Russia has been accused of conducting a large-scale cyber attack against Ukraine's state registries, temporarily disrupting critical government infrastructure, as tensions continue to escalate with renewed missile strikes on Kyiv.

Ukrainian deputy prime minister Olha Stefanishyna announced on Thursday that the country had experienced "the largest external cyber attack in recent times" targeting state registries under the Ministry of Justice's jurisdiction. The attack forced a temporary suspension of unified and state registry services.

"It was clear the attack was carried out by the Russians to disrupt the work of the country's critically important infrastructure," Stefanishyna said on Facebook. Work is currently underway to restore the systems, which is expected to take about two weeks.

The cyber assault was followed by a Russian missile attack on Kyiv early Friday morning, which killed at least one person according to preliminary information from Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration. The strike caused fires across the city and damaged an office building.

Meanwhile, Russian president Vladimir Putin expressed willingness to meet with Donald Trump to discuss peace proposals during a marathon phone-in event. Putin claimed Russia was "ready for negotiations and compromises" but maintained a firm stance on keeping Crimea and other occupied territories, preventing Ukraine from joining NATO, and demanding the lifting of western sanctions.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasised the importance of both European and American support in securing lasting peace. Speaking at a Brussels summit, he stated: "I believe that the European guarantees won't be sufficient for Ukraine." Zelenskyy expressed support for French president Emmanuel Macron's suggestion of deploying western troops but stressed the need for specific details.

"If we are talking about a contingent, we need to be specific – how many, what they will do if there is aggression from Russia," Zelenskyy said. "The main thing is that this is not some artificial story, we need effective mechanisms."

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