Hello and welcome to NewsAour from the BBC World Service. We're coming to you live from London.

I'm James Menendez. And we're going to start today in Ukraine, a country facing repeated

accusations from the Trump administration that it's blocking efforts to reach a peace settlement,

even as Russia's offensive continues to claim the lives of

Ukrainian civilians. Last night, Russian missiles and drones rained down on the capital,

Keev, killing at least nine people. Large explosions were reported in the Ukrainian capital

as air defence systems tried to shoot them down.

No. their defence systems tried to shoot them down. Well, on Wednesday, President Trump attacked the Ukrainian president of Vladimir Zelensky

for refusing to recognize Russia's occupation of Crimea on the Black Sea.

Writing on Truth Social, he said,

We are very close to a deal, but the man with no cards to play should now finally get it done.

The US has floated the idea of recognising Russia's annexation of Crimea back in 2014,

as well as parts of the four regions it's occupied

since the full-scale invasion of 2022. While speaking at a news conference in South Africa a few

hours ago, alongside his South African counterpart, President Zelensky said Russia also needed

to feel the diplomatic heat.

I don't see much pressure on Russia or any new strong sanctions packages against the Russian aggression.

For now, we're very hopeful, and this is not an accusation.

We're saying this very directly and without any emotions.

We believe that if more pressure is applied to Russia, we'll be able to make our positions closer.

Well, John Donelson's our correspondent in Kiev.

He's been telling me more about the attacks overnight.

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