Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia suffered only minimal damage from Ukrainian strikes on its territory using longer-range US-made ATACMS.

Putin was speaking in Astana, Kazakhstan, following a summit with leaders of a security alliance of ex-Soviet countries.

Ukraine is ready to host a second global summit aimed at ending Russia’s invasion in the “nearest future”, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said on Thursday, local media outlets reported.

Ukraine held its first “peace summit” in Switzerland in June, bringing together over 90 countries to draft a resolution based on Ukraine’s proposed conditions to end the war.

However Russia was not invited to that summit and dismissed its deliberations as meaningless without Moscow’s participation. It has also said it would not take part in any follow-up summit organised by Ukraine.

“Thanks to active work with our partners, a joint peace framework has already been developed, which will become the basis for the Second Peace Summit, and Ukraine is ready to hold it in the near future,” Yermak told a conference, according to Ukrainian media.

China also stayed away from the June summit, while other major non-Western powers including India, Saudi Arabia and Mexico withheld their signatures from the summit communique, underlining the diplomatic challenge Kyiv faces in marshalling broader global support for its cause beyond its Western allies.

Germany has offered to re-deploy Patriot air defence missiles to NATO ally Poland at the start of the new year, the German defence ministry has said.

The units could be deployed for up to six months, the ministry said in a statement.

“With this we will protect a logistical hub in Poland which is of central importance for the delivery of materials to Ukraine,” German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said.

From January to November 2022, Germany had already deployed 300 troops together with three Patriot units to Poland.

They were based in the town Zamosc, about 50 km (31 miles) from the Ukrainian border, to protect the southern town and its crucial railway link to Ukraine.

The deployment was triggered by a stray Ukrainian missile that struck the Polish village of Przewodow in November 2022, in an incident that raised fears of the war in Ukraine spilling over the border.

Sir Keir Starmer has spoken with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, as his country’s civilians face bombardment by Russian forces.

On social media site X, Mr Zelensky said he had informed the Prime Minister about “yet another act of Russian air terror targeting Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, involving over 90 missiles and nearly 100 drones”.

He added: “I expressed gratitude for the UK’s unwavering support, including the commitment to provide at least £3 billion annually for Ukraine’s needs. We discussed advancing our defence co-operation and strengthening Ukraine’s long-range capabilities.

“We also discussed Ukraine’s potential participation in the upcoming JEF (Joint Expeditionary Force) Summit in Tallinn next month and agreed to expedite preparations for the historic Partnership Agreement marking 100 years of Ukraine–UK relations.”

Donald Trump has tapped Keith Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general who presented him with a plan to end the war in Ukraine, to serve as a special envoy for the conflict, the president-elect wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday.

Kellogg, who was the chief of staff for the White House National Security Council during Trump’s 2017-2021 term and national security adviser to then-Vice President Mike Pence, will likely play a central role in attempting to resolve the conflict in his new position.

While there is currently no special envoy for the war in Ukraine, Trump had privately expressed interest in creating the position.

Ukraine’s air force has said that Russia made 12 strikes on Ukrainian targets in an overnight aerial attack which mostly targeted fuel and energy infrastructure.

Russia fired a large number of missiles and drones which overwhelmed air defences in some places, the air force said.

It shot down 79 Russian missiles, it said earlier.

Russian forces have killed five Ukrainian prisoners of war in Zaporizhzhia region, according to the Ukrainian prosecutor general.

In a statement on Facebook, the prosecutor general said an investigation has been launched after Russian forces shot five out of six captured Ukrainian soldiers.

Investigators also received a video of the moment the shooting was recorded, the prosecutor said.

Russia and Ukraine have agreed to return to each other a total of nine children to be reunited with family members, according to a senior Russian official.

The transfers were agreed following mediation by Qatar, which has brokered several similar deals since the start of the full-scale war in February 2022.

Russia’s commissioner for children, Maria Lvova-Belova, said on Thursday that six boys and one girl, aged six to 16, were being returned to relatives in Ukraine.

Ms Lvova-Belova said on Wednesday that Qatari mediation had also enabled the repatriation of two young Russian boys, aged seven and nine, from Ukraine.

Ukraine says about 20,000 children have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territory without the consent of family or guardians since the war began, calling the abductions a war crime that meets the U.N. treaty definition of genocide.

Moscow says it has protected vulnerable children from the war zone.

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