Russia launched 85 drones and a missile against Ukraine while Putin's meeting with Trump was taking place

The Russian military launched 85 drones and a missile against Ukraine overnight Friday Saturday, Kiev said, as a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, was taking place in Alaska.

The Ukrainian air force, in a statement posted on Telegram, said it shot down 61 such drones, including "Shahed" type devices (of Iranian design) and decoy devices.

The regions hit were Sumi (northeast), Donetsk (east), Chernihiv (north) and Dnipropetrovsk (center-east), the same source specified. They did not report the number of injuries or deaths following the Russian attacks.

These attacks took place while the expected meeting between Putin and Trump to try to end the war was taking place in Alaska, but so far did not result in any truce, the participants declared.

Trump rules out immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and pushes for a "peace deal"

This Saturday Trump himself described his meeting with the Russian leader as "An excellent and very successful day in Alaska!" through a message on his social network Truth Social.

"All agreed that the best way to end the terrible war between Russia and Ukraine is to come directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a simple Ceasefire Agreement, which often does not hold up," Trump added on the digital platform.

The president confirmed that Zelensky will visit will come to Washington DC on Monday afternoon to meet with him in the Oval Office.

"If everything goes well, we will schedule a meeting with President Putin. Potentially, millions of lives will be saved," the Republican concluded his statement.

The war triggered by Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine is the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II, and has claimed tens of thousands of lives.