Russia’s ambassador to the UK has become the latest diplomat to issue a dramatic warning against the US providing Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine. Andrei Kelin said the latest military aid, which is still being discussed, “will not change the situation on the battlefield”. He added the ominous seven-word warning: “We will have to react very seriously.”

Kelin said: “But we will have to react very seriously to this escalation and to the involvement of the US military in launching them.” This comes after Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov cautioned that delivering Tomahawks to Kyiv would be an “extremely dangerous move”. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also issued a direct warning to Donald Trump, urging him to consider the consequences of sending the missiles to Ukraine.

He said: “The delivery of these missiles could end badly for everyone. And first of all – for Trump himself.”

Mr Trump has also announced that he and Putin will meet in Hungary “to see if we can bring this ‘inglorious’ war, between Russia and Ukraine, to an end”.

He wrote on Truth Social: “At the conclusion of the call, we agreed that there will be a meeting of our High Level Advisors, next week.

“The United States’ initial meetings will be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, together with various other people, to be designated.

“A meeting location is to be determined. President Putin and I will then meet in an agreed upon location, Budapest, Hungary, to see if we can bring this ‘inglorious’ War, between Russia and Ukraine, to an end.”

Mr Trump is now gearing up for a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky tomorrow amid discussions that Kyiv could receive Tomahawk cruise missiles, which would allow it to strike deeper into Russia.

He concluded: “President Zelenskyy and I will be meeting tomorrow, in the Oval Office, where we will discuss my conversation with President Putin, and much more. I believe great progress was made with today’s telephone conversation.”

Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky held a phone call earlier this week to discuss the missiles.

The Ukrainian president described it as “very productive”, praising his American counterpart for being “well-informed about everything that is happening”.