A pall of acrid smoke hung over Kyiv on Friday morning following a night of intensive Russian strikes - the hours of darkness once again punctuated by the staccato of air defence guns, buzz of drones and large explosions.

Russian strikes hit more than a dozen locations across Ukraine’s capital Kyiv overnight into Friday, including residential areas, a local official said, hours after US President Donald Trump said he had made “no progress” towards a ceasefire deal during a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone Thursday, but neither side reported any breakthrough on efforts to end the war in Ukraine. Trump, who promised on the campaign trail that he could end the war on his first day in office,