Ukraine-Russia newest: Starmer shifts stance on peace talks after largest Russian advance in over two years

Russian drones struck critical infrastructure in Ukraine’s western Ternopil and Rivne regions overnight, the Ukrainian air force has said.

The attack left part of the city of Ternopil without electricity, its mayor said, a week after Moscow’s strikes cut power to much of the city and its surrounding region.

Ternopil lies about 135 miles east of NATO-member Poland.

Russia mounted two big attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in November, triggering power cuts across the country in the build-up to winter.

Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 22 of 28 drones that Russia fired overnight. One drone was “lost” and two more left Ukraine-controlled airspace, according to the statement.

Russia also attacked energy infrastructure in Rivne region, governor Oleksandr Koval said. There were no casualties, he added.

James Nixey of the Chatham House think-tank has warned that any part of Ukraine being in Nato would be unacceptable to Vladimir Putin, after Volodymyr Zelensky said he could accept territory being temporarily ceded to Russia in exchange for security assurances from the alliance.

“After all, [Nato] is, for him, an abhorrence. Putin doesn’t want a pause anyway – he believes he’s on the brink of an historic and strategic victory, kindly deal-sealed by Donald Trump,” Mr Nixey told The Independent.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz announced new military aid for Ukraine during a rare visit yesterday that he said sent a message to Russian president Vladimir Putin that Berlin would stand by Kyiv for as long as needed in the war.

The visit, his first to Kyiv since the early months of Russia’s 2022 invasion, comes ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House and weeks after Mr Scholz’s governing coalition in Berlin collapsed, threatening his future as chancellor.

The political upheaval in Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, adds to a growing sense of uncertainty in Ukraine, with Russian troops advancing ever faster in the east. It is unclear how much Kyiv’s European partners can step up support for Ukraine if Trump cuts help from the United States, its most powerful ally.

“My message from Kyiv to Putin: we’re in this for the long haul. Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will stand by the Ukrainian people – for as long as it takes,” Mr Scholz wrote on X.

Vladimir Putin’s forces have made rapid advances towards the eastern flank of a longstanding lynchpin of Ukraine’s defensive line, according to the British Ministry of Defence.

The Donetsk town of Velyka Novosilka is now vulnerable following the loss of Vuhledar in early October, which lies 30 kilometres east, the ministry warned.

“This enabled increased Russian advances into less well-defended areas in western Donetsk oblast,” said the ministry, warning that “Russian forces are attacking behind established Ukrainian defences and threatening the primary logistics routes to the town”.

The Biden administration is sending Ukraine $725m worth of missiles, ammunition, anti-personnel mines and other weapons, secretary of state Antony Blinken said.

The outgoing US president Joe Biden is seeking to bolster Kyiv in its war with Russian invaders before leaving office in January.

The assistance will include Stinger missiles, ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), drones and land mines, among other items, Mr Blinken said in a statement.

“The United States and more than 50 nations stand united to ensure Ukraine has the capabilities it needs to defend itself against Russian aggression,” Mr Blinken’s statement said.

The announcement marks a steep uptick in size from MR Biden’s recent use of so-called Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which allows the US to draw from current weapons stocks to help allies in an emergency.

Moscow’s troops have been capturing village after village in Ukraine’s east, part of a drive to seize the industrial Donbas region, while Russian airstrikes target a hobbled Ukrainian energy grid as winter sets in.

The test run comes just three years after British stockpiles failed to see them through a 10-day exercise.

The Ministry of Defence began the war game on Monday morning. It is taking place at the Defence Academy in Shrivenham, Oxfordshire.

The simulation is intended to “stress-test” how supply chains of artillery munitions and drones would hold up during a major war with an unspecified adversary. It is the first war game to involve representatives of the defence industry alongside military commanders and officials.

Defence companies taking part in the exercise include submarine builder BAE Systems, missiles firm MBDA, American jet fighter business Lockheed Martin and ship builder Babcock.

Tom Watling reports:

An overnight Russia drone attack has left Ukraine’s western city of Ternopil without electricity, a regional military official said this morning, a week after Moscow’s strikes cut power to much of the city and its surrounding region.

“Energy workers and rescuers are eliminating the consequences of the attack. Stock up on water, charge your phones,” Serhiy Nadal, the head of the regional defence headquarters in Ternopil, said on his Telegram messaging channel.

The full scale of the attack on Ternopil, a major city in Ukraine’s west, was not immediately clear.

Air raid alerts over the Ternopil region, of which the city of Ternopil is the administrative centre, lasted for about two and a half hours, starting at around 11.30pm GMT yesterday.

At least one person was killed and several were wounded in Russia’s drone attack on Ternopil earlier yesterday.

A week ago, much of the Ternopil region lost power in Russia’s largest ever drone attack on Ukraine.

Prime minister Keir Starmer vouched for stepping up support for Ukraine as an essential move to put the country in the strongest position for peace talks.

Sir Starmer stressed the importance of continued Western support to Ukraine and warned a Russian victory in Ukraine would threaten Europe’s security, stability and prosperity, particularly because it could embolden Russia’s allies.

“We must continue to back Ukraine and do what it takes to support their self-defence for as long as it takes,” the British PM said in a speech in London’s historic financial district.

He added: “To put Ukraine in the strongest possible position for negotiations so they can secure a just and lasting peace on their terms that guarantees their security, independence – and right to choose their own future.”

Sir Starmer’s comments come at crucial moment in the war with Russia advancing at its fastest rate since 2022 and US president-elect Donald Trump – who is deeply sceptical of US support for Ukraine – promising to end the war quickly after he is inaugurated next month.

Britain has been one of Ukraine‘s most vocal supporters since the start of the invasion by Russia in 2022 and was the first country to supply more sophisticated weapons to Ukraine, including battle tanks and long-range cruise missiles.