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Donald Trump has hit out at Volodymyr Zelensky for saying Ukraine would not recognise Russia's occupation of Crimea.

"This statement is very harmful to the peace negotiations with Russia," the US president said in a social media post, adding that a US brokered peace deal is on the horizon.

“He has nothing to boast about! The situation for Ukraine is dire — He can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country,” Mr Trump wrote.

It comes as high-level peace summit in London to discuss the terms of a Ukraine peace deal on Wednesday was abruptly downgraded after Mr Trump’s most senior diplomat snubbed the meeting.

Foreign ministers from France and Germany abandoned plans to travel to the UK for the talks after US secretary of state Marco Rubio announced he would not attend, citing “scheduling issues”.

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Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip killed at least 17 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and destroyed bulldozers and other heavy equipment that had been supplied by mediators to clear rubble. Separate strikes killed two people in Lebanon.

Also on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Trump spoke by phone, two weeks after the two met in Washington. Trump wrote on his social networking site Truth Social that the two spoke about trade and Iran, among other issues. “The call went very well—We are on the same side of every issue,” he wrote.

Netanyahu's office did not have an immediate comment, but his hastily-arranged visit to Washington was not deemed a rousing success after he appeared to fail to secure the support he wanted from Trump on issues such as stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons, reducing Trump's tariffs, the influence of Turkey and the war in Gaza.

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Gunmen shot and killed at least 26 tourists on Tuesday at a resort in Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said in what appeared to be a major shift in a regional conflict in which tourists have largely been spared.

Police said it was a “terror attack” and blamed militants fighting against Indian rule. “This attack is much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years,” Omar Abdullah, the region’s top elected official, wrote on social media.

Russian attacks during the 30-hour Easter ceasefire unilaterally declared by President Vladimir Putin over the weekend killed three people in Ukraine's southern Kherson region, the local governor said Monday.

Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram that the casualties occurred over the last 24 hours, adding that three others were wounded.

Overall, Russia violated the ceasefire more than 2,900 times, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Telegram statement in the early hours on Monday. Zelenskyy said that Russian forces carried out 96 assault operations along the front line, shelled Ukrainian positions more than 1,800 times and used hundreds of drones during the course of the ceasefire.

“The nature of Ukrainian actions will continue to be mirror-like: we will respond to silence with silence, and our blows will be a defense against Russian blows. Actions always speak louder than words,” he said.

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Pope Francis, 88, a humble reformer who sought to make the Catholic Church more inclusive and clashed with world leaders over the rights of immigrants, died Easter Monday following a lengthy bout of double pneumonia, the Vatican said.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who oversees the pope's affairs, announced his death from Casa Santa Marta where Francis lived at the Vatican. No cause of death was released.

"Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis," Farrel said in a statement on Vatican News. "At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father."

The pope's death comes one day after a frail but determined Francis greeted thousands in St. Peter's Square after Easter Mass in his open-air popemobile − and just weeks after an extended hospital stay in which he battled bilateral pneumonia and other health issues.

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