Ukraine-Russia war – live: Trump claims he will ‘bring peace to the world’ after phone call with Zelensky

Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky have spoken on the phone, just hours after the Ukrainian president said it would be “hard work” if the Republican returns to the White House.

Mr Trump said they had a “very good phone call” and promised to “bring peace to the world” and “end the war” if he is re-elected in November.

Mr Zelensky said they agreed to discuss steps to make “peace fair and truly lasting” and expressed thanks for US military assistance.

Their phone call comes amid concerns over a potential Trump administration’s policy on the Russia-Ukraine war if he wins the election. The Republican nominee has repeatedly promised to end the war in one day while criticising US military aid to Kyiv.

Earlier Antony Blinken said Ukraine was on its way to being able to “stand on its own feet” militarily as more than 20 other countries have pledged to maintain their own military and financial aid to the country even if the US were to withdraw its support under a different president.

Mr Blinken was for the first time directly addressing the possibility of Mr Trump winning the November election and backing away from US commitments to Ukraine.

This weekend 25,000 music lovers are gathering for Ukraine’s biggest music festival, an annual event that hasn’t been held since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Journalist Paul Niland shared a video on X of a large crowd watching the Ukrainian rock band BoomBox on stage. The billing this year will understandably mostly be made up of domestic talent, though the event has previously had headline acts from global stars like Kasabian, The Chemical Brothers and Liam Gallagher.

Speaking to the BBC, event organiser Vlad Yaremchuk explained how the festival is being conducted in a car