Trump has reaffirmed his intention to broker peace in Ukraine, declaring earlier this month that “Putin wants to meet” and that such a meeting is being set up. In the past, he has criticized U.S. military aid for Ukraine and even vowed to end the conflict in a single day if elected.

Russia says it has detected a shift from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and his team towards recognising the "realities" on the ground in Ukraine, and sees this as a welcome sign as it prepares to study his plan for ending the war.

Trump has echoed Moscow’s rhetoric, which has described its ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine as a response to planned Nato membership for Kyiv

Ukraine fired six US-made ATACMS ballistic missiles, six British Storm Shadow cruise missiles and at least 146 drones into Russia in a mass attack, says Moscow. It threatened retaliation against the air strikes.

The scale of the assault on Wednesday was not immediately clear, but Ukraine’s energy minister called it “massive.”