US President Donald Trump has said that he finds it "easier" to deal with Russia than with Ukraine in efforts to end the three-year long war - and that he trusts Vladimir Putin.
"I believe him," he said in a televised press conference at the White House.
"I'm finding it more difficult frankly to deal with Ukraine and they don't have the cards," he said. "It may be easier dealing with Russia."
Mr Trump has pushed Ukraine hard, as it struggles to fend off Russian invasion after three years of war, and has ordered a pause in US military and intelligence assistance to Kyiv in order to apply more pressure.
Despite threatening new sanctions on Russia earlier today, Mr Trump said he understood why Mr Putin's forces had inflicted a massive bombing campaign across Ukraine overnight.
"I actually think he's doing what anybody in that position would be doing that right now," Mr Trump said.
"I've always had a good relationship with Putin. And you know, he wants to end the war," he said.
"I think he's going to be more generous than he has to be, and that's pretty good. That means a lot of good things."
He said Mr Zelensky risks losing all US involvement.
"I don't know that they want to settle. If they don't want to settle, we're out of there because we want them to settle. I'm doing it to stop death," Mr Trump said.
Meanwhile, Mr Zelensky has said that Ukraine wants peace "as soon as possible".
"The theme is clear: peace as soon as possible, security as reliable as possible. Ukraine is determined to be very constructive," he said of the upcoming talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia next week.
Trump threatens new Russia sanctions over Ukraine attacks
Earlier, Mr Trump threatened new sanctions and tariffs on Russia following its bombardments of Ukraine. It comes after he previously suspended US aid to Kyiv in a stated bid to encourage diplomacy.
His comments, published on the Truth Social platform, came hours after Russia launched a "massive" drone and missile attack on Ukrainian energy facilities.
"Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely 'pounding' Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED," Mr Trump wrote.
"To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late," he added.
A senior White House official echoed this message shortly after.
"President Trump is adamant that we need to get everybody to the table, and we could do that with carrots, and we can do that with sticks," Kevin Hassett, director of the president's National Economic Council told reporters.
Mr Zelensky renewed calls for a mutual halt to aerial attacks on critical infrastructure following the latest Russian attack.
His proposal to halt aerial bombardments on energy facilities builds on growing rhetoric from Ukraine, the US and Russia on halting the war, now in its fourth year.
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The Ukrainian leader said the first steps to establishing real peace should be stopping both Russian and Ukrainian aerial and naval attacks.
"Ukraine is ready to go the way of peace, and it is Ukraine that wants peace from the very first second of this war. The task is to force Russia to stop the war," he wrote in a post on social media.
Ukraine's allies abroad have voiced support for Mr Zelensky's truce proposal and today the Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who recently hosted the Ukrainian leader, also gave it his backing.
"We support the idea of establishing a ceasefire as soon as possible and stopping attacks in the air and at sea as a confidence-building measure between the parties," Mr Erdogan told an online meeting.
The Kremlin has previously ruled out a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine.
'Precision' strikes
The Russian defence ministry confirmed it had carried out "precision" strikes on energy facilities, claiming they support the Ukrainian military.
Russia is "targeting facilities linked to Ukraine's military-industrial complex," Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The Ukrainian air force said it had deployed French Mirage fighter jets, delivered to Ukraine last month, for the first time to repel the aerial onslaught.
The fighter jets along with air-defence units shot down 34 of the missiles and 100 drones.
DTEK, the largest private energy supplier in Ukraine, said its facilities in the Black Sea region of Odessa were targeted for a fourth night in a row and that gas facilities in the central Poltava region had "ceased operations" after being struck overnight.
Last night, the Russian army carried out another massive attack on our energy infrastructure. Various facilities were targeted in several regions – Odesa, Poltava, Chernihiv, and Ternopil. In total, the Russians used nearly 70 missiles, both cruise and ballistic, as well as… pic.twitter.com/bpj5XCPYSW
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 7, 2025
Authorities in at least five Ukrainian regions said Russia had targeted energy facilities.
Ukraine's energy minister German Galushchenko said Russia was trying to "hurt ordinary Ukrainians by shelling energy and gas production facilities".
The latest Russian air assault came after EU leaders, shaken by the prospect of US disengagement, agreed to boost the bloc's defences.
Eight people were wounded in a strike on Kharkiv, including a woman pulled from the rubble alive, city officials said.
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