Officials from Ukraine will meet with American representatives in Paris Thursday to discuss the war with Russia less than a day after the latest Russian attack on Ukraine.

Ukraine's presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak said in a social media post they "are working in Paris," with Ukraine's Minister for Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha and Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov.

• Ballistic missiles hit centre of city in Ukraine's north not far from Russian border, Kyiv officials say
• Some 117 people injured, bodies strewn about street
• Ukraine says Russia used cluster munitions, deliberately hit civilians
• Moscow yet to comment on deadliest strike since September 2024
• Attack comes soon after Trump envoy held talks with Putin in US push to end war

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has invited Donald Trump to visit his country ahead of any deal with Russia to end the war.

"Please, before any kind of decisions, any kind of forms of negotiations, come to see people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children destroyed or dead," Zelensky said in an interview for CBS's 60 Minutes programme.

The interview was recorded before a Russian missile hit the city of Sumy, killing 34 people and injuring 117 others.

While Joe Biden publicly led the charge to punish Russia for its first invasion of Ukraine, he used his role as vice president to quietly open a backdoor for Moscow's gas to flow to its neighbor in fall 2014, at a time when his son Hunter's Ukrainian energy company sought such help, according to government messages in a private email account kept from Americans for more than a decade.

Russian-American woman Ksenia Karelina, who was serving a 12-year prison sentence for treason in Russia, was released as part of a prisoner exchange that saw her swapped for an accused smuggler held in the US.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X early on Thursday that Karelina had been released and was on her way to the United States.

“American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States. She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year and President Trump secured her release,” Rubio said on X.

Russia and the U.S. carried out a prisoner swap early Thursday in Abu Dhabi in a sign of continuing confidence building, as the two sides pursue a deal to end the war in Ukraine.

Russian-American ballerina Ksenia Karelina was released from Kremlin custody in a prisoner swap with the United States Thursday morning.

Karelina was freed in exchange for German-Russian Arthur Petrov at a swap in Abu Dhabi, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

“She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year and President Trump secured her release. @POTUS will continue to work for the release of ALL Americans,” he added.

China denied any military involvement in Ukraine, after Kyiv said it had captured two Chinese men in the country’s east.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian on Wednesday said China was still trying to confirm with Ukraine details of the capture of the two Chinese citizens who Ukrainian authorities said were fighting for the Russian military.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said two Chinese nationals fighting in the Russian army have been taken prisoner in eastern Ukraine.

Zelensky said Tuesday that Ukrainian forces fighting in the Donetsk region obtained the Chinese nationals’ documents, bank cards and personal data.