Ukraine-Russia battle newest: Lavrov storms out of Malta talks as Western states assail Russia over battle

A former mayor of occupied Dniprorudne who died in Russian captivity has been laid to rest in Bucha, outside the capital Kyiv.

Mayor Yevhen Matvieiev was captured after coordinating humanitarian aid and security as Moscow’s forces occupied the southeastern Ukrainian city.

“Today it became known that the mayor of Dniprorudne, Yevhen Matvieiev, died from torture in Russian captivity. He was kidnapped by the enemy almost 3 years ago in the Zaporizhzhia region because he provided for the community that elected him and trusted him,” Kyiv mayor Vitalii Klitschko wrote on Telegram.

Russia denies mistreating prisoners of war and those in detention.

“Thanks to him (Mr Matvieiev), a large number of people were able to be rescued, freed, or moved to Ukraine-controlled territory,” said Oleksandr Slobozhan, who worked with 63-year-old Mr Matvieiev.

Nearly 5,500 residents of Russian-occupied Crimea were mobilised into the Russian army in 2024, according to a recent report published by the Mission of the President of Ukraine in Crimea.

Russia has mobilised nearly 50,000 Crimean residents since the peninsula’s occupation in 2014, through illegal conscription campaigns, the report said.

Polish deputy finance minister said the European Union is ready to step in financially if the US withdraws from the G7’s $50bn loan for Ukraine.

“There is a risk that [US President] Donald Trump will pull out of the $50 billion agreement,” Pawel Karbownik said at an event marking the incoming Polish presidency of the Council of the EU.

After long negotiations, the United States and EU had agreed to contribute $20bn each as part of the deal, with the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan funding the rest.

The deal was designed to be repaid using interest from more than $300bn Russian assets.

Russia is holding at least six Ukrainian mayors and community leaders captive, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

“They are among thousands of Ukrainians who are innocent but have been in captivity for years. And not only since 2022, but also since 2014,” Mr Zelensky told the the human rights community.

The mayor of occupied Dniprorudne in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Yevhenii Matvieiev, died in captivity after he was captured while trying to assist residents of his community in March 2022. Mr Matvieiev was tortured to death, according to Zaporizhzhia’s governor.

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov clashed indirectly with US secretary of state Antony Blinken at a security meeting in Malta, accusing the West of risking escalation over Ukraine but walked out before Blinken and other speakers could respond.

Mr Lavrov said the US actions were driven by a desire to “return NATO to the political spotlight”, speaking at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe ministerial meeting in Malta.

“After the Afghan disgrace, there was a need for a new common enemy,” Mr Lavrov said during his first stop in an EU nation since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The result is the reincarnation of the Cold War, but now with the far greater risk of its escalation into the hot phase.”

Mr Blinken, who spoke after Mr Lavrov left the room, put the blame for escalation in the region on Russia, noting that the Russian foreign minister did not stay to listen to other speakers.

“Let’s talk about escalation,” Mr Blinken said, citing the deployment of North Korean forces in Europe, the use of an intermediate-range ballistic missile to attack Ukraine, Russia‘s move to lower the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons, and attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Germany’s opposition leader Friedrich Merz said any discussions about deploying German peacekeepers in Ukraine are irresponsible, after foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said deployment of troops should not be ruled out in case of a ceasefire.

“We are all thinking about how to end this war. The question is how to achieve this,” Mr Merz said on Wednesday, saying nobody is asking about peacekeeper deployment.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz also told the German parliament there was currently no possibility of deploying German troops and that Ms Baerbock was in agreement with defence minister Boris Pistorius on the issue.

Russia has increased its naval and civilian presence in the Baltic Sea, German defence minister Boris Pistorius told German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk.

“This demonstrates the strategic importance of the Baltic Sea for many, especially for Russia and China, including circumventing sanctions,” Mr Pistorius said.

The comments came shortly after a Russian ship shot at a German military helicopter over the Baltic Sea.

Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) carried out a successful cyber-attack against one of Russia’s largest banks, disrupting services for hundreds of thousands of customers, a source in the agency told the Kyiv Independent.

The website for Gazprombank was reportedly inaccessible in France and Germany, and the mobile application also experienced outages. Russian state media on Wednesday confirmed problems accessing the bank’s website.

The source said the agency directed excessive traffic to the bank’s website and mobile application, overloading its servers in what is known as a distributed denial of service attack.

Both Ukraine and Russia have used cyber warfare during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Western countries including the United States assailed Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov over the war in Ukraine at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Malta.

“My message to the Russian delegation is the following: We are not taken in by your lies. We know what you’re doing. You’re trying to rebuild the Russian empire and we will not let you. We will resist you every inch of the way,” Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said.

Poland and Ukraine’s foreign ministers were amongst those who left the room for Mr Lavrov’s speech, which is common for international meetings. Mr Lavrov was also absent when US secretary of state Antony Blinken spoke.

The Kremlin is using state media, fake news sites and social media accounts to push divisive narratives about the war and US president-elect Donald Trump before he returns to the White House next month.

Analysts said the content is aimed at turning sentiment against Ukraine at a crucial time, to reduce US military aid and ensure a Russian victory.

Clips from fake videos purporting to show Ukrainian soldiers burning effigies of Trump and his supporters have circulated among Trump supporters and believers in QAnon, a conspiracy theory that claims Trump is waging war against a satanic cabal of powerful world leaders.