In call with NATO chief, Ukraine's Zelensky says pressure needed on Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday he had spoken by telephone to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and that they had discussed joint steps and the need to put pressure on Russia to secure "a just peace".

"It is important that all decisions are coordinated. Then the sanctions will work. Without pressure on Moscow, a just peace cannot be achieved. Everyone understands this," Zelensky said on the Telegram messaging app.

The Ukrainian leader has been calling European allies in the last two days to seek more pressure on Russia after US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone on Monday.

For Ukraine and its allies, who spent months trying to win the Trump administration over to their cause in the war started by Russia, the US leader's call with Putin put them back at square one.

The US president dropped his earlier insistence on an unconditional 30-day ceasefire that he hoped would kickstart what promise to be long and tortuous peace talks.

Trump also signalled that the war he once promised to end in 24 hours was no longer his to fix - a message that leaves Ukraine vulnerable and its allies worried.