Vladimir Putin is open to discussing a ceasefire in Ukraine with Donald Trump, Kremlin resources have revealed.
The Russian president is willing to negotiate the end of front line conflict, as long as Kyiv abandons its ambitions to join NATO, Reuters reports.
Five sources in Moscow also ruled out Russia giving up any major territories it has annexed in negotiations.
Russia currently controls a chunk of Ukraine, which is the size of the US state of Virginia, and is moving at its fastest pace yet.
But it comes as the US embassy closed its doors in Kyiv after they were warned of a ‘significant air attack’.
The Department of State Consular Affairs said: ‘Out of an abundance of caution, the embassy will be closed, and embassy employees are being instructed to shelter in place.
‘The U.S. Embassy recommends U.S. citizens be prepared to immediately shelter in the event an air alert is announced.’
The British embassy in Ukraine will remain open, with the UK Government saying it was continuing to monitor the situation in Kyiv.
They added the safety of staff and British nationals was of ‘paramount’ importance and the posture and travel advice would be kept under review.
The warning comes after Ukraine fired six US-made ATACMs missiles into Bryansk, Russia.
President Joe Biden had allowed the use long-range missiles to strike inside Russia.
He also agreed to give Ukraine anti-personnel land mines, a US defence official has told the BBC.
The official, who did not want to be named, said the mines would be delivered soon.
The Russian Ministry of Defence said it shot down five of them and damaged another, but fragments fell onto a military facility.
In a statement, Ukraine’s general staff said: ‘The destruction of ammunition depots for the Russian occupying forces, aimed at ending Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine, will continue.’
Tory MPs today criticised the British government for ‘dragging’ its feet on allowing Ukraine to use long-range Storm Shadow missiles.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy hit back, saying: ‘I’m not foot-dragging. We are leading but we must be careful not to discuss in detail these plans across this House.
‘We mustn’t abuse… the fact that this is a democratic chamber, that Putin and others pore over, trust me we are leading in that debate. We want to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position.’
The Ukrainian strikes using American missiles come on the same day Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a revised nuclear doctrine declaring that a conventional attack on Russia by any nation that is supported by a nuclear power would be considered a joint attack on his country.
Putin’s endorsement of the new nuclear deterrent policy comes on the 1,000th day after he sent troops into Ukraine.
Earlier today, Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has told reporters that the use of these Western-made non-nuclear missiles by Ukraine could lead to a ‘nuclear response’ under new nuclear rules in Russia.
In September, Putin warned that any nuclear power supporting another country’s attack on Russia would be considered a participant in the aggression – a thinly veiled threat to Western countries.
This proposed amendment to Russia’s nuclear doctrine has not been legally cemented yet, Mr Peskov said, but will be ‘as necessary’.
Other changes to Russia’s nuclear weapons doctrine will see the country view aggression also from a non-nuclear state – if done with support from nuclear states – as a ‘joint attack’.
‘A massive launch of strategic and tactical planes, cruise missiles, drones, hypersonic and other aerial vehicles and their violation of the Russian border will become grounds for the use of nuclear weapons,’ Tass reported.
The move to allow Ukraine to use Western-made missiles against Russia has stoked the ire of the Kremlin and Russian state television, who went on to make open threats of nuclear attack on Britain and the US.
Another senior propagandist – Putin’s TV mouthpiece Dmitry Kiselyov – said US, British and French military officers would do the actual targeting of the missiles, which brought them into the war.
He asked: ‘How will Russia respond? The answer could be anything. Anything. It is not for nothing that our nuclear doctrine has been adjusted.
‘As President Putin has repeatedly emphasised, missile strikes deep into Russian territory will change the nature of the conflict. Its very essence will become a radical escalation.’
Another pro-Putin propagandist, Andrey Gurulev, reservist Russian army general, and hardline MP, warned of a full-scale nuclear strike on Britain to show the dictator’s intent.
He said: ‘There are individual targets that can be hit with….demonstrative warning strikes. The first candidate to get a nuclear bludgeon….is the UK.’
Andrey said he did not expect retaliation strikes since the West was ‘scared’ of Putin’s hypersonic nuclear arsenal.
He added if anyone has the ‘urge to launch ATACMS, SCALP, Storm Shadow missiles….there will be essentially nothing left of America trying to pull us into escalation.’
More Trending
The move by the US to allow Ukraine to use long-distance missiles sparked a massive attack across Ukraine after it was announced.
One strike on a nine-story building in the city of Sumy, northern Ukraine, killed eight people and wounded dozens.
Rescuers were working across Ukraine, checking every apartment in search of people who could remain in damaged buildings.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE: Putin reappears in Moscow while Russia starts building £300,000 nuclear bunkers
MORE: Enter this competition to win £260 worth of Sculpted by Aimee products – and here’s how
