Trump set to meet Zelenskyy at NATO summit as war grinds to stalemate

Donald Trump's heading to Turkey this week for a NATO summit, and he's bringing his Ukraine playbook with him. A senior US official confirmed Trump will sit down with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and push hard to end the war — something the American president apparently can't stop thinking about.

"The battlefield has clearly frozen over the last couple of months and neither side is making a lot of progress," the official told reporters in Washington. "The president feels a real sense of urgency to try to bring this to a stop."

Trump's already been working the phones. He had a lengthy call with Vladimir Putin on Sunday where he offered to help broker a deal, according to a Kremlin aide. Zelenskyy chimed in saying his own conversation with Trump went "very good" and covered the 1,200km frontline situation.

But timing's rough. Kyiv got hammered early Monday morning when Russian missiles tore through the city. At least one residential building in the historic Podil district took a direct hit. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said people were trapped between the seventh and ninth floors, with drone debris scattering across other neighborhoods. This came just days after Russia's worst attack on the capital in the entire war killed at least 27 people.

Zelenskyy had warned the strike was coming. Intelligence suggested Russia was prepping something massive, and they weren't wrong.

On the ground, fighting's still raging over Kostyantynivka, a key eastern town. Moscow claims it's theirs. Zelenskyy's having none of it. "Putin has already claimed as his own, but it is obvious that he will never dare to appear there," he said Sunday night.

Meanwhile, Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula lost power Monday after Ukraine targeted energy infrastructure there. A Ukrainian attack on northern Crimea killed one person and injured two others, with one in serious condition.

Moscow's defence ministry is now claiming Ukraine refused to stop shelling Kostiantynivka to let Russia hand over bodies of dead Ukrainian soldiers. Ukraine's military hasn't responded yet.