Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump offers to ‘settle’ invasion as Biden calls Putin ‘war criminal’ at debate

Putin wants all of Ukraine, says Biden as he calls the Russian president a ‘war criminal’

Zelensky says China trying to undermine Ukraine peace summit

Donald Trump has offered to “settle the war” in Ukraine started by Vladimir Putin as he suggested Russia would have never attacked its smaller neighbour if the US had a “real president” in the office.

“Before I take office on 20 January, I’ll have that war settled,” he said at the first presidential debate with Joe Biden.

However, Mr Biden called Mr Putin a “war criminal” and warned that if Russia is allowed to succeed, the Russian president would not stop at Kyiv. “He wants all of Ukraine. That’s what he wants,” Mr Biden said. “He’s killed thousands and thousands of people,” the US president said.

Mr Putin was repeatedly referenced by both US presidential candidates during Thursday’s election debate as they vied to show who was tougher on foreign policy. “Go ahead, let Putin go in and control Ukraine, and then move on to Poland and other places. See what happens then. He has no idea what the hell he’s talking about,” Mr Biden said of Mr Trump.

This comes as Ukraine’s military said its forces had forced Russian troops out of a district in the town of Chasiv Yar on the war’s eastern front seen as Moscow’s next target in its slow advance through the area.

Key points

• Trump, Biden fight it out on Ukraine war at presidential debate
• Russia mulling downgrading ties with ‘hostile’ West, Kremlin says
• Putin’s troops pushed out of part of key eastern town, says Ukraine
• Ukrainian drone strikes fuel depot in Russia’s Tambov

[28 June 2024 06:00 · Alexander Butler]

Kremlin considering downgrading of diplomatic relations with the West

The Kremlin said that Russia is considering a possible downgrading of diplomatic relations with the West due to the deeper involvement of the United States and its allies in the Ukraine war, though no decision has yet been made.

“The issue of lowering the level of diplomatic relations is a standard practice for states that face unfriendly or hostile manifestations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the possibility of such a move.

“Due to the growing involvement of the West in the conflict over Ukraine, the Russian Federation cannot but consider various options for responding to such hostile Western intervention in the Ukrainian crisis.”

Mr Peskov said that no decision had yet been made on the matter and that Russia was considering different ways to respond to the West.

[28 June 2024 05:17 · Arpan Rai]

Trump, Biden fight it out on Ukraine war at presidential debate

Donald Trump has suggested Russia never would have attacked Ukraine if the US had a “real president” been in office.

“If we had a real president, a president that knew that was respected by Putin, he would have never he would have never invaded Ukraine,” he said as the former president squared off with Joe Biden at the first presidential debate on CNN.

“He knew not to play games with me,” Mr Trump said referring to the Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The former president said that he will have the war settled between Mr Putin and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky if he is the president-elect. “Before I take office on 20 January, I’ll have that war settled,” he said.

However, Mr Biden called Mr Putin a “war criminal” and warned that if Russia is allowed to succeed in its war, Putin would not stop at Kyiv. “He wants all of Ukraine. That’s what he wants,” Mr Biden said.

“He’s killed thousands and thousands of people,” the US president said.

Mr Biden also shot back at him for claims of pushing European allies to spend more money intro defence. “This is a guy who wants to pull out of Nato,” Mr Biden said, adding that he “got 50 other nations” to support Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.

However, the Republican face Mr Trump denied his acceptance of Mr Putin’s conditions to end the war in Ukraine. “Look, this is a war that never should have started if we had a leader,” Mr Trump said.

[28 June 2024 05:00 · Alexander Butler]

Russia claims it has carried out missile strikes on Ukrainian airfields hosting Western aircraft

Russia claims it has carried out missile strikes on Ukrainian airfields which it believes have been designated to host Western military aircraft, Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Thursday.

Russia used sea-based long-range precision weapons, the Kinzhal hypersonic missile and drones in the attack, it said.

All designated targets were hit, the ministry added, without naming the list of targets.

[28 June 2024 04:33 · Arpan Rai]

Russia mulling downgrading ties with ‘hostile’ West, Kremlin says

Russia is considering a possible downgrading of relations with the West due to the deeper involvement of the United States and its allies in the Ukraine war, but no decision had yet been taken, the Kremlin said yesterday.

Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Izvestia newspaper that ambassadors fulfilled a difficult but important job that allowed a channel of communication to operate in troubled times.

But Mr Ryabkov also said that a possible downgrading of ties with the West was being studied.

When asked about the possibility of such a move, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that given the West’s current approach to Russia it was one of several options that was being considered, though no decision had yet been made.

“The issue of lowering the level of diplomatic relations is a standard practice for states that face unfriendly or hostile manifestations,” Peskov said.

“Due to the growing involvement of the West in the conflict over Ukraine, the Russian Federation cannot but consider various options for responding to such hostile Western intervention in the Ukrainian crisis.”

A downgrading of relations – or even breaking them off – would illustrate the gravity of the confrontation between Russia and the West over Ukraine after an escalation in tensions over the war in recent months.

Even during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when the Cold War is thought to have come closest to nuclear war, Russia did not sever relations with the United States, though Moscow did break off ties with Israel over the 1967 Middle East war.

[28 June 2024 04:21 · Arpan Rai]

Putin’s troops pushed out of part of key eastern town, says Ukraine military

Ukraine’s military said its forces had forced Russian troops out of a district in the town of Chasiv Yar on the war’s eastern front seen as Moscow’s next target in its slow advance through the area.

Russian forces are slowly pushing their way across parts of eastern Ukraine, capturing several villages since seizing the key city of Avdiivka in February.

Chasiv Yar stands on high ground 20km (12 miles) to the west of Bakhmut, a town Russian forces captured a year ago after months of battles. Both sides see Chasiv Yar as a potential staging point for Russia to advance on the key cities of the eastern Donetsk region, including Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

Nazar Voloshyn, a spokesman for Ukraine’s southern group of forces, told the Ukrinform news agency that Russian forces had moved out of Chasiv Yar’s “Kanal” district along the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas canal that runs along the town’s eastern edge.

“Ukrainian defenders have indeed squeezed Russian forces out of the Kanal district in Chasiv Yar in Donetsk region,” Ukrinform quoted Voloshyn as saying. “The enemy army is no longer there.”

Voloshyn told other Ukrainian media outlets that Russian troops were shelling Kyiv’s forces in more than 200 incidents over 24 hours, mostly on the town’s southern approaches.

The Ukrainian military’s General Staff, in a late evening report yesterday, said Russian troops had tried to push back Ukrainian forces six times near Chasiv Yar. Three attacks were repelled and fighting still gripped the area.

An unverified Russian report said Moscow’s forces had destroyed a communications tower near the town and made further headway.

[28 June 2024 04:15 · Arpan Rai]

Ukrainian drone strikes fuel depot in Russia’s Tambov

A fire broke out at a fuel depot in the Tambov region in central Russia this morning because of a drone attack, regional Governor Maksim Yegorov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

No one was hurt in the incident, he said, and firefighters were working at the site.

[28 June 2024 04:07 · Arpan Rai]

Zelensky urges EU leaders to make good on their arms promises

Ukraine’s president called on European Union leaders to make good on their pledges to provide military equipment to his war-ravaged country, just days after the bloc launched membership talks with his government.

“We have to work on next steps,” president Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters in Brussels as he arrived to attend a summit of EU leaders. He said he and the leaders would discuss “the urgent things – air defence, that is one.”

Mr Zelensky thanked countries that have promised equipment, weapons and ammunition, but underlined that “we need them urgently on the battlefield.”

[28 June 2024 04:00 · Alexander Butler]

Has Russia just dropped a deadly new 3,000kg glide bomb in Ukraine?

[28 June 2024 03:00 · Alexander Butler]

Top international court issues arrest warrants for senior Russian officials over alleged war crimes

[28 June 2024 02:00 · Alexander Butler]

Zelenskyy attends EU summit in Brussels

The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky signed three defence agreements — two individual deals with Lithuania and Estonia, plus one with the EU.

The agreement with the EU confirms commitments to help Ukraine in areas of security and defence policy.

Meanwhile, Lithuania and Estonia declared their commitments to allocate around 0.25 per cent of their GDP for military aid for Ukraine.