Ukraine-Russia warfare newest: Trump says he struck deal to provide weapons to Ukraine by means of Nato
Donald Trump has announced that the United States will supply weapons to Ukraine via Nato, with the alliance covering the full cost.
“We’re sending weapons to Nato, and Nato is paying for those weapons, 100 per cent,” Mr Trump told NBC News. He also said he would make a “major statement” on Russia on Monday.
Mr Trump is expected to authorise the use of the Presidential Drawdown Authority to send arms worth around $300m from US stockpiles to Ukraine for the first time since returning to office.
Meanwhile, a senior Ukrainian intelligence officer was shot dead in broad daylight in a Kyiv car park. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) did not name the victim, but Ukrainian media identified him as Colonel Ivan Voronych. The agency has been at the forefront of counter-intelligence and cross-border sabotage operations since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio met Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the Asean summit in Malaysia. Mr Rubio conveyed Mr Trump’s frustration with Moscow’s lack of flexibility in ending the war. “There’s not been more flexibility on the Russian side to bring about an end to this conflict,” he told Mr Lavrov.
Merz: Germany prepared to buy Patriots from U.S. for Ukraine
Germany is prepared to buy Patriot air defence systems from the United States and provide them to Ukraine, German chancellor Friedrich Merz said in Rome on Thursday.
“We are also prepared to purchase additional Patriot systems from the U.S. to make them available to Ukraine,” Merz said at a conference on Ukraine support, where he discussed air defence with President Volodymyr Zelensky and other leaders.
Merz said he asked U.S. President Donald Trump last week to deliver the Patriots, adding, “The Americans need some of them themselves, but they also have a lot of them. … It has not yet been finalised whether a delivery will be made.”
Rubio: ‘We had a frank and important conversation on Ukraine’
U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Thursday he had a frank and important conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the war in Ukraine.
Rubio said he reinforced President Donald Trump’s disappointment that there has not been more flexibility on the Russian side.
“We need to see a roadmap moving forward about how this conflict can conclude,” Rubio said after the 50-minute meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN conference.
Russia downs three Ukrainian drones headed for Moscow, mayor says
Russian air defences downed three Ukrainian drones bound for Moscow on Thursday, said the city’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin.
The Russian Defence Ministry also said 14 drones had been shot down over the Bryansk region and a further 8 over the Belgorod region between 15:00 (1200 GMT) and 16:30. Both regions border Ukraine.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.
Separately, Russia’s aviation authority Rosaviatsia said it had temporarily halted all flights in and out of the airport in Kaluga, a city some 200 km (125 miles) southwest of Moscow.
Mapped: How Russia’s aerial strikes have increased over the past 50 days
UK to sign deal to supply air defence missiles to Ukraine
UK deputy prime minister Angela Rayner will on Thursday sign a previously announced deal to supply Ukraine with more than 5,000 air defence missiles from Thales.
Rayner is expected to sign the agreement in Rome, where the Ukraine Recovery Conference is taking place. The deal was first announced by prime minister Keir Starmer on 2 March.
The government also re-confirmed it would supply up to 283 million pounds in bilateral assistance to Ukraine over the next year.
Watch: Zelensky accuses Russia of ‘pure terrorism’ after new wave of drone strikes
Recap: How much money does Ukraine actually need to reconstruct?
World leaders attending the Ukraine reconstruction conference have pledged around €10 billion to the war-torn country’s reconstruction support.
It’s the eighth year that the conference has taken place with leaders from around the globe attending and pledging their support to Ukraine as Russia continues to pursue its full-scale invasion.
But it’s possible that €10 billion will barely cover a fraction of the overall cost needed to help Ukraine recover from the war.
A report from the United Nations in February this year said that the total cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine is estimated at €506 billion over the next decade.
The updated joint Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment commissioned by the Ukrainian Government, World Bank Group, European Commission and the UN covers damage incurred since the intensified conflict erupted in February 2022, all the way up to the end of 2024.
As the war continues, this bill could drastically increase still.
Recap: Kremlin says Ukraine peace process has not stalled
The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russia does not think peace talks on Ukraine have stalled and that it still wants to achieve its goals there through peaceful political and diplomatic means.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was waiting for Kyiv to give a signal about whether it is ready to start the third round of talks, which first kicked off in May in Istanbul.
Source: independent.co.uk
