Zelensky urges US to sanction Russia now

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged US President Donald Trump's administration on Friday to impose new sanctions on Russia immediately over recent deadly strikes on Ukraine, as he said he planned to meet Trump in late September.

“Sanctions need to be imposed now,” Zelensky told the Yalta European Strategy forum. “Honestly, I sometimes do not understand why decisions cannot be made quickly,” he said.

Zelensky also called for a truce with Russia covering strikes on energy targets. He said Ukraine was ready to respond if Moscow attacked Ukraine's energy grid over the winter. “Russia knows that if they strike... they will receive the same in return,” he said.

Both Moscow and Kyiv have escalated long-range strikes on each other in recent months while US-led talks on ending the four-and-a-half-year war remain deadlocked.

Kyiv's mayor said an early morning Russian drone strike on a petrol station in the capital killed two people and hospitalised four.