Russia holds nuclear drills

Russia on Wednesday said it had carried out a major training exercise involving strategic nuclear weapons, a day after the United States announced a delay in plans for a second summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on the war in Ukraine.

The Kremlin released video footage showing General Valery Gerasimov, head of Russia's General Staff, briefing Putin on the drills. Russia said it fired missiles from ground launchers, submarines, and aircraft, including intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States. In a further demonstration of military capability, Moscow said long-range Tu-22M3 bombers flew over the Baltic Sea, escorted at points by fighter jets from foreign - presumably NATO - countries.

Putin has periodically highlighted Russia's nuclear capabilities as a warning to Kyiv and its Western allies. NATO has also conducted nuclear deterrence exercises this month.

Meanwhile, Sweden announced it had signed a letter of intent to export Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine, part of European efforts to bolster Kyiv's defences in the three-year-and-eight-month-long conflict triggered by Russia's full-scale invasion.

Ukrainian pilots have already been in Sweden to test the Gripens, which are considered a rugged and relatively low-cost alternative to aircraft such as the US F-35. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine expects to receive the planes next year and plans to acquire at least 100 aircraft.

Overnight, Russia and Ukraine carried out heavy missile strikes on each other, as uncertainty enveloped the US-led peace effort. After months of stalled diplomacy, Trump and Putin spoke last week and initially announced a summit in Hungary that the Kremlin suggested could occur within weeks.

However, following a Monday call between top diplomats, the White House said Trump had no plans for an immediate meeting, citing a desire to avoid a wasted summit - a point Kremlin officials said Putin also shared.

The summit delay comes as Moscow reiterated its previous terms for a peace deal, including Ukraine ceding control of the southeastern Donbas region, sources told Reuters. This effectively rejects Trump's recent suggestion that both sides should hold at current front lines. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov declined to confirm the report.

Through the first nine months of his second term, Trump has pushed for an end to the conflict, the deadliest in Europe since World War II. He has been sharply critical at times of Zelenskiy and frustrated with Putin, though he has not imposed the new sanctions against Moscow he had previously threatened.