Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin ‘won’t accept any Trump peace deal’ as he is ‘obsessed’ with crushing Ukraine
Trump risks collapsing Ukraine’s front lines if he decides to starve Kyiv of military aid, Dmytro Kuleba warns
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Your support makes all the difference.Vladimir Putin will not accept a peace deal pushed by US president-elect Donald Trump, because the Russian president is “obsessed” with “crushing” Ukraine and exposing the weakness of the West, Ukraine’s former foreign minister has warned.
Dmytro Kuleba – who resigned in September – warned that Mr Trump instead risks collapsing Ukraine’s front lines if his administration decides to starve Kyiv of military aid.
Warning that Mr Putin still believes he “can snuff out Ukrainian statehood”, he told Politico: “Ukraine is a personal obsession for Putin, but crushing Ukraine is also a means to accomplish his grand goal – to show to the world how the West is incapable of defending itself or what it stands for.”
It came as Ukrainian officials said an experimental new ballistic missile fired by Russia at Dnipro last week carried multiple dummy warheads but no explosives. Mr Putin has called the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile strike a successful test and claimed it reached its target – a missile and defence facility.
Ukrainian drones hit Krasnodar in Russia in overnight attack
Ukrainian drones attacked two districts of Russia’s southern region of Krasnodar in the early hours of Thursday, its governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram.
At least one person has been wounded by the debris from a downed drone, he said.
Russia wants a long-term peace in Ukraine, Putin's spy chief says
Russia opposes simply freezing the conflict in Ukraine because Moscow needs a "solid and long-term peace" that resolves the core reasons for the crisis, President Vladimir Putin's foreign intelligence chief has claimed.
Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), said that Russia had the initiative on the battlefield.
Naryshkin said Russia was categorically opposed to the "freezing of the conflict", adding that Russia wanted a long-term peace. Russia is open for talks, Naryshkin said.
Ukraine faces difficult winter
Ukraine faces a difficult winter, with worries about the reliability of the electricity supply amid Russia’s attacks and how much US support it can count on next year after President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.
Russia has been hammering civilian areas of Ukraine with increasingly heavy drone, missile and glide bomb attacks since the middle of the year.
At the same time, Russia's army has largely held the battlefield initiative for the past year and has been pushing hard in the eastern Donetsk region where it is making significant tactical advances, according to Western military analysts.
Father of ex-British soldier captured by Russia fears son will be tortured after fighting for Ukraine
Father of former British soldier captured by Russia fears son will be tortured
Father says he tried to stop his son James Scott Rhys Anderson from joining the Ukrainian forces
‘You cannot approve ICC when it goes against Putin and oppose it when it goes against Netanyahu,’ says Borrell
Josep Borrell has said “you cannot approve the court when it goes against Putin and oppose it when it goes against Netanyahu”, referring to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The comments from the Vice President of the EU Commission comes after some countries rejected the court’s warrant for the Israeli prime minister’s arrest.
Watch: Ukrainian boxer Klitschko accuses Joe Rogan of pushing Russian propaganda
Nato backs Ukraine after Russian ballistic missile launch
Nato members reaffirmed their support for Ukraine during talks with the country’s officials yesterday, held in response to Russia’s launch of an experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile.
“The chief of the defence intelligence of Ukraine and acting commander of the air force joined the meeting online and briefed the allies on the details of the attack and its possible consequences,” Nataliia Galibarenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to Nato, said in a statement.
Ambassadors representing Nato’s 32 member countries were briefed by senior Ukrainian officials after Kyiv called a meeting of the Nato-Ukraine Council, a forum for cooperation.
“They emphasised to the partners that this outrageous attack was a blatant demonstration of force by Russia and a fruitless attempt to intimidate the allies,” she added.
Vladimir Putin said Moscow struck a Ukrainian military facility with a new intermediate-range, hypersonic ballistic missile in response to the US and UK’s allowing Kyiv to strike Russian territory with advanced Western weapons.
Sixty British troops investigate mystery drones flying over US airbases in England
Dozens of British soldiers have been drafted in to help the US find out who is responsible for flying more mystery drones over three air bases in England.
A small number of drones were spotted overnight flying over RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk and RAF Feltwell in Norfolk, United States Air Force (USAF) confirmed on Tuesday.
Sources told the PA news agency around 60 troops have been deployed to help USAF in its investigation of the incident.
Sixty British troops investigate mystery drones flying over US airbases in England
USAF confirms drones spotted overnight flying over RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk and RAF Feltwell in Norfolk
Exclusive: Starmer urged by his own MPs to accelerate European defence cooperation
Sir Keir Starmer has been pressed by his own MPs to go faster in pursuing closer relations with Europe on defence and security, amid an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine and fears for global security.
Calvin Bailey, who served in the RAF for 24 years and is now the Labour MP for Leyton and Wanstead, called for “an acceleration of the government’s work to rebuild our partnerships on the continent” in order to promote security at home and abroad.
He told The Independent that the UK should prioritise cooperation with Europe in Labour’s Strategic Defence Review – a “root and branch review” of UK defence – launched by Sir Keir when he took office.
Our political correspondent Millie Cooke has more in this exclusive report:
Labour MPs press Starmer to accelerate European defence cooperation
Exclusive: Pressure on the prime minister comes as Russia fires deadly new ballistic missile at Ukraine and Nato sceptic president-elect Trump due to take over White House
Ukraine needs around 130,000 more troops, US official suggests
Joe Biden’s administration is urging Ukraine to quickly increase the size of its military by drafting more troops and revamping its mobilisation laws to allow for the conscription of troops as young as 18.
A senior Biden administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private consultations, said on Wednesday that the outgoing US administration wants Ukraine to lower the mobilisation age to 18 from the current age of 25 to help expand the pool of fighting age men available to Kyiv.
The White House has pushed more than $56bn in security assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s February 2022 invasion and expects to send billions more to Kyiv before Biden leaves office in less than months.
But with time running out, the Biden White House is also sharpening its viewpoint that Ukraine has the weaponry it needs and now must dramatically increase its manpower if it is going to stay in the fight with Russia.
The official said the Ukrainians believe they need about 160,000 additional troops, but the US administration believes they probably will need more.
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