Trump made ending the war in Ukraine central to his pitch for the presidency, claiming it would never have started had he been in office, and that he was well placed to bring about peace. He repeated his pledge to end the war within 24 hours of his presidency 53 times, according to CNN’s count, though has since claimed this was in “jest”.

Trump said he was "very unhappy" about his call with Putin a day earlier, given what he called the Russian leader's refusal to work on a ceasefire.

Russia launched a record number of drones at Ukraine overnight into Friday, striking multiple buildings and residential areas, hours after US President Donald Trump said he had made “no progress” towards a ceasefire deal in a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.