RussiaUkraine

At least one person has been killed and 24 wounded, including two children, in attack that targeted Zaporizhia.

A “massive” overnight Russian attack on central and southeastern Ukraine has killed at least one person, with homes and businesses damaged in multiple cities, authorities have said, while Kyiv has struck two Russian oil refineries.

“At night, the enemy carried out massive strikes” on Zaporizhia, Ukraine’s state emergency service said on Telegram on Saturday.

At least one person was killed and 24 others were wounded, including two children, according to regional military administration chief Ivan Fedorov.

“Russian strikes destroyed private houses, damaged many facilities, including cafes, service stations and industrial enterprises,” Fedorov said.

Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region also came under attack early on Saturday, the governor said, reporting strikes in Dnipro and Pavlohrad.

“The region is under a massive attack. Explosions are being heard,” Serhiy Lysak wrote on Telegram, warning residents to take cover.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Dnipropetrovsk had been largely spared from intense fighting.

But Kyiv acknowledged on Tuesday that Russian troops had entered the region, after Moscow claimed it had gained a foothold there.

Dnipropetrovsk is not one of the five Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Crimea – that Moscow has publicly claimed as Russian territory.

The Ukrainian air force said it struck down 510 of 537 drones and 38 of 45 missiles launched by Russia in its overnight attack, adding that it recorded five missile and 24 drone hits at seven locations.

In the meantime, the Ukrainian military said that it struck Russian oil refineries overnight. The military said it recorded multiple explosions and a fire at the Krasnodar oil refinery. There was also a fire in the Syzran oil refinery area in the Samara region.

Kyiv reeling from deadly attack

The new Russian attacks come two days after a huge Russian drone and missile attack rocked Kyiv and its residents, one of the worst on the capital in the war now in its fourth year, which authorities said killed up to 25 people.

Authorities said 22 of those killed, including four children, had been residents of an apartment building destroyed in the city’s eastern Darnytskyi district.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday said the strike, which damaged the offices of the European Union and British Council, was the second-largest attack since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.

On Saturday, Zelenskyy said that Moscow had used preparation time for a summit of leaders to launch new massive attacks on his country. “The only way to reopen a window of opportunity for diplomacy is through tough measures against all those bankrolling the Russian army and effective sanctions against Moscow itself – banking and energy sanctions,” he wrote on X.

Meanwhile, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Saturday that it was not possible to imagine giving back Russian assets frozen inside the bloc due to the war unless Moscow had paid reparations.

“We can’t possibly imagine that … if … there is a ceasefire or peace deal that these assets are given back to Russia if they haven’t paid for the reparations,” she told reporters before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Copenhagen.

Zelenskyy has urged allies to swiftly elevate talks on security guarantees for Ukraine to the level of leaders, as EU defence ministers meeting Friday in the Danish capital pledged to train Kyiv’s troops on Ukrainian soil in the event of a truce.

The Ukrainian president said he expected to continue talks with European leaders next week on “NATO-like” commitments to protect Ukraine, adding that United States President Donald Trump should also be involved.

Here are the key events on day 1,283 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is how things stand on Saturday, August 30:

Fighting

• The Ukrainian military said it had carried out an overnight strike on a facility in Russia’s Bryansk region that was responsible for the flow of diesel fuelling Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine.

• Kyiv’s General Staff said the fuel pumping station in the village of Naitopovichi had a capacity of approximately 10.5 million tonnes per year, and that the strike had caused a fire.

• Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov said the Russian army had sped up its rate of advance in Ukraine and was taking control of some 600 to 700 square kilometres (231- 270sq miles) each month compared to 300-400 square kilometres (115-154sq miles) at the start of this year.

• Belousov also said that Russia had inflicted significant damage on Ukraine’s military and industrial infrastructure, carrying out 35 strikes this year on what he called 146 critically important targets. He also claimed that 62 percent of key enterprises in “Ukraine’s military-industrial complex” suffered damage.

• Emergency crews have completed rescue operations in the aftermath of a huge Russian drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in the early hours of Thursday, as authorities revised the death toll from the attack upward to 25.

Weapons

• The United States Department of State has approved the potential sale of Patriot air defence system sustainment and related equipment to Ukraine for an estimated cost of $179.1m, the Pentagon said.

Peace talks

• Deadly missile and drone strikes on Ukraine “cast doubt on the seriousness of Russia’s desire for peace”, the US told the United Nations Security Council, warning that Washington could punish Moscow with economic measures if it continues the war.
• Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko told the UNSC that “Russia continues to choose killing over ending the war” with its continued attacks.
• Russia’s deputy UN ambassador, Dmitry Polyanskiy, said Moscow was prepared to consider a summit with Ukraine “provided that there is thorough prior preparation for such a meeting and the substantive content of it; otherwise, it would simply not have any meaning”.
• Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged allies to swiftly elevate talks on security guarantees for Ukraine to the level of leaders, as European Union defence ministers pledged to train Kyiv’s troops on Ukrainian soil in the event of a truce with Russia.
• European defence ministers meeting in Copenhagen expressed “broad support” for expanding the bloc’s military training mission to operate inside Ukraine, the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said.
• President Zelenskyy said he expected to continue talks with European leaders next week on “NATO-like” commitments to protect Ukraine, adding that US President Donald Trump should also be involved in the discussions.
• The Ukrainian leader also said he wanted Ukraine’s allies to ratify any security guarantees through their parliaments, invoking a 1994 deal in which Kyiv agreed to give up its nuclear arsenal in exchange for security assurances that proved insufficient to deter Russia’s invasion.
• Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said proposals on security guarantees for Ukraine would increase the risk of conflict between Moscow and the West by turning Kyiv into a “strategic provocateur” on Russia’s borders.
• Estonia’s Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said the best security guarantee for Ukraine would be membership in NATO.

Regional security

• Germany and France have outlined plans to cooperate more deeply on security, including a missile early-warning system, following a meeting between Chancellor Friedrich Merz and President Emmanuel Macron.

Politics and diplomacy

• The Ukrainian president’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak held a meeting with US special envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss Russia’s latest deadly strike on Kyiv and the need for pressure on Moscow to bring peace closer.

• Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova said French President Macron had spoken in a manner unbecoming of a head of state when he called Russian President Vladimir Putin “an ogre at our gates”.

• North Korean leader Kim Jong Un promised “a beautiful life” for the families of “martyrs” who perished fighting for Russia in the war against Ukraine, state media said on Saturday, praising bereaved relatives for the heroism of their sons and husbands.

• US Vice President JD Vance has lashed out at what he called “journalistic malpractice” by German-owned US news outlet Politico after it criticised President Trump’s envoy and Ukraine negotiator Steve Witkoff. “It’s a foreign influence operation meant to hurt the administration and one of our most effective members,” Vance wrote on X.
• Russia and China jointly oppose “discriminatory” sanctions in global trade that hinder the world’s socioeconomic development, President Putin said in a written interview with China’s official Xinhua news agency. Putin will be in China from Sunday to Wednesday, on a four-day visit that the Kremlin has called “unprecedented”.

Ukrainian authorities describe Russia’s missile and drone attack as ‘massive’, with multiple areas of Kyiv hit.

An overnight Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv has killed at least four people and wounded more than 20 others, officials said.

Powerful explosions rocked the city into the early hours of Thursday morning, illuminating the sky and leaving behind columns of smoke as Russian projectiles damaged and destroyed buildings in several districts of the city.

The attack was the first major combined Russian drone and missile attack to strike Kyiv since United States President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska earlier this month to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s city military administration, said a 14-year-old girl was among those reported killed, citing preliminary information.

A five-storey residential building in the city’s Darnytskyi district was hit directly. “Everything is destroyed,” Tkachenko said.

“Tonight, Kyiv is under massive attack by the Russian terrorist state,” he said.

Local media outlet The Kyiv Independent said at least four people were confirmed killed, and officials expect the number of casualties to rise.

Another strike in central Kyiv left a major road strewn with shattered glass, and rescue teams were working to pull people trapped beneath rubble from some 20 affected locations across the city.

Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko also called it a “massive attack” by Russia, adding that two children were also among the injured.

Officials provided news organisations with a long list of buildings that had suffered damage, including several high-rise apartment blocks, and photos and video posted online showed apartments ablaze and smoke billowing from buildings.

The attack comes amid so-far failed efforts by President Trump to convince Putin to cease his war on Ukraine, and as both Moscow and Kyiv trade blame over a diplomatic impasse in efforts to end the fighting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that members of his administration would meet with US officials in New York on Friday.

The Ukrainian leader said he saw “very arrogant and negative signals from Moscow” regarding negotiations to end the war, urging extra “pressure” to “force Russia to take real steps” to cease fighting.

Here are the key events on day 1,280 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is how things stand on Wednesday, August 27:

Fighting

• Russian attacks killed one person and injured six in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Governor Vadym Filashkin said.
• One worker was killed and six others were injured in a Russian attack on a Ukrainian mine, according to the energy company DTEK, which said the attack damaged buildings and caused a power outage. “At that time, 146 miners were underground, and their ascent to the surface is ongoing,” the company said.
• Ukrainian attacks killed one person and injured three others in the Russian-occupied Kherson region of Ukraine, the Moscow-appointed Governor Vladimir Saldo said.
• Russian forces occupied Zaporizke and Novoheorhiivka, in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, the Ukrainian battlefield monitoring group DeepState has reported. Russian forces also advanced near the Ukrainian settlements of Shevchenko, Bila Hora, and Oleksandr-Shultyno, according to DeepState.
• Russian air defences shot down 191 Ukrainian drones, six guided aerial bombs, and a long-range guided missile in one day, Russia’s state TASS news agency reports.
• Ukrainian men aged 18 to 22 are now permitted to cross Ukraine’s borders freely in either direction despite the continuing imposition of martial law, which had previously prevented such movement, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.
• Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office told the Ukrainska Pravda news site that more than 200,000 cases have been opened into soldiers who were absent without leave (AWOL), including some 50,000 investigated for desertion.

Peace talks

• United States President Donald Trump said he is prepared to impose economic sanctions against Russia if its leader, Vladimir Putin, fails to agree to a peace deal in Ukraine: “We want to have an end. We have economic sanctions. I’m talking about economic because we’re not going to get into a world war.”
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged governments to work quickly on creating security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a peace deal with Russia, saying: “We must intensify our work to the maximum and ensure clarity and transparency in everything related to security guarantees”.
• The US may provide intelligence assets and battlefield oversight to assist Western powers in the provision of security guarantees for post-war Ukraine, as well as take part in a European-led air defence shield for the country, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed European and Ukrainian officials.
• Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, and Kyiv’s national security council chief, Rustem Umerov, met with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in Doha, where they had a “substantive conversation” on topics including “the details of security guarantees for Ukraine”, Yermak wrote on X.
• Exxon Mobil and the Russian energy company Rosneft secretly discussed resuming work on the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas producing project, on Russia’s Pacific coast, if Moscow and Washington give their approval as part of a Ukraine peace process, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the secret discussions.

Politics and diplomacy

• Polish President Karol Nawrocki’s decision to veto a bill on aid to Ukrainian refugees in his country could cost Poland’s economy 8 billion zlotys ($2.20bn), in part because thousands of Ukrainians would lose the right to legal employment, Poland’s Ministry of the Interior said.

Here are the key events on day 1,279 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is how things stand on Tuesday, August 26:

Fighting

• An 82-year-old woman was killed and three people were injured in a Russian attack on Kupiansk city, in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
• Russian attacks killed one person and injured three others in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Governor Vadym Filashkin said.
• Russian drones and artillery fire injured a rescue worker and damaged a fire truck in the Nikopol region of Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, according to Governor Serhiy Lysak.
• A Ukrainian drone attack killed one person and injured two others in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian region of Luhansk, Russia’s state TASS news agency reported.
• TASS also reported that Russian forces shot down 151 Ukrainian drones and four aerial bombs, and destroyed two missile launchers, in one day.
• One person was killed and two others injured in Ukrainian attacks on the Russian-occupied Ukrainian Kherson region, the Russian-appointed governor, Vladimir Saldo, wrote in a post on Telegram.
• Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces captured the settlement of Zaporizke in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region.

Peace talks

• Germany will take part in providing security guarantees for Ukraine alongside European partners, but the talks are at an early stage and must be shaped by Kyiv, German Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil said on Monday, while visiting the Ukrainian capital.
• Asked why Russia President Vladimir Putin appears reluctant to sit down for peace talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US President Donald Trump told reporters it is “because he doesn’t like him”.
• “The one I thought would be the easiest, frankly, was Russia and Ukraine. But it turns out there are some big personality conflicts,” Trump said.
• Putin spoke on the phone with Iranian leader Masoud Pezeshkian and discussed his meeting with Trump in Alaska, the Kremlin press service said, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.
• “Masoud Pezeshkian expressed support for the ongoing diplomatic efforts aimed at a peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian crisis,” the Kremlin said.

Ukraine aid

• Speaking at a news conference with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store in Kyiv, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine aims to raise “no less than $1bn every month”, towards buying weapons from the United States to be used in the war.
• Polish President Karol Nawrocki vetoed a bill that would have extended financial support to Ukrainian refugees, potentially also jeopardising Ukraine’s use of Starlink, according to Polish Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski.
• “This is the end of the Starlink Internet, which Poland provides to Ukraine, which is waging war. This is also the end of support for storing Ukrainian administration data in a safe place,” Gawkowski, who is from a different political party than Nawrocki, wrote on X. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Neighbour Poland has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest backers since Russia invaded in 2022.

Ukraine’s access to Elon Musk’s satellite internet service Starlink could be cut due to the Polish president’s veto of a refugee aid bill, a Polish deputy prime minister said, as a conflict between the government and head of state deepens and undermines the once ironclad support of its war-torn neighbour.

Poland pays for Ukraine to use Starlink, which provides crucial internet connectivity to the country and its military as they try to push back invading Russian forces.

Right-wing Polish President Karol Nawrocki on Monday vetoed a bill extending state financial support provided to Ukrainian refugees and unveiled plans to limit their future access to child benefits and healthcare.

However, Deputy Prime Minister and Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said the vetoed legislation also provided the legal basis for providing Starlink to Ukraine.

“This is the end of Starlink internet, which Poland provides to Ukraine as it wages war,” he wrote on X.

Centrist Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk criticised the veto. But his government does not have the two-thirds majority in parliament needed to overcome the move.

“We cannot punish people for losing their job — particularly not innocent children. This is the ABC of human decency,” Labour Minister Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bak wrote on X.

Gawkowski, stressed that Nawrocki veto jeopardised Ukraine’s use of Starlink.

“We want to continue paying for internet by satellite for Ukraine. Unfortunately, this disastrous decision by the president greatly complicates things, and we will have to inform our partners that this support will finish at the end of September,” he told the PAP news agency.

Nawrocki’s spokesperson however, told the Reuters news agency that the basis for paying for Starlink could still be restored if parliament adopts a bill proposed by the president by the end of next month.

Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, around one million refugees have settled in neighbouring Poland. Most of them are women and children.

Poland is a key supporter of Ukraine and a major transit route for Western aid but public attitudes towards Ukrainians have hardened.

Nawrocki, a staunch nationalist, had promised to cut social welfare benefits for Ukrainians during the campaign ahead of his election victory on June 1.

“I will not change my mind and I think that (this aid) should be limited only to Ukrainians who are committed to working in Poland,” Nawrocki, who took office this month, told reporters on Monday.

Nawrocki also said Ukrainians who do not work in Poland should not be allowed to receive free medical treatment as they do now.

“This puts us in a situation in which Polish citizens, in their own country, are less well treated than our Ukrainian guests,” he said.

Gawkowski said that Poland spent 77 million euros ($90 million) between 2022 and 2024 to buy and subscribe to Starlink systems for Ukraine.

A Ukrainian diplomatic source told the Reuters news agency that Kyiv was analysing the possible impact of the move on Ukrainians in Poland, adding they believed “their rights will be protected no less than in other EU countries”.

Ukrainian refugees are currently eligible to receive the monthly family benefit of 800 zlotys ($219) per child if their children attend Polish schools. Other EU countries such as Germany have also proposed cutting benefits recently.

In Poland, the president can propose bills and veto government legislation. The government can similarly also block the president’s proposals.

Here is how things stand on Monday, August 25:

Fighting

• Russian forces shelled Ukraine’s Donetsk region 23 times in a day, killing one person in Kostiantynivka, Governor Vadym Filashkin said in a post on Telegram on Sunday.
• Russian forces launched shelling and drone attacks on Ukraine’s Kherson region, killing one person and injuring two others, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote in a post on Telegram on Sunday.
• A Russian drone attack killed a 47-year-old woman in the Dubovykivska community of Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk, Governor Serhiy Lysak said in a post on Telegram.
• A woman and an 11-year-old child were killed in a Ukrainian attack on a bridge in a Russian-occupied area of Ukraine’s Kherson region, Pavel Filipchuk, the Russian-appointed head of the Kakhovka district, wrote in a post on Telegram.
• Ukrainian forces drove out Russian troops from the villages of Mykhailivka, Zeleny Hay, and Volodymyrivka in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Oleksandr Syrskii, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, wrote on Facebook.
• Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Sunday that Russian forces had captured the village of Filiya inside Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region.
• In Russia, officials accused Ukraine of attacking the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), close to the border with Ukraine, and causing a fire.
• The United Nations nuclear watchdog, IAEA, said that its monitoring confirmed “normal radiation levels near Kursk NPP” after Russia said it reduced the reactor unit’s power “due to auxiliary transformer damage” and extinguished a fire, with no injuries.
• Russian forces shot down 95 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions overnight, Russia’s state TASS news agency reported on Sunday.

Politics and diplomacy

• Russia and Ukraine exchanged 146 prisoners of war from each side on Sunday after mediation by the United Arab Emirates, the Russian Defence Ministry and the Ukrainian president said.
• Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney expressed support for Ukraine’s calls for security guarantees as part of a potential peace deal with Russia, during a visit to Kyiv, where he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday.
• Speaking at a news conference, Carney said the guarantees could include international participation: “In Canada’s judgement, it is not realistic that the only security guarantee could be the strength of the Ukrainian Armed Forces… that needs to be buttressed and reinforced.”
• Carney joined Zelenskyy for a ceremony in central Kyiv to mark Ukrainian Independence Day, which was also attended by the US special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg.
• Kellogg met Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, who said they discussed the Ukraine-US minerals agreement as well as security guarantees.
• United States Vice President JD Vance told the broadcaster NBC that Russia has made “significant concessions” towards a negotiated settlement in its war on Ukraine.
• “They’ve recognised that they’re not going to be able to install a puppet regime in Kyiv. That was, of course, a major demand at the beginning. And importantly, they’ve acknowledged that there is going to be some security guarantee to the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” Vance said.
• Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that a group of nations, including UN Security Council members, should be the guarantors of Ukraine’s security.

The exchange comes amid diplomatic efforts to solve the conflict and a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia overnight.

Russia and Ukraine have each exchanged 146 prisoners of war (POWs) after mediation by the United Arab Emirates, the Russian Ministry of Defence says about the latest in a series of exchanges that has seen hundreds of POWs released this year.

“On August 24, 146 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled” by Kyiv, the ministry said on Telegram on Sunday.

“In exchange, 146 prisoners of war of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were transferred” to Ukraine, it added.

The ministry said the freed Russians were in Belarus receiving psychological and medical care.

Large-scale prisoner exchanges were the only tangible result of three rounds of talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul from May to July.

They remain one of the few areas of cooperation between the two countries since Russia’s war on its neighbour began in 2022.

Russia also said “eight citizens of the Russian Federation – residents of the Kursk region, illegally detained” by Kyiv, were also returned as part of the exchange. Kursk sits on the border with Ukraine.

On Sunday, Russia also accused Ukraine of carrying out an overnight drone attack on a nuclear plant that caused a fire and damaged an auxiliary transformer.

The attack forced a 50 percent reduction in the operating capacity at reactor number three at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, 60km (38 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border, according to Russian officials, who added that several power and energy facilities were targeted in the strikes.

US revokes permission

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Washington has revoked permission for strikes in Russia with United States-manufactured weapons, confirming an earlier report in US media.

He added that Kyiv has lately been using its own weapons to hit its enemy and does not consult on this with Washington.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov slammed Zelenskyy on Sunday for “obstinately insisting, setting conditions, demanding an immediate meeting at all costs” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The developments came as Ukraine marked its Independence Day on Sunday, commemorating its 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.

The efforts to settle the conflict have been ongoing since US President Donald Trump held talks in Alaska with Putin a week ago, but Trump has been unable thus far to coax Putin into a meeting with Zelenskyy.

Trump said on Friday that in two weeks he should know whether progress is possible in his bid to end the Russia-Ukraine war as he again raised the prospect of imposing sanctions on Moscow.

Russia has accused Ukraine of carrying out a drone attack on a nuclear plant that has caused a fire and damage to an auxiliary transformer as Ukraine celebrates its Independence Day for the 34th time.

Sunday’s attack forced a 50 percent reduction in the operating capacity at reactor number three at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), close to the border with Ukraine, according to Russian officials, who added that several power and energy facilities were targeted in the overnight strikes.

The fire at the nuclear facility was quickly extinguished with no injuries reported, the plant’s news service said on Telegram. Two other reactors are operating without power generation, and one is undergoing scheduled repairs, it said, adding that radiation levels were normal.

Alexander Khinshtein, the Kursk region’s acting governor, said Ukrainian attacks on the plant, 60km (38 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border, “are a threat to nuclear safety and a violation of all international conventions”.

The United Nations nuclear watchdog on Sunday confirmed normal radiation levels near the nuclear plant.

“Monitoring confirms normal radiation levels near Kursk NPP,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a post on X.

Russia and Ukraine have also accused each other of attacks on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southeastern Ukraine and warned they could trigger a nuclear accident. The nuclear plant – Europe’s biggest – is under Russian control.

In western Russia’s Leningrad region, firefighters responded to a blaze at the port of Ust-Luga, home to a major fuel export terminal. The regional governor said about 10 Ukrainian drones were shot down and the debris ignited the fire.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its air defences intercepted a total of 95 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight into Sunday.

Russia fired 72 drones and decoys along with a cruise missile into Ukraine in the same time period, Ukraine’s air force said. Of these, 48 drones were shot down or jammed, it said.

Ukraine’s Independence Day

The incidents occurred as Ukraine marked its Independence
Day, commemorating its 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered remarks in a video address from Kyiv’s Independence Square, emphasising the nation’s resolve.

“We are building a Ukraine that will have enough strength and power to live in security and peace,” Zelenskyy said while calling for a “just peace”.

“What our future will be is up to us alone,” he said in a nod to the United States-Russia summit in Alaska this month, which many feared would leave Ukrainian and European interests sidelined.

“The world knows this. And the world respects this. It respects Ukraine. It perceives Ukraine as an equal,” he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov slammed Zelenskyy for “obstinately insisting, setting conditions, demanding an immediate meeting at all costs” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Lavrov also accused Ukrainian authorities of “attempts to disrupt the process that was laid down by Presidents Putin and [Donald] Trump [of the US], which has yielded very good results”.

“We hope that these attempts will be thwarted,” he said, accusing Western countries of trying to “block” peace negotiations to end the Ukraine conflict after a flurry of diplomatic activity appeared to stall.

On Friday, Lavrov said “no meeting” between Zelenskyy and Putin was planned. The Trump administration has been making efforts to organise a meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin to find a solution to the war.

Amid the diplomatic efforts, fighting continued on the front lines in eastern Ukraine, where Russia claimed on Saturday that its forces had seized two villages in the Donetsk region.

Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrived in Kyiv on Sunday morning for meetings with Zelenskyy.

“On this special day – Ukraine’s Independence Day – it is especially important for us to feel the support of our friends, and Canada has always stood by our side,” Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, said.

Norway announced significant new military aid on Sunday, pledging about 7 billion kroner ($695m) for air defence systems.

Here are the key events on day 1,277 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is how things stand on Sunday, August 24:

Fighting

• Russian forces launched a drone attack on a minibus in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, killing a 59-year-old man and wounding five others, according to a Ukrainian official.
• A wave of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Kherson also killed a 69-year-old man, wounded 17 people, and damaged a school and an administrative building in one district, local officials said.
• Russian forces launched 448 attacks on 17 settlements in Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region in a single day, according to Ivan Fedorov, the head of the Zaporizhia Regional Military Administration.
• Russia’s Ministry of Defence claimed its troops have taken control of two more settlements – Seredne and Kleban-Byk – along the 1,000km (620-mile) front line in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, while the Ukrainian military said its forces had recaptured a settlement further west, on the edge of the Dnipropetrovsk region.

• In Russia, a Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, damaged an auxiliary transformer and led to reduction in the operating capacity at one of the plant’s units, officials said early on Sunday.
• Earlier, one person was killed and another injured when they drove over an explosive device dropped by a Ukrainian drone in the village of Kirillovka in the Bryansk region, the local governor said.
• Another Russian civilian was killed in a targeted Ukrainian drone attack in the Krasnoyarsk district of Russia’s Belgorod region, an official said.
• Russian forces also shot down a drone flying towards the Russian capital, Moscow, and intercepted 160 drones and four guided aerial bombs in a 24-hour period, the TASS news agency reported, citing officials.
• The drone barrage forced several airports in central Russia to suspend operations because of concerns over safe airspace, Russia’s air transport agency Rosaviatsia said. 

Politics and diplomacy

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on countries in the Global South to support diplomatic efforts to push Russia to agree to end its war with Ukraine, following talks with his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa.
• Zelenskyy announced new Ukrainian sanctions against 139 individuals and legal entities working for Russia’s war, as well as “28 citizens of different countries, who are equally helping the Russians in maintaining the occupation regime on our land and effectively sponsoring the Russian state”.
• The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that the Pentagon has been quietly blocking Ukraine from launching long-range missile attacks on Russia, as the White House tries to get Moscow to agree to peace talks. Al Jazeera could not independently verify the WSJ report, which cited unnamed US officials.

Ukrainian leader calls for wider international support to get Russia to negotiating table amid faltering peace efforts.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on countries in the Global South to support diplomatic efforts to push Russia to agree to end its war with Ukraine.

In a social media post following talks with his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday, Zelenskyy stressed that the conflict “must be brought to an end” and that “the killings and destruction must be stopped”.

“I reaffirmed my readiness for any format of meeting with the head of Russia,” the Ukrainian leader said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“However, we see that Moscow is once again trying to drag everything out even further. It is important that the Global South sends relevant signals and pushes Russia toward peace.”

The comments come as a renewed diplomatic effort, spearheaded by United States President Donald Trump with support from European countries, to push Moscow to end its war in Ukraine has appeared to stall.

On Friday, Trump expressed frustration with Moscow over the lack of progress in efforts to negotiate a peaceful settlement to end the war, despite his recent meeting with Putin in Alaska.

The US president renewed a threat that he would consider imposing sanctions on Russia if there was no momentum within the next two weeks.

Trump has been trying to arrange a summit between Putin and Zelenskyy, which has long been sought by the Ukrainian leader, to discuss an end to the war.

But on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said there were no plans for such a meeting.

Lavrov said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” programme that Putin had made clear he was ready to meet Zelenskyy, provided there was a proper agenda for such a session, something the Russian foreign minister said was lacking for now.

“Putin is ready to meet with Zelenskyy when the agenda would be ready for a summit. And this agenda is not ready at all,” Lavrov said.

Amid the push for a diplomatic resolution, fighting has continued to grind on the battlefield.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement on Telegram on Saturday that its forces in eastern Ukraine had taken two villages in the Donetsk region, Sredneye and Kleban-Byk.

That followed the capture of three other villages in the region a day earlier.

The capture of Kleban-Byk would represent further progress towards Kostiantynivka – a key town on the road to Kramatorsk, where a major Ukrainian logistics base is located.

Here are the key events on day 1,276 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is how things stand on Saturday, August 23:

Fighting

• Russian troops have taken control of the settlements of Rusyn Yar, Volodymyrivka and Katerynivka in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defence said.

• Russian oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia could be suspended for at least five days after a Ukrainian drone strike on a facility in Russia, Hungarian and Slovak officials said. The attack by Ukraine marked the second time this week that Russian oil supplies have been cut to both countries.

• An energy facility at Unecha in Russia’s Bryansk region, through which the Europe-bound Druzhba oil pipeline runs, caught fire as a result of Ukrainian missile and drone attacks, regional governor Alexander Bogomaz said, adding that the fire had been extinguished.

Peace talks

• United States President Donald Trump renewed a threat on Friday to impose sanctions on Russia if there is no progress towards a peaceful settlement in Ukraine in two weeks, showing frustration at Moscow a week after his warm meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said there is no agenda for a potential summit between Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whom he accused of saying “no to everything”.

• Lavrov said a meeting with Zelenskyy and a deal were possible, provided there was a proper agenda for such a session.

• Zelenskyy has accused Russia of doing everything it can to make sure that a meeting between him and Putin does not take place, and called on Ukraine’s allies to apply renewed sanctions on Moscow if it continues to show no desire to end its invasion of his country.

Politics and diplomacy

• Putin has said there was “light at the end of the tunnel” in Russia-US relations, and that the two countries were discussing joint projects in the Arctic and Alaska, signalling Russia’s optimism that it can mend relations with Washington and strike business deals with Trump, despite a lack of progress towards ending its war on Ukraine.

Regional security

• Russian forces have conducted an exercise in the Baltic Sea, including drills to repel an underwater attack, the Defence Ministry in Moscow said. It was the second time this month that Russia held naval exercises with an antisubmarine component, after President Trump ordered two US nuclear submarines to reposition closer to Russia.
• Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has warned neighbouring Belarus against staging “reckless provocations” during joint military drills with Russian forces in September.
• Kyiv called on its European partners to remain vigilant during the joint Belarus-Russia “Zapad” military exercises, and urged Belarusian authorities “to remain prudent, not to approach the borders and not to provoke” Ukraine’s armed forces.
• Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko dismissed as “complete nonsense” the idea that Minsk would utilise the mobilisation of military forces during the exercises to attack Ukraine.

Nord Stream

• An Italian appeals court has confirmed the arrest of a Ukrainian man suspected by Germany of coordinating attacks on three Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea in 2022. The suspect faces charges of collusion to cause an explosion, anticonstitutional sabotage and destruction of important structures.

• The AFP news agency reports that the suspect in the attack on the Nord Stream underwater gas pipelines has refused to be extradited to Germany from Italy, where he was arrested.

The Ukrainian president said China has helped Russia, despite also calling for a peaceful resolution to the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ruled out the chance that China could serve as a security guarantor in the event of a future peace deal with Russia to end the war in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian president’s remarks follow discussions this week between United States and European leaders about how to establish a future peacekeeping force in Ukraine should the war end.

“Why is China not in the guarantees? First, China did not help us stop this war from the beginning,” Zelenskyy told reporters, according to a report by The Kyiv Post media outlet on Thursday.

“Secondly, China helped Russia by opening the drone market,” Zelenskyy said.

Beijing has repeatedly called for a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine war, but its ongoing economic support for Russia has undermined its neutral image with Zelenskyy and Western leaders.

Despite Beijing’s ambitions of playing a greater role in mediating international conflicts, the Ukrainian leader’s remarks suggest that China will have no role in a Russia-Ukraine peace process.

Zelenskyy has said that international security guarantors are needed to ensure that Russia does not resume its attacks on Ukraine after signing a peace deal, and those participating should only be drawn from countries that have supported Kyiv since the Russian invasion in 2022.

In April, Zelenskyy accused China of supplying Russia with weapons and assisting in arms production, in the first direct accusation of its kind from the Ukrainian president.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning denied the claims and called them “groundless” and “political manipulation”.

Beijing was previously accused by the US of supplying Russia’s military with essential components to build missiles, tanks, aircraft, and other weapons.

China has said previously it only traded in “dual-use components” – those that can be used for both civilian and military purposes.

Questions about Beijing’s role in the war, however, have persisted for years due to the close relationship between the Russian and Chinese leaders, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.

Just weeks before the invasion of Ukraine, Putin visited Xi in Beijing and signed a “no limits partnership” between both countries.

Since then, China has helped keep Russia’s economy afloat in spite of sweeping international sanctions.

The EU and the US have both accused China of helping Russia to evade sanctions and continue to trade with Moscow in energy, electronics, chemicals and transportation components, according to the Center for European Policy Analysis.

After a week of high-stakes diplomacy aimed at halting the war in Ukraine, United States President Donald Trump says he is set on arranging a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Following separate meetings with both leaders, Trump has ruled out sending US troops to Ukraine, but pledged security guarantees to Kyiv and indicated that Washington could provide air support to reinforce a potential deal.

Ukraine, in turn, told reporters at the White House it would obtain US-made weapons purchased by Europeans for an estimated $90bn as part of the effort to bolster its defences.

Which countries are aiding Ukraine?

At least 41 countries have contributed to Ukraine’s war efforts monetarily, either through military, humanitarian or financial assistance, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German think tank.

Military assistance includes weapons, equipment and financial aid for the Ukrainian military. Humanitarian relief covers medical, food and other items for civilians, while financial assistance comes in the form of grants, loans and guarantees.

Most contributions to Ukraine have come from NATO, with 29 of its 32 members providing monetary aid, according to the Kiel Institute.

Additionally, 12 non-NATO countries and territories have sent monetary aid to Ukraine. These include Australia, Austria, Cyprus, the Republic of Ireland, Japan, Malta, New Zealand, South Korea, Switzerland, China, Taiwan, and India.

The European Union, through the Commission and Council, has also delivered substantial aid to Ukraine.

How much aid has Ukraine received so far?

So far, Ukraine has received more than 309 billion euros ($360bn) in military, financial, and humanitarian aid, according to the Kiel Institute:

• Military aid – 149.26 billion euros ($174bn – using today’s exchange rate of €1 = $1.17)
• Financial aid – 139.34 billion euros ($163bn)
• Humanitarian aid – 21.04 billion euros ($24bn)

Who are Ukraine’s largest donors?

The US has committed the largest amount of aid to Ukraine, providing 114.64 billion euros ($134bn) between January 24, 2022 and June 30, 2025, of which:

• Military aid – 64.6 billion euros ($75bn)
• Financial aid – 46.6 billion euros ($54bn)
• Humanitarian aid – 3.4 billion euros ($4bn)

The EU (Commission and Council) is the second biggest donor at 63.19 billion euros ($74bn), followed by Germany (21.29 billion euros or $25bn), the UK (18.6 billion euros or $21bn) and Japan (13.57 billion euros or $15bn).

How much aid has been pledged v allocated?

According to the Kiel Institute, European countries have collectively allocated 167.4 billion euros ($195bn) to the war in Ukraine, more than the 114.6 billion euros ($134bn) allocated by the US.

Allocated aid refers to funds or resources that have actually been set aside, delivered, or officially committed for use by Ukraine.

It is different from pledged aid, which is money or equipment promised by a country but not yet delivered or officially set aside.

In total, Europe as a whole has committed 257.4 billion euros ($300bn) and the US 119 billion euros ($139bn).

US aid to Ukraine plummets under Trump

Days before Trump took office, the Biden administration gave one final injection of military support to Ukraine with a weapons package of $500m on January 9.

Following the start of the Trump administration’s second term in office, aid to Ukraine has plummeted, with Washington suspending all support, including weapons, in March after a tense meeting with Zelenskyy at the White House.

Trump made claims that the US has given Ukraine more than $300bn in wartime aid. That number has been contested by Ukraine and its supporters, despite the US being the single largest donor country.

What weapons has Ukraine received?

Ukraine has received various weapons systems from its allies, including armoured vehicles, artillery, aircraft, air defence systems, drones, missiles, and a wide range of support equipment.

According to the Kiel Institute, Poland has supplied its neighbour with the largest number of tanks, totaling 354, while the US leads in providing infantry fighting vehicles (305), howitzers (201), air defence systems (18), and HIMARS rocket launchers (41).

The HIMARS, capable of striking targets just a few metres (feet) wide from nearly 80km (50 miles) away, gave Ukraine a vital long-range precision strike capability that slowed Russian advances early in the war.

NATO defence spending

In a news briefing, the White House said the US could help coordinate a security guarantee for Ukraine. However, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has ruled out the deployment of troops from NATO countries to help secure a peace deal.

In June, NATO leaders signed a deal to increase defence spending, which is to be achieved over the next 10 years, and is a jump worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year from the current goal of 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to 5 percent.

Currently, 23 of the 32 member countries have met this target, with the alliance as a whole spending 2.61 percent of its combined GDP on defence last year.

NATO countries bordering Russia, such as Estonia and Lithuania, have significantly increased their defence spending – from less than 1 percent of their GDP just 10 years ago.

European leaders are engaging in an unprecedented effort to sway United States President Donald Trump on Ukraine.

They are hoping to influence any deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But what’s the status of the transatlantic alliance now? Is it a relationship of equals, or is Trump fully in charge?

Presenter: James Bays

Guests: 

Mark Storella – Professor of the practice of diplomacy at Boston University, former US ambassador and served as deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Brussels.

Jessica Berlin – Non-resident senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis and founder of strategy consultancy CoStruct in Berlin.

Eldar Mamedov – Non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute and a former Latvian diplomat who served in embassies in Washington, DC and Madrid.

Dutch defence minister announces details of support for Poland as Polish authorities accuse Russia of ‘provocation’ after drone crash.

Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans has said his country is sending 300 troops and Patriot air defence missile systems to Poland to “defend NATO territory, protect supply to Ukraine, and deter Russian aggression”.

The Netherlands’ announcement on Wednesday came as Polish officials said that an object that fell in a cornfield in Poland’s east on Tuesday night may have been a Russian version of the Shahed drone.

The explosion from the drone broke windows in several houses in the village of Osiny, near Poland’s border with Ukraine, but no injuries were reported, according to an official cited by Poland’s state news agency PAP.

Brekelmans told Dutch public broadcaster NOS on Wednesday that the military support to Poland came alongside other countries providing similar assistance to the NATO-member country, which borders Ukraine.

Brekelmans emphasised that the Patriot systems would be operating in Poland, and the accompanying 300 troops did not mean the Netherlands was putting troops on the ground in Ukraine.

Germany deployed five Eurofighter combat aircraft to Poland earlier this month, according to a German air force spokesman cited by Germany’s DPA news agency. The Kyiv Independent news outlet reported the fighter jets were deployed ahead of joint Russian-Belarusian military drills.

Germany also sent five Eurofighter jets and an estimated 270 soldiers to Romania, DPA reported on Wednesday.

Two of the Eurofighter jets in Romania were mobilised for the first time on Tuesday night, in response to Russian air strikes near Ukraine’s border with Romania, DPA said.

The jets, which took off from a Romanian military airbase, returned without incident, DPA added.

Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz accused Russia of “provocation”, noting the drone incident within Poland’s borders on Tuesday came “at a special moment, when there are ongoing discussions about peace” in Ukraine, Polskie Radio reported.

Several European leaders accompanied Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the White House on Monday, where one of the main topics of discussion was European countries providing post-war security guarantees to Ukraine as part of discussions around ending the Russia-Ukraine war.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned on Wednesday that attempting to implement security issues relating to Ukraine without Moscow’s involvement was a “road to nowhere”.

“We cannot agree with the fact that now it is proposed to resolve questions of security, collective security, without the Russian Federation. This will not work,” Lavrov said.

Here are the key events on day 1,274 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is how things stand on Thursday, August 21:

Fighting

• Three people were killed and four others injured in a Russian attack on the city of Kostiantynivka, in Ukraine’s Donetsk, the regional prosecutor’s office said in a post on Facebook.
• Russian shelling killed one person in the town of Bilozerka in Ukraine’s Kherson region, the Kherson Regional Prosecutor’s Office said in a post on Telegram.
• Russian forces are increasing their pressure near Lyman in the north of Donetsk, Oleksandr Syrskii, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, wrote on Facebook.
• A Russian drone attack on a car killed a 62-year-old man in the Synelnykove district of Ukraine’s southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Lysak, head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration, said in a post on Telegram.
• Kharkiv region police said that a Russian drone attack on a car killed two people in their 70s near the village of Petrivka in the Zolochiv territorial community.
• Oleksandr Khorunzhyi, spokesperson for the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, told the media outlet Ukrinform that there have been 40,000 fires recorded in Ukraine’s ecosystems since the beginning of 2025.
• Russian shelling killed a woman in the Polohy district of Ukraine’s  Zaporizhia region, said Ivan Fedorov, head of the Zaporizhia Regional Military Administration.
• A Ukrainian drone attack on a truck killed one person in the village of Novy Varin, in the Klimovsky district of Russia’s Bryansk region, regional governor Alexander Bogomaz wrote on Telegram.

• Three civilians were killed as Ukraine launched drones and conducted “intensive shelling” of Novaya Zburyevka village, the Russian-appointed governor of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, said in a post on Telegram.

• One person was killed in a Ukrainian attack on Russian-occupied Luhansk, Russian-appointed local officials wrote on Telegram.
• Russian forces shot down 217 Ukrainian drones in one day, the Russian Defence Force said, according to a report by Russia’s state-run TASS news agency.

Regional security

• Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz accused Russia of “provocation” after a Russian drone exploded in the village of Osiny in eastern Poland, noting the incident came “at a special moment, when there are ongoing discussions about peace”, Polskie Radio reported.
• Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans said the Netherlands will send 300 troops and air defence systems, including Patriots and counter-drone systems, to Poland, to “defend NATO territory, protect supply to Ukraine, and deter Russian aggression”.

Peace talks

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that “seriously discussing security issues without the Russian Federation is a utopia; it’s a road to nowhere”, amid ongoing discussions among Ukraine’s allies after United States President Donald Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss peace in Ukraine.

• Lithuania “is ready to contribute as many troops as the parliament allows for peacekeeping, and also military equipment” in Ukraine, Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda told commercial television TV3.

• Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told Swedish public radio SR that his country could provide air surveillance and potentially maritime resources, as part of security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement with Russia.

• Turkiye supports efforts to establish a permanent peace in Ukraine with the participation of all parties, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Russian counterpart, President Putin, in a phone call on Wednesday, the Turkish presidency said.

Politics and diplomacy

• North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has praised “heroic” North Korean troops who fought for Russia in the war against Ukraine, in a meeting with officers of the army’s overseas operation, state media KCNA said on Thursday.

Sanctions

• Russia said on Wednesday it was barring entry to 21 individuals it accused of working with “the destructive British media” to promote anti-Russian narratives. The list includes journalists, experts and members of civil society groups.

• The United Kingdom said it was imposing new sanctions on cryptocurrency networks it said were exploited by Russia.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says discussing Ukraine security issues without Russia is a ‘road to nowhere’.

Russia has warned that attempting to resolve security issues relating to Ukraine without the participation of Moscow is a “road to nowhere”, days after European leaders met US President Donald Trump to discuss security guarantees for Kyiv.

“We cannot agree with the fact that now it is proposed to resolve questions of security, collective security, without the Russian Federation. This will not work,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.

“I am sure that in the West and above all in the United States they understand perfectly well that seriously discussing security issues without the Russian Federation is a utopia; it’s a road to nowhere.”

The minister’s comments come two days after US President Donald Trump hosted Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alongside prominent European leaders at the White House, and days after Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump is trying to steer Putin and Zelenskyy towards a settlement more than three years after Russia invaded its neighbour, but major obstacles remain.

The Russian official said any summit between Putin and Zelenskyy “must be prepared in the most meticulous way” so the meeting does not lead to a “deterioration” of the situation around the conflict.

Lavrov also accused European leaders of making “clumsy attempts” to change the US president’s position on Ukraine.

“We have only seen aggressive escalation of the situation and rather clumsy attempts to change the position of the US president,” he said, referring to Monday’s meeting.

“We did not hear any constructive ideas from the Europeans there,” Lavrov added.

NATO talks

NATO military chiefs are due to meet on Wednesday to discuss the details of potential security guarantees for Ukraine amid efforts to broker a ceasefire to Russia’s offensive.

NATO’s Military Committee said that 32 defence chiefs from across the alliance would hold a video conference.

US General Alexus Grynkewich, who oversees NATO’s operations in Europe, will also take part in the talks.

Kyiv’s European allies are looking to set up a force that could backstop any peace agreement, and a coalition of 30 countries, including European nations, Japan and Australia, have signed up to support the initiative.

Military chiefs are considering how that security force might work. The role that the US might play is unclear. Trump on Tuesday ruled out sending US troops to help defend Ukraine against Russia.

Russia has repeatedly said that it would not accept NATO troops in Ukraine.

Europe is now pledging more military aid to Ukraine than the US.
Meanwhile, Washington is negotiating the nation’s future.
President Donald Trump has held talks with the Russian and Ukrainian Presidents in a bid to end Moscow’s war.
If no peace deal is reached, US support to Kyiv could shrink further, putting even more of the financial burden on Europe.
If a deal is struck, the question shifts from who gives more aid to who will pay for rebuilding what’s left.

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The White House has reiterated President Donald Trump’s remarks that US troops will not be deployed to Ukraine as part of any security guarantees under a peace deal with Russia. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the US may instead provide coordination and air support.