Putin plotting huge air attack on Kyiv 'at any time', US warns as officials meet in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin could launch a "significant" air assault "at any time" while Western officials meet in Kyiv, according to US intelligence chiefs.

The dire warning comes just hours after , French president Emmanuel Macron, new German chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Polish premier Donald Tusk . had promised to observe a three-day ceasefire until midnight tonight - covering the period the leaders will be in Kyiv - but has already , raising fears that he could drop bombs onwhile the crucial talks take place this afternoon. The US embassy in the Ukrainian capital warned: “The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv has received information concerning a potentially significant air attack that may occur at any time over the next several days.

“The Embassy, as always, recommends U.S. citizens be prepared to immediately shelter in the event an air alert is announced.”

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A similar warning was issued on November 20 last year - just one day before struck Dnipro with a devastating Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile.

Russia has also sounded an alert that it is closing airspace over its Kapustin Yar missile test site in the southern Astrakhan region on May 12 and May 13, which is exactly what happened before the Dnipro attack.

Any new Russian strike on would threaten efforts by the US, Britain and the EU to force Putin to agree a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, starting immediately.

It is hoped that this would create a window for a full peace agreement to end the debilitating war.

Many observers remain sceptical that Putin, who staged a massive military parade in Moscow on Friday, has any intention of halting the war.

Friedrich Merz - who was eventually confirmed as German chancellor this week in dramatic circumstances - has however struck a positive tone, saying he has "great hope that a ceasefire agreement in Ukraine will be reached this weekend."

"Now the ball is in Moscow's court", he added.

- who has recently taken a tougher line on Russia after cosying up to Putin - this week threated of huge new sanctions on Russia if he continues the war.

He said yesterday: “I have a message to both sides: end this war.

“We are losing 5,000 soldiers a week, Russian and Ukrainian soldiers, and other people, and I say: end this stupid war. This is my message to both sides.”

The Kremlin dictator’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told ABC News that Putin demanded “certain dynamics” on the battlefield before agreeing an extended ceasefire, including a halt to Western military supplies to Kyiv - a move that would leave Ukraine vulnerable to alarge invasion by Russia.

“Otherwise, it will be [advantageous] for Ukraine,” Peskov said. “Ukraine will continue their total mobilisation, bringing new troops to [the] front line.

“Ukraine will use this period to train new military personnel and to give a rest to their existing ones… So why should we grant such an advantage to Ukraine?” Despite Kyiv insisting it is ready for an immediate month-long truce and talks with Moscow, Peskov alleged Kyiv was “not ready for immediate negotiations”.

Denying the Kremlin was dragging its feet, he claimed: “President Putin is doing whatever is possible to solve the problem, to achieve a settlement through peaceful and diplomatic means. But having no peaceful and democratic means at hand, we have to continue [the] military operation.”

This afternoon, Keir Starmer reiterated the calls for a 30-day ceasefire - and said he had Donald Trump's support for the pan-European peace plan.

The Prime Minister said "one country started this illegal conflict" and "only one country stands in the way of resolving it peacefully" during a meeting of members of the "coalition of the willing" aimed at end the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking from Kyiv, Starmer said: "It is an important moment because, as Volodymyr [Zelensky] has just said, there is this ceasefire-for-30-days proposal that is very clearly now on the table.

"Volodymyr, I think you first - with courage - put forward this proposal probably two months ago now, as the way forward? Emmanuel [Macron] and I have been discussing it intensively, including this week, and pushing the case of 30 days.

"Other allies in Europe have joined that, and of course the US position is now absolutely clear. So we have unity in relation to the proposal for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire.

"That is a really important moment of this conflict that we should focus on in this meeting of the coalition of the willing, and remind ourselves that only one country started this illegal conflict, and that was Russia and Putin, and only one country stands in the way of resolving it peacefully, and that is Russia and Putin."