Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump sympathises with Putin’s stance on Nato as Kursk battle rages
Trump said he ‘understands’ Russia’s feelings about Ukraine in Nato bloc
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump says he sympathises with Vladimir Putin’s position that Ukraine should not be part of Nato, incorrectly accusing Joe Biden of changing US policy on the issue.
“A big part of the problem is, Russia – for many, many years, long before Putin – said, ‘You could never have Nato involved with Ukraine.’ Now, they’ve said that. That’s been, like, written in stone,” Mr Trump said, speaking at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach.
“And somewhere along the line Biden said, ‘No. They should be able to join Nato’ Well, then Russia has somebody right on their doorstep, and I could understand their feelings about that.”
Nato’s official position since 2008 has been that Ukraine should work towards membership, and that remains the case. No new invitation to join Nato has been offered, despite calls from Kyiv for the alliance to do so.
On the battlefront, Ukraine said its forces were “commencing new offensive actions” in Russia’s western Kursk region, finally confirming the renewed assault first reported over the weekend.
And in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv said it was still clinging on to part of Kurakhove, a strategic town that Russia claims to have captured.
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Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico will discuss the end of Russian gas transit through Ukraine with representatives of the European Commission on 9 January in Brussels, Slovakia’s government office said on Tuesday.
Supplies through Ukraine stopped on 1 January after a transit agreement between Ukraine and Russia expired, but Fico had been keen to continue receiving Russian gas through that route and threatened to retaliate against Ukraine for what he said were large economic losses for Slovakia.
Ukraine's military reports 'new offensive operations' in Russia's Kursk region
The Ukrainian military said on Tuesday its forces were commencing new offensive operations in Russia’s western Kursk region.
The general staff also said on Telegram that Ukrainian troops had hit a Russian command post in the region on Tuesday.
“The strike and a series of recent operations... were coordinated with the Ukrainian Ground Forces who are currently commencing new offensive operations,” it said.
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Kyiv's army has said it is clinging on to part of Kurakhove, a strategic town in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk that Russia claims to have captured.
The Ukrainian army said Tuesday fighting was still ongoing on the fringes of the town and accused Russia of using scorched-earth tactics to "completely destroy" it.
"Ukrainian troops are holding on in the western part of the town, on the western outskirts of the town," Victor Tregubov, a spokesperson for Ukraine's Khortytsia army unit, which is fighting in the area, said in an interview on national TV.
A "large part of the town has been destroyed", he said, adding that Russians were grinding through the area, clearing the town building by building.
"They are actually trying to dismantle the town brick by brick," Mr Tregubov said.
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