomberg.

US president Donald Trump appeared to justify Russia's attack on Ukrainian cities following Kyiv's Operation Spiderweb drone strikes on Russian territory.

“They gave Putin a reason to go in and bomb the hell out of them last night," Trump told reporters yesterday.

"That's the thing I don't like about it. When I saw it I said 'here we go now it's going to be a strike,' the US president said.

Russia's missile and drone attack on Friday targeted Kyiv and major Ukrainian cities as well as the country's far-west.

As of now, over 80 people are presumed killed by Russia's attack, according to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Kremlin has responded to comments from US president Donald Trump in which he compared Ukraine and Russia’s war to a fight between children.

They said “for us this is existential” and added their latest strikes are a response to actions of the “terrorist regime” in Kyiv.

Trump compared the war to a sports brawl, saying: “Sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart.”

“You see it in hockey, you see it in sports.”

Russian officials have taken to mocking Donald Trump’s feud with Elon Musk.

"Elon, don't be upset!" nationalist senator Dmitry Rogozin, who once ran Russia's space programme, wrote on Musk's X social media site. "If you encounter insurmountable problems in the US, come to us. Here you will find reliable comrades and complete freedom of technical creativity."

Dmitry Medvedev, a senior security official and former president, posted: "We are ready to facilitate the conclusion of a peace deal between D and E for a reasonable fee and to accept Starlink shares as payment. Don't fight, guys!"

The public feud between the U.S. president and the world's richest man was an easy target for Russian politicians who have a history of gloating over perceived turmoil in Washington.

Margarita Simonyan, one of Russia's most powerful state media executives, mocked it as an example of "modern US political culture" -- "Sort of like the English Industrial Revolution. Only in reverse."

Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, who has in the past tried to interest Musk in cooperating with Russia on flights to Mars, asked on X: "Why can't we all just get along?" He then asked Grok, X's AI chatbot, how Musk and Trump could reconcile.