Ukraine war briefing: Germany to fund $500m in arms for Kyiv as Zelenskyy says Putin ‘bluffing' about peace
Germany's move came as Donald Trump said there would be 'very severe consequences' if Vladimir Putin did not agree to stop his war in Ukraine after the summit between the US and Russian presidents in Alaska this Friday. The US president's comment came after a virtual meeting with European leaders including Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who told the group that Putin 'is bluffing' about seeking peace. 'He is trying to apply pressure before the meeting in Alaska along all parts of the Ukrainian front,' Zelenskyy said, amid a sharp thrust from Russian forces into eastern Ukraine in recent days. 'Russia is trying to show that it can occupy all of Ukraine,' he said. German chancellor Friedrich Merz said the leaders had a 'constructive and good' discussion with Trump.
Trump suggested to the group that he would push for a second summit if his meeting with Putin went well – this time including Zelenskyy, reports Patrick Wintour. 'If the first one goes OK, we'll have a quick second one,' Trump told reporters in Washington. 'I would like to do it almost immediately, and we'll have a quick second meeting between President Putin and President Zelenskyy and myself, if they'd like to have me there.' Trump's remarks followed what he described as a very good call with the European leaders in which he consulted about the goal and strategy for his summit. He pleased Europe's leadership by giving reassurances that a ceasefire was his priority and he would not make any territorial concessions without Kyiv's full involvement.
Keir Starmer said there was now a 'viable' chance for a Ukraine ceasefire. The British prime minister said ahead of the Trump-Putin talks that Ukraine's military backers – the so-called coalition of the willing – had drawn up workable military plans in case of a ceasefire but were also ready to add pressure on Russia through sanctions. 'For three and a bit years this conflict has been going, we haven't got anywhere near ... a viable way of bringing it to a ceasefire,' Starmer told the European meeting. 'Now we do have that chance, because of the work that the [US] president has put in.'
Russia wants to include the topic of a reduction in Nato troops' presence in any conversations about the future of Ukraine, the Polish prime minister said. Donald Tusk told reporters on Wednesday: 'That is why it is so important that we build such a strong and united group of states, both in relation to Russia but also in relation to other allies, like the United States.'
Russian hackers briefly took control of a dam in Norway earlier this year, the country's counter-intelligence agency chief said on Wednesday, the first time Oslo has officially attributed the cyberattack to its neighbour. While in command of the dam in Bremanger, western Norway, on 7 April, the hackers opened a flood gate and released 500 litres (132 gallons) of water a second for four hours before the attack was detected and stopped, authorities previously said. No one was injured. The UK's spy chief accused Russia in September last year of waging a 'staggeringly reckless campaign' of sabotage in Europe, partly to scare European countries from helping Ukraine. Moscow denies the allegation.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
14 minutes ago
- The Independent
Retired Army General says Trump needs to convince Putin that Russia can't win in Ukraine
Ahead of Donald Trump 's summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark has said it is vital for the president to convince the Russian leader that he cannot win the war in Ukraine. Speaking on The Record with Greta Van Susteren on Newsmax on Wednesday, Clark, a former Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, warned that Putin would not respond to conventional diplomatic threats. 'We've made so many threats to Russia over the last six months about consequences, and they mostly get postponed,' Clark said. 'And so, I don't know – I hope the consequences will be a restart of U.S. military assistance from the Trump administration to Ukraine. Because really, when you get right down to it, I think the only way you're going to really halt President Putin's territorial ambitions is to convince him he cannot win.' He continued: 'Administration after administration has tried sanctions. Obama tried it. Biden tried it. It hasn't stopped anything and makes it more difficult. The Russians learn to live with it. 'And so putting sanctions on again – it sounds rough and tough. It avoids the threat of use of force, but ultimately it doesn't accomplish much.' As preparations for the Anchorage summit continue, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov has stated that the meeting at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson will be a one-on-one between Trump and Putin, with translators present, and that 'sensitive matters' will be discussed. In addition to the prospect of ending the war, which has raged since February 2022, enhanced economic cooperation and trade between the U.S. and Russia will also be on the table, Ushakov said. Both leaders will take part in a news conference once the summit is concluded, he added, as well as wider talks with their delegations and a working breakfast. On Wednesday, Trump attended a virtual meeting with European leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, to discuss the goals of the summit and establish red lines that cannot be crossed. According to French President Emmanuel Macron, the American emphatically ruled out the prospect of Kyiv being invited to join NATO, a step that Moscow would have interpreted as a deliberate provocation. Trump himself warned afterwards that Russia would face 'very severe consequences' if Putin does not agree to a ceasefire but hinted that a follow-up meeting could be swiftly arranged if Friday's summit proves a success. Zelensky has since joined British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in London, with the latter reiterating: 'International borders must not be changed by force and Ukraine must have robust and credible security guarantees to defend its territorial integrity as part of any deal.' Putin said on Thursday that Washington was making 'sincere efforts' to resolve the conflict in Ukraine and suggested that a new deal on nuclear arms control between Moscow and Washington could be on the cards.
The Independent
14 minutes ago
- The Independent
Starmer and Zelensky united on ‘strong resolve' to secure just peace in Ukraine ahead of Trump-Putin talks
Sir Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelensky are united in their 'strong resolve' to secure a just peace in Ukraine ahead of a historic summit between the US and Russia on Friday. Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are due to meet in Alaska, amid fears the two superpowers will try to decide the end of the war themselves, leaving Ukraine excluded. As the world nervously awaits their meeting, the Russian president has dangled the idea that the talks could lead to Moscow and Washington reaching a deal on nuclear arms control. After a one-to-one meeting in No 10 on Thursday, seen as a show of support for Ukraine, Downing Street said the two leaders 'agreed there had been a powerful sense of unity and a strong resolve to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine'. 'They then looked ahead to tomorrow's talks between President Trump and President Putin in Alaska, which present a viable chance to make progress as long as Putin takes action to prove he is serious about peace.' As they entered Downing Street, the two men refused to be drawn on whether President Trump could be trusted, after questions from reporters. It comes after the US president threatened 'severe consequences' if Putin does not agree to peace in Ukraine, without specifying what these could be. After his meeting with Sir Keir on Friday, President Zelensky suggested he and the PM had war-gamed potential outcomes of the Trump-Putin summit. In a message on X, formerly Twitter, he described a 'good, productive' meeting, a day after a call with other European leaders and Sir Keir to put forward Europe's concerns on what a deal might include. 'We continue to coordinate our positions,' he said. 'We discussed expectations for the meeting in Alaska and possible prospects. We also discussed in considerable detail the security guarantees that can make peace truly durable if the United States succeeds in pressing Russia to stop the killings and engage in genuine, substantive diplomacy.' Since the weekend, Europe has rallied behind Ukraine's right to decide its own future, amid concerns over Mr Zelensky's exclusion from Friday's summit. At the weekend, the US president suggested a truce could involve some "swapping" of land. On Saturday, Mr Zelensky furiously rejected any proposal that would compromise Ukraine's territorial integrity, something that is forbidden by the country's constitution. Putin is expected to use the summit to demand that Ukraine cede parts of the Donbas region, which it still controls. Asked if he decided not to invite Mr Zelensky to the meeting, Mr Trump said 'no, just the opposite', before adding that a second meeting with the Ukrainian president could take place afterwards. Mr Trump has threatened Russia with "severe consequences" if a ceasefire is rejected by its leader.
The Independent
14 minutes ago
- The Independent
Donbas: Why Russia is desperate to capture eastern Ukraine's industrial heartland
The future of Ukraine's industrial heartland in the east is likely to play a key role in talks between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump as they prepare to meet in Alaska on Friday. The Russian leader has demanded that Ukrainian forces withdraw from Donetsk as part of any any ceasefire deal, according to Volodymyr Zelensky. The Ukrainian president has said that Putin wants the remaining 30 per cent of the eastern region, which has seen some of the fiercest battles in the three-and-a-half year long war. But losing Donetsk would give Russia control of almost all of the Donbas, the collective name for Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland which has been long coveted by Putin. Earlier this week, Zelensky vowed Ukraine would 'never leave' the Donbas and warned that Putin could use it as a spring board for a future invasion. As Kyiv fights to keep Donbas from Trump's so-called 'land swap' deal, here's all you need to know about the region. Where is the Donbas? Far along Ukraine's eastern border, Donbas is a portmanteau name from 'Donets Basin', a further abbreviation of 'Donets Coal Basin', in reference to the coal basin along the Donets Ridge and river. Donbas stretches across the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, two large regions of Ukraine that have formed a significant part of the frontline in Russia's invasion of Ukraine. How long has it been occupied? The Donbas has been partially occupied by Russia since 2014. At around the same time, Putin decided to annexe Crimea, a peninsula which lies just off the south of Ukraine towards the Black Sea. Russian-backed separatists broke away from the Ukrainian government to proclaim themselves independent 'people's republics' and, as a result, Moscow captured over a third of Ukraine's eastern territory. Russia classes the Republic of Crimea, Sevastopol, the Luhansk People's Republic, the Donetsk People's Republic, and the regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson as subjects of the Russian Federation. Ukraine says these territories are part of Ukraine and they are not recognised by the United Nations. Now, it is believed around 88 per cent of the Donbas region is under Russian control. This includes almost all of the Luhansk region and 75 per cent of the Donetsk region, according to Reuters. Approximately 6,600 square km is still controlled by Ukraine, but Russia has been focusing most of its energy along the front in Donetsk, pushing towards the last remaining major cities such as Pokrovsk. A key strategic region in the war The hyper-industrialised Donbas economy is dominated by coal mining and metallurgy. The region has one of the largest coal reserves in Ukraine, even when extraction of coal decreased elsewhere. When conflict broke out in the area in 2014, Ukraine's coal mining enterprises saw a 22.4 per cent decline in the production of raw coal from 2013, as reported by Kyiv Post, showing the country's reliance on Donbas as an energy power house. But as well as its economic significance, Donbas has been described as a 'fortress belt' by The Institute for the Study of War in terms of its strategic value in the war. Donetsk forms the main fortified defensive line across the frontline, stretching through Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka, and Kostiantynivka. Elina Beketova, a fellow for CEPA, said: 'Ukraine is holding a key defensive line across Donetsk,' describing a 'fortified zone build up over years because the war began 11 years ago.' She added that Russia hasn't been able to break through since 2014 and they have lost many people there. The entire region is heavily mined and Ukrainian troops have been preparing it for years. 'It's not just trenches, it's a deep, layered defence with bunkers, anti-tank ditches, minefields, and industrial areas built into the terrain. The area includes dominant heights, rivers, and urban zones that make it extremely hard to capture.' Ms Beketova said losing this fortified line would have 'catastrophic consequences' as it holds back Russia's advancement into central and western parts of Ukraine. 'The front would shift approximately 80km west, and Russia would gain open ground - flat steppe with no natural barriers - giving them direct paths toward Kharkiv, Poltava, and Dnipro.' What Zelensky has said about the Donbas Zelensky has repeatedly rejected calls from Russia to give up the Donbas. In response to Putin's request that Ukraine withdraws from eastern Donetsk, he vowed Ukraine would 'never leave' the Donbas and warned Putin's troops could use it as a spring board for a future invasion. "We will not leave Donbas. We cannot do this. Everyone forgets the first part - our territories are illegally occupied. Donbas for the Russians is a springboard for a future new offensive,' he said.
