The Syrian army said on Saturday dozens of its soldiers had been killed in a major attack led by Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebels who swept into the city of Aleppo, forcing the army to redeploy in the biggest challenge to President Bashar al-Assad in years.

A rebel commander said a fall in Iran-backed manpower created an opening this week's assault. Iran's ally Hezbollah has suffered big losses to Israel.

In further remarks to Sky News, the UK’s former representative to Nato, Sir Adam Thomson, said that Mr Zelensky appeared to be preparing domestic audiences for compromises, while “making opening moves” in a likely extended negotiation with Mr Trump over which line to take with the Kremlin.

In a single post, the president-elect told the world what the end of the Ukraine war might look like. And it is going to be a big diplomatic ask, to say the least.