Ukraine-Russia war – live: Musk ‘joins Trump’s Zelensky call’ as Putin hails ‘courageous’ US election win
Elon Musk promised to support Volodymyr Zelensky with his Starlink satellites
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Your support makes all the difference.Elon Musk reportedly jumped on Donald Trump’s first call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
The move potentially reveals how high Trump values the Tesla billionaire and foreshadows a possible role in his administration.
Axios reported that the president-elect told Zelensky he will support Ukraine, but didn’t go into details on a 25 minute phonecall.
Musk also weighed in to say he will continue supporting Ukraine through his Starlink satellites - that have become pivotal to Ukraine forces communications on the frontline.
Musk had previously mocked Zelensky on social media for his attempts to fundraise for his nation’s war effort.
It came as Russian president Vladimir Putin congratulated Trump on winning the US election and said Moscow was ready for dialogue with him.
In his first remarks since Mr Trump’s win, Mr Putin said the president-elect had acted “like a real man” during an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania in July.
Mr Trump’s win has caused concern in Ukraine, where the Russian forces have made swift advances of late, over fears that he would curtail US support for Kyiv.
Meanwhile, Russian drone strikes killed at least one person and injured 34 injured in Odesa and Kharkiv early this morning.
Mapped: Where has Russia made advances on the frontline in Ukraine?
What funds could Biden send to Ukraine before Trump takes office?
Pentagon responds to claims North Korean troops in Russia ‘gorging on pornography’
Europe cannot rely on Trump’s protection – it must take the lead on defence
A Trump presidency won’t necessarily be the gift for Putin that Moscow thinks it is...
UK - Ukrainian relations have got worse since Labour took over- report
Ukrainian sources have complained about Labour’s reluctance to provide long-range weapons to their forces.
“There’s no point in his coming as a tourist,” one senior figure in Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration told the Guardian about Sir Keir Starmer.
Their main complaints centre around the UK’s failure to provide additional Storm Shadow missiles for use against targets in Crimea since Sir Keir came to power in July.
An official told The Guardian: “It isn’t happening. Starmer isn’t giving us long-range weapons. The situation is not the same as when Rishi Sunak was prime minister.
“The relationship has got worse.”
Woman, 64, hospitalised in Russian strike on Kherson region
The russian shelling of an area of Kherson has hospitalised a 64-year-old woman, according to Ukrainian authorities.
The Russian forces attacked the settlement with a missile strike on Bilozerka at around 6pm.
The shell landed in the backyard of the woman’s home.
The Kherson Regional Military Administration said she was hospitalised with a mine-explosive injury and a concussion.
What funds could Biden send to Ukraine before Trump takes office?
US president Joe Biden appears set to try and rush billions of dollars in security assistance to Ukraine before his successor Donald Trump is inaugurated next January.
Mr Biden, a much more outspoken advocate for Ukraine than Mr Trump, and who has stated publicly that he would not force Kyiv to the negotiating table, rather let such talks be led by them, has passed five substantive aid packages for Ukraine while in the White House, totalling around $175 billion (£135bn).
Roughly $9bn of those bills remains to be sent. Of the latest weapons transfer authority passed in April, $4.3 billion remains, in addition to $2.8 billion worth of transfers lawmakers approved in previous spending measures and $2 billion in funding for the purchase of new weapons from industry.
But it is unclear when that aid could arrive; it is doubtful much will make it before Mr Trump is inaugurated.
Our foreign affairs reporter Tom Watling has more details in this report:
What funds could Biden send to Ukraine before Trump takes office?
A senior White House official says they are rushing to send a significant support package to Ukraine before Donald Trump is inaugurated in January
Estonian ambassador’s Kyiv apartment block hit in Russian attack
The high-rise Kyiv apartment block in which Estonian ambassador Annely Kolk lives was hit in a Russian attack overnight, the country’s foreign minister has said.
“She was lucky not to be harmed. No one is safe in Ukraine until Russia stops its aggression. Ukraine needs more air defence to protect its residents,” said Estonia’s foreign minister Margus Tsahkna.
Four people were wounded in a drone attack on the Kyiv region and at least six houses and several cars were damaged, according to Ukraine’s interior ministry, with one killed and dozens wounded in other attacks across 12 Ukrainian regions.
Mystery surrounds death of Ukrainian journalist in Russia’s ‘hell on earth’ prison
It has been nearly 50 days since a 27-year-old Ukrainian journalist died while imprisoned at a Russian detention facility dubbed “hell on Earth” – but her family and friends are still waiting for the Kremlin to release her body so they can give her a proper funeral.
Authorities in Russia have not explained why they are yet to return the body of award-winning journalist Victoria Roshchyna, who went missing in August last year, with Ukrainian officials and her ex-colleagues telling The Independent they are concerned the delay could help in the cover-up of the cause of her death.
My colleague Arpan Rai reports:
Mystery surrounds death of Ukrainian journalist in Russia’s ‘hell on earth’ prison
Roshchyna’s loved ones now say they want her body back before Russia has a chance to erase what happened to her in custody
Ukraine to receive $1.37billion from World Bank for humanitarian projects
Ukraine’s Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergii Marchenko and World Bank director Bob Saum, today signed a grant agreement under the World Bank’s Public Expenditures for Administrative Capacity Endurance (PEACE in Ukraine) project.
The project aims to partially compensate for State Budget expenditures, including social and humanitarian expenditures not related to the security and defence sector.
The grant agreement will provide:
- USD 1.35 billion - a grant from the United States of America;
- EUR 10.8 million - funds from the Multi-Donor Trust Fund for co-financing the Second Development Policy Loan for Economic Recovery for Ukraine.
The funds will be transferred to the budget of Ukraine in the coming days.
“I am grateful to the United States Government, partner countries, and the World Bank team for their crucial financial support and partnership at a crucial time for Ukraine.
“The funds raised will make a significant contribution to the priority social expenditures of the Ukrainian State Budget,” said Sergii Marchenko.
Watch: Putin calls Trump ‘courageous’ as he congratulates future US president on election
‘I promise you will be happy with me’ Trump and Elon Musk share Zoom call with Zelensky - report
Elon Musk reportedly jumped on Donald Trump’s first call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Axios reported that the president-elect told Zelensky he will support Ukraine, but didn’t go into details on a 25 minute phonecall.
“I promise you will be happy with me” Trump reportedly told Zelensky.
Sources told Axios that Zelensky felt the call went well and that it did not increase his anxiety about Trump’s victory.
One added it “didn’t leave Zelensky with a feeling of despair.”
Musk weighed in to pledge the Ukrainian president the use of his Starlink satellites.
Russian prosecutors seek six-year prison term for paediatrician accused of criticising Ukraine war
Russian authorities are seeking a six-year prison term for a paediatrician accused of criticising the war in Ukraine in front of one of her patients and his mother, Russian independent news site Mediazona reports.
The case against Dr Nadezhda Buyanova, 68, is one of hundreds launched against Russians after Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022, and unleashed an unprecedented crackdown on opposition activists, independent journalists and other citizens.
Dr Buyanova was arrested in February, after the mother of one of her patients reported her to the authorities, alleging that the pediatrician told her son that his father, a Russian soldier killed in Ukraine, was a legitimate target for Kyiv’s troops, and blamed Russia for the war.
The pediatrician was charged with spreading false information about the army, a criminal offence under strict laws ushered in shortly after the invasion and widely used to target critics and protesters. She has rejected the charges and denied the alleged remarks.
EU will tell US that Russia is threat to global security as a whole, says Ursula von der Leyen
Closing out today’s EU summit in Budapest, European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen said the EU would “discuss with our American friends also the fact that Russia is not only a threat to Europe, but a threat to the global security as a whole” in a bid to dissuade Donald Trump from abandoning aid to Ukraine.
“We see that technology from China and Iran is used by Russia on the battlefield,” she added. “It shows that the security of the Indo-Pacific and Europe are interconnected, and so are the European and the United States interests in this course.”
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