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.
Biden readies $725m arms aid package for Ukraine
The Biden administration is preparing a $725m weapons package for Ukraine, two US officials told Reuters yesterday, as the outgoing president seeks to bolster the government in Kyiv before leaving office in January.
According to an official familiar with the plan, the Biden administration plans to provide a variety of anti-tank weapons from US stocks to blunt Russia’s advancing troops, including land mines, drones, Stinger missiles and ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).
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
‘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.
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:
Source: independent.co.uk