Russia quiet on US decision to cut ceasefire deadline

The Kremlin has declined to comment on US President Donald Trump's decision to cut a deadline for the Kremlin to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine from 50 to 10 days.

"We have taken note of President Trump's statement yesterday," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian state news agency TASS.

Earlier this month, Trump threatened to hit Russia's trading partners with "severe" tariffs if officials in Moscow did not agree to a ceasefire within 50 days, giving Russian President Vladimir Putin a deadline of September 2.

But during a meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday, Trump said he would reduce the 50 days he gave Putin "to a lesser number," saying this could be "10 or 12 days".

Trump justified the move by saying he was disappointed with Putin, who had shown no willingness to compromise.

The Kremlin has repeatedly emphasised that it will not be pressured into a deal.

Peskov went on to say that the ongoing normalising of ties between Russia and the US had slowed down.

However, Russia is still interested in maintaining relations and hopes that the process will gain great momentum, he added.

Trump on Tuesday said he would start imposing tariffs and other measures on Russia "ten days from today" if the Kremlin did not make progress toward ending the war in Ukraine.

Trump said he had not heard a response from Russia.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump also said he was not worried about the potential effect of Russian sanctions on the oil market or prices, saying the United States would boost domestic oil production to offset any impact.

Russian air strikes on a prison and hospital in southeastern Ukraine killed at least 19 people, officials said on Tuesday.

Sixteen of the people were killed when Russia bombed a prison in the frontline Zaporizhzhia region in an attack Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called deliberate.

He said 43 people were injured in the incident.

"The Russians knew it was a civilian facility. They could not have been unaware," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

"Each such Russian strike, each instance of Russian arrogance in response to global calls to end the war, all this only confirms that pressure is necessary."

Ukrainian officials said a separate missile strike on a hospital in the neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk region killed a 23-year-old pregnant woman and two others.

Zelenskiy earlier said a total of 22 people had been killed over the past 24 hours.

Russia, which denied targeting civilians in Tuesday's attacks, has intensified air strikes on Ukrainian towns and cities behind the front lines of its full-scale invasion, now in its fourth year, as it gradually pushes ahead on the battlefield.

Russian forces hold about a fifth of Ukrainian territory.

with DPA