How the UK brought Ukraine back from the brink: PM's envoy who led Troubles peace talks made desperate diplomatic push following Zelensky's White House bust-up with Trump

Britain played a key role in forging the agreement for a ceasefire in Ukraine after a week of frantic diplomacy to bring Donald Trump's US back onside with Kyiv. The détente, yet to be agreed to by Vladimir Putin's Russia, comes just weeks after an unsightly scene in the Oval Office where Trump and VP JD Vance ganged up on Ukraine's president Zelensky. Sir Keir will convene a phone call of leaders from what he has dubbed the 'coalition of the willing' on Saturday, when they will discuss peacekeeping efforts aimed at deterring Russia's Vladimir Putin from launching a future attempt to conquer Ukraine if a deal to end the conflict is reached. Firefighters work at the scene of a Russian strike in Ukraine after Putin intensified his bombardment of the country overnight Russia escalates overnight attacks on Ukraine, killing and wounding crew and port workers in Odesa grain ship strike, destroying homes in Dnipro, Kharkiv, Sumy and hitting Krivyi Rih The fierce overnight bombardment saw a double missile strike hit Kryvyi Rih - the city where Volodmyr Zelensky was born - led to a woman, 47, in a trolleybus being killed. Russia unleashed Iranian-designed Shahed drones on Ukraine's second city Kharkiv, while footage showed a blazing fire at a warehouse in Sumy after a Russian strike.