The Russia-Ukraine war is on the agenda for a G7 meeting next week, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken travelling to Europe to join foreign ministers from the leading industrialized nations.
G7 members are concerned about how Donald Trump will change the US approach to the conflict, with the US President-elect having criticized the billions of dollars that the Biden administration and other Western allies have poured into Ukraine.
It comes as a Ukrainian military source claimed an estimated 11,000 North Korean troops have been drafted in to the Kursk region on Russia’s border, where some 59,000 Russian troops had already been deployed since Kyiv’s forces swept in during a surprise incursion in August. The source warned that over 40 per cent of territory gained in that offensive had now been lost due to Russia’s counterattacks.
Russian forces have also captured more territory in eastern Ukraine, with Nato set to hold emergency talks next week amid warnings that Moscow will increase the production of a new, hypersonic ballistic missile.
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Here’s a summary of what’s been happening today.
- Nato and Ukraine will hold emergency talks on Tuesday after Vladimir Putin warned that Russia will increase the production of a new, hypersonic ballistic missile.
- It comes after a Russian strike on a military facility in Dnipro, a central Ukrainian city with a population of around one million on Thursday, which led Ukraine’s parliament to tighten security and cancel a session on Friday.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin said the attack was in retaliation for Ukraine’s use of US and UK long-range missiles.
- Putin has also signed a law on debt forgiveness for new Russian army recruits signing up to fight in Ukraine.
- Continuing what Russian defence minister Andrei Belousov described as an accelerated advance, Moscow’s forces reportedly captured the settlement of Novodmytrivka in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region. It was reportedly one of eight villages in the region where Russian troops were engaged in fighting and aiming to advance, according to Ukraine’s General Staff.
- A Ukrainian military source also claimed an estimated 11,000 North Korean troops have been drafted in to the Kursk region on Russia’s border, where some 59,000 Russian troops had already been deployed since Kyiv’s forces swept in during a surprise incursion in August.
- The source warned that over 40 per cent of territory gained by Ukraine in that offensive had now been lost due to Russia’s counterattacks.
- President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly considering tapping Richard Grenell, his former intelligence chief, for a new role as special envoy for the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to four sources familiar with the transition plans.
- Trump also met with Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte in Florida on Friday, to discuss “the range of global security issues facing the Alliance.”
- Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to Europe for diplomatic meetings involving G7 foreign ministers next week, with the war in Ukraine among the agenda items amid fears over Trump’s stance on the conflict.
- French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot has said there are no “red lines” when it comes to support for Ukraine, adding that Ukraine may fire French long-range missiles into Russia “in the logics of self defence”.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian drone and missile attacks have damaged 321 Ukrainian port infrastructure facilities from July 2023 up to now, as well as damaging 20 civilian ships of other countries.
Putin legislates debt forgiveness for Russian army recruits
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Saturday on debt forgiveness for new army recruits signing up to fight in Ukraine, a Russian government website showed.
Agencies reported that the law provides for forgiveness of up to 10 million roubles (£76,450) of debt arrears for those signing contracts with the Defence Ministry to fight in Ukraine for at least a year, beginning on 1 December 2024.
The law applies to all potential recruits who have had debt collection proceedings opened against them before 1 December.
Russia has bolstered military recruitment by offering increasingly large payouts, in some cases of many times the average salary, to those willing to fight in Ukraine.
The tactic has enabled the army to increase manpower in the conflict area, while avoiding another round of the general mobilisation that prompted a mass exodus from Russia in September 2022.
Central bank figures have shown that Russians are assuming increasing levels of consumer debt since the Kremlin ordered tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022, even as the central bank increased its key rate to 21 per cent in October.
Zelensky: Russian strikes damaged 20 foreign civilian ships since last July
Russian drone and missile attacks have damaged 321 Ukrainian port infrastructure facilities from July 2023 up to now, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday.
He added that 20 civilian ships of other countries were also damaged by Russian strikes.
Moscow has repeatedly denied that it attacks civilian targets.
“Overall, Ukrainian food exports provide food for 400 million people in 100 countries around the world,” Zelensky said. “Food prices in Egypt, Libya, Nigeria, and other countries in Africa directly depend on whether farmers and agricultural companies in Ukraine can operate normally.”
Ukraine is a major global wheat and corn grower, and before the Russian invasion it exported about 6 million tons of grain per month via the Black Sea.
When Russia launched its invasion in February 2022, it blockaded Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. Shipments were resumed in July 2022 under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal mediated by the United Nations and Turkey. But a year later Russia exited the agreement.
Since then, Ukraine has exported grain and other food products using its own corridor, which passes through the territorial waters of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey.
Ukraine’s grain exports in the 2024/25 July-June season totaled almost 16 million metric tons by the middle of November, up from about 11 million tons in the same period a year ago, data from traders and the government showed.
The country’s grain exports in the 2023/24 marketing season rose to about 51 million tons from 49.2 million tons the previous year.
Inside UK’s strategy to isolate Putin – as British troops ‘train for wider war’
by Richard Vaughan, Joe Duggan and Hugo Gye
As news broke that Ukraine had used British-made Storm Shadow missiles for the first time on Russian soil, Sir Keir Starmer was flying back from the G20, having engaged in a major diplomatic push with world leaders.
Despite the seriousness of the news, ratcheting up the UK’s involvement in the conflict a step further, the Prime Minister’s aides put up a wall of silence, refusing to confirm or deny the use of the missiles even though pictures were being widely shared online that appeared to show fragments of the advanced artillery found in Russia.
Both Downing Street and the Ministry of Defence maintained the line that they would not comment on “operational details” regarding the use of UK Storm Shadows or US-made ATACMs.
The refusal to comment should be seen as part of a wider diplomatic dance that saw Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron take leading roles in trying to woo Russia’s allies and further isolate Moscow.
The most eye-catching of the near-dozen bilateral meetings that the Prime Minister held was with President Xi Jinping of China, the first between the leaders of the two countries for six years, and one in which both spoke of their desire to forge stronger economic bonds, particularly around green technology.
Click here to keep reading.
How the British Army is using ‘shoot-and-scoot’ tactics in Nato war drill
The British Army has been honing its ‘shoot-and-scoot’ tactics with new Archer howitzers during Arctic Nato drills 70 miles from the Russian border in Finland.
The tactic allows artillery crews to avoid return fire after targeting enemy positions by rapidly relocating, with Archers branded a battlefield “game-changer” by army officers i joined in Lapland for Dynamic Front, Nato’s largest ever artillery exercise.
Self-propelled Archers, mounted on an articulated hauler, can hit speeds of almost 45mph with a crew of up to four able to engage a target and be moving again in less than 20 seconds.
“The rate of fire and the ability for Archer to deploy really quickly is a significant game changer,” said British Army Colonel Alex Forbes, commander of the multinational Field Artillery Brigade in Lapland.
Capable of firing more than eight rounds a minute and hitting targets over 30 miles away, the army procured 14 of the howitzers from Sweden last year to replace AS-90s sent to Ukraine.
You can find the rest of that ‘Big Read’ from i reporter Joe Duggan, here.
Why iodine pills are not a silver bullet to protect against nuclear radiation
As Russia continues to raise the spectre of nuclear war in its threats against the West over Ukraine, European countries are updating their guidelines for what citizens should do if the unthinkable happens.
Western politicians and intelligence chiefs have been at pains to emphasise that there is no evidence Vladimir Putin is preparing to use nuclear weapons and that Russia’s habitual threats are merely a bluff aimed at deterring the West from providing further military support to Ukraine.
However, countries near the Russian border are taking no chances, and some recently updated their advice to citizens in the event of a crisis – nuclear or otherwise.
Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland updated guidance telling citizens to ensure they have enough long-life food, water and medicine as well as a back-up power supply.
Iodine tablets are also among emergency supplies that citizens are advised to have at home in preparation for a crisis.
But how do they work, and what are their limitations?
Click here to find out.
‘No red lines’ in support for Ukraine, French foreign minister says
The French foreign minister has said there are no “red lines” when it comes to support for Ukraine.
In an exclusive interview, Jean-Noël Barrot told the BBC that Ukraine could fire French long-range missiles into Russia “in the logics of self defence”.
He did not confirm whether French weapons had already been used in the conflict.
Barrot’s comments come days after US and UK long-range missiles were used by Ukraine against Russia for the first time.
The French official held talks with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy in London on Friday, with the pair jointly writing in The i Paper that their countries would together relentlessly fight “Putinisation.”
Speaking to the BBC, Barrot said Western allies should “not set and express red lines” in terms of their support for Ukraine against Russia.
Pressed on whether this could mean French troops becoming involved in combat, he replied: “We do not discard any option.”
“We will support Ukraine as intensely and as long as necessary. Why? Because it is our security that is at stake.
“Each time the Russian army progresses by one square kilometre, the threat gets one square kilometre closer to Europe.”
US Secretary of State heads to Europe for G7 meetings focused on Russia-Ukraine war
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to Europe for a diplomatic trip that includes a meeting – focused on the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East – of foreign ministers from the leading industrialized nations.
The US State Department said Blinken will participate in G7 and bilateral meetings outside Rome on Monday and Tuesday as the Biden administration winds down amid concerns that president-elect Donald Trump‘s team may substantially alter US foreign policy.
The G7, consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, has been at the forefront of providing military and economic support for Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, and US President Joe Biden is looking to ensure that backing is boosted and sustained.
G7 members are particularly concerned about how Trump will change the US approach to the conflict, with the President-elect having criticized the billions of dollars that the Biden administration has poured into Ukraine.
Washington has recently stepped up weapons shipments and has forgiven billions in loans provided to Kyiv, while the incoming Republican president has said previously that he could end the war in 24 hours – comments that appear to suggest he would press Ukraine to surrender territory that Russia now occupies.
Opinion: Britain has no choice but to cling to France
by Adam Boulton
Britain’s new Labour Government is doing what it can to warm up the old entente cordiale. As part of Sir Keir Starmer’s learn-on-the-job approach to international relations, he went to France to mark Armistice Day earlier this month – the first PM to do so since Winston Churchill.
Days later David Lammy and the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, met in London, close to General De Gaulle’s Second World War headquarters to declare their joint commitment to back up Ukraine’s quest for a just and lasting peace.
Writing in the i, the two foreign ministers go further, pledging to do all they can to resist what they call “Putinisation”, the attempted “annihilation of the global architecture that has been the cornerstone of international peace and security for generations”.
Nobody can deny the sincerity of the two politicians’ desire to cling to the institutions which have protected Britain and France for the past 80 years – headed by the UN and Nato. The UK and France rank themselves alongside the superpowers in their treasured positions as permanent members of the UN Security Council.
But, the problem is, the US, China and Russia are no longer committed to the grudging cooperation which upheld the world order after 1945.
Adam Boulton presents Sunday Morning on Times Radio
Click here to keep reading.
Ukraine lost over 40 per cent of Russian territory from Kursk offensive
Ukraine has lost over 40 per cent of the territory in Russia’s Kursk region that it rapidly seized in its surprise incursion in August as a result of waves of counter-assaults mounted by Russian forces, a senior Ukrainian military source said.
“At most, we controlled about 1,376 sq km (531 sq miles), now of course this territory is smaller. The enemy is increasing its counterattacks,” the Ukrainian General Staff source said.
They added: “Now we control approximately 800 sq km (309 sq miles). We will hold this territory for as long as is militarily appropriate.”
Over 10,000 North Korean troops training with Russia in Kursk, Ukraine says
Russia has deployed some 59,000 troops to the Kursk region since Ukrainian forces swept in and advanced swiftly with a surprise incursion in August, a source on Ukraine’s General Staff has said.
The Kursk offensive was the first ground invasion of Russia by a foreign power since World War Two and caught Moscow unprepared.
Advancing into the western Russian region, Kyiv aimed to stem Russian attacks in eastern and northeastern Ukraine and force Moscow to pull back forces gradually advancing in the east, giving Kyiv extra leverage in any future peace negotiations.
But Russian forces have continued to steadily advance into Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, capturing new territory as recently as this week.
The Ukrainian military source reiterated that about 11,000 North Korean troops had also reportedly arrived in the Kursk region in support of Russia, but that the bulk of these forces were still finalising their training.
Moscow has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Korean forces in Kursk.
‘If you sweat, you die’: How British troops train for a sub-zero Russian invasion
In a Lapland forest, British troops and their Nato allies are grappling with the challenges of training for combat in sub-zero temperatures.
The mercury has plunged to -8°C, a thick carpet of snow blanketing the woods, but one Finnish officer accustomed to these bone-chilling conditions revealed the key to surviving Arctic warfare.
“If you sweat, you die,” said Lieutenant Olli Taskinen, from the Finnish Army’s Arctic combat expert Jaeger Brigade.
“When the Nato countries are here, we try to train them to fight how we fight, so they can actually support us and go into the woods with us.
“We have taught them how to use our tents, our equipment, throughout the winter. We have also taught them skills about how to keep everything warm – toes, fingers, anything.”
The troops taking part in forest-fighting simulations as part of Dynamic Front, Nato’s largest-ever artillery exercise, have been given some crucial tips by their Finnish hosts.
Click here to read more.
What happened in the Russia-Ukraine war this week?
This past week has seen the most significant escalation in hostilities that Ukraine has witnessed since Russia’s full-scale invasion and marks a new chapter tinged with uncertainty and fear in the nearly three-year war.
It began with US President Joe Biden reversing a longstanding policy by granting Kyiv permission to deploy American longer-range missiles inside Russian territory, and ended with Moscow striking Ukraine with a new experimental ballistic weapon that has alarmed the international community and heightened fears of further escalation.
Here’s a look at the events in Ukraine in the span of a week that has fundamentally altered the stakes of the war:
Last Sunday: The US eases limits on what Ukraine can strike with its American-made Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, after months of ruling out such a move over fears of escalating the conflict and bringing about a direct confrontation between Russia and Nato.
The change came after the US, South Korea and Nato said North Korean troops were inside Russia and being deployed to help Moscow drive Ukrainian troops from Russia’s Kursk region. But the scope of the new firing guidelines wasn’t clear.
Monday: Russia warns of escalation if Western weapons are used inside its territories, saying Biden’s decision would escalate international tensions even higher.
“It is obvious that the outgoing administration in Washington intends to take steps, and they have been talking about this, to continue adding fuel to the fire and provoking further escalation of tensions around this conflict,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Tuesday: Ukraine fires American longer-range missiles into Russia for the first time, as Russian President Vladimir Putin lowers the threshold for nuclear attacks.
Ukraine fired several ATACMS, striking an ammunition warehouse in Russia’s Bryansk region, marking the first time Kyiv had used the weapons inside enemy territory, according to widespread reports. Ukrainian officials have not officially confirmed the strikes which occurred on the 1,000th day since the invasion.
Also Tuesday, Putin formally lowered the threshold for using nuclear weapons, opening the door to a potential nuclear response by Moscow to even a conventional attack by any nation supported by a nuclear power. That could include Ukrainian attacks backed by the US.
Wednesday: The US approves giving Ukraine anti-personnel mines to help slow Russia’s battlefield advances, marking a second major policy shift from the Biden administration which US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said was needed to counter changing Russian tactics.
Biden had previously delayed signing off on this because of international objections to the use of such mines – which are freely deployed by Russia – due to the risks they pose to civilians.
Ukraine also struck targets inside Russia using the British Storm Shadow missile, an equivalent of the ATACMS system.
Thursday: Russia uses new, experimental ballistic missile for the first time in what Putin said was a retaliation to Kyiv’s use of American and British missiles.
In a televised address to the country, the Russian president warned that Western air defence systems would be powerless to stop the new missile, called the Oreshnik (Russian for hazelnut tree).
The weapon is based on Russia’s RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile, which can carry nuclear warheads.
Putin also said it could be used to attack any Ukrainian ally whose missiles are used to attack Russia. Moscow gave Washington a 30-minute warning of the attack, which struck a weapons factory in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
Friday: Nato schedule emergency talks – held at the request of Ukraine and convening at the level of ambassadors – slated for Tuesday.
Ukraine’s parliament also cancelled a session as security was tightened in the city, with lawmakers saying there was a credible threat of an attack on government buildings.
1,000 days of war in Ukraine – what’s happened and where we are now
Earlier this week marked 1,000 days since the world awoke to the news on 24 February 2022 that Russian tanks had rolled into Ukraine as part of a full-scale invasion.
Since then, the front line of the years-long conflict has seen significant transformation, shifting as Russian forces captured swathes of Ukrainian territory before Ukrainian counteroffensives reclaimed some of these areas.
But more recently Russian forces have continued to make gains in the eastern region of Donetsk, advancing along several fronts towards the city of Pokrovsk, a lynchpin of the wider area’s defence.
The front line now features contested zones and widespread destruction, reflecting ongoing hostilities. Hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of the conflict have been killed or wounded with millions of Ukrainians forced to flee their homes.
With no clear end to the fighting in sight, i broke down what happened in the first 1,000 days of the war – click here to read.
The seven ways Europe could step up to help Zelensky
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Kyiv’s allies in Europe and the United States branded the conflict an existential struggle to defend Western democratic values.
Donald Trump’s re-election as US president this month upends this narrative, with the former property tycoon having made clear that he is ready to pull US aid for Ukraine. If that happens, the question for Europe is how far it can – and will – go to fill the gap and help Ukraine fight back.
European leaders have pledged to stand firmly by Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron used his speech at the European Political Community (EPC) summit in Budapest last week to urge fellow leaders to rise to “a decisive moment” in the wake of Trump’s re-election.
“Do we want to read the history written by others – the wars launched by Vladimir Putin, the US election, China’s technological or trade choices?” Macron asked. “Or do we want to write our own history?”
From more financial aid and defence spending to post-Brexit negotiations, i looks at seven ways in which Europe could step up to help Ukraine.
Nato chief talks ‘global security issues’ with Trump in Florida
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte met US president-elect Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday, a spokesperson for the transatlantic military alliance said on Saturday.
Amid the escalations in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the pair “discussed the range of global security issues facing the Alliance,” Nato spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah said in a brief statement.
On its website, Nato said Rutte and his team also met with Congressman Mike Waltz, Trump’s pick to be his national security adviser when he returns to the White House, and other members of the president-elect’s national security team.
On Friday, Nato did not respond to requests for comment on Dutch media reports that Rutte – a former prime minister of the Netherlands – had flown to Florida on a Dutch government plane to meet Trump.
Rutte, who took office as Nato chief last month, was widely regarded as one of the best European leaders at forging a good working relationship with Trump during his first term as US president from 2017 to 2021.
He also held talks about Ukraine with the UK Prime Minister on Friday, where the pair spoke of the “importance of putting the country in the strongest possible position going into the winter”.
They also discussed the deployment of North Korean troops in Ukraine, which they said further underlined the “indivisibility of Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific security”.
Read more about Rutte and his relationship with Trump from i Brussels correspondent, Leo Cendrowicz, here.
Trump considering special Russia-Ukraine envoy role – reports
President-elect Donald Trump is considering tapping Richard Grenell, his former intelligence chief, to be a special envoy for the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to four sources reportedly familiar with the transition plans.
Grenell – who served as Trump’s ambassador to Germany and was acting director of national intelligence during his 2017-2021 term – would play a key role in Trump’s efforts to halt the war if he is ultimately selected for the post.
While there is currently no special envoy dedicated solely to resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Trump is considering creating the role, according to the four sources cited in a report by Reuters, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
Trump could ultimately decide not to create a special envoy for the conflict in Ukraine, although he is strongly considering doing so, the sources said. If he does, he could ultimately select someone else for the role, and there is no guarantee Grenell would accept.
Trump vowed on the campaign trail to swiftly end the conflict, although he has not said how he will do it. Meanwhile, some of Grenell’s stances could give Ukraine’s leaders pause.
During a Bloomberg roundtable in July, he advocated for the creation of “autonomous zones” as a means of settling the conflict, which began after Russia invaded Ukrainian sovereign territory. He also suggested he would not be in favour of Ukraine joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) in the immediate future, a position he shares with many Trump allies.
Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for Trump’s transition effort, declined to comment beyond saying the president-elect’s personnel decisions “will continue to be announced by him when they are made”.
Grenell also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Heavy fighting rages on in eastern Ukraine
Ukraine’s General Staff said on Friday that the Kurakhove sector of the 1,000-km (600-mile) front remained gripped by heavy fighting.
Ten of 35 armed clashes in the sector were still raging, it said.
Kurakhove, a key town, is south of the settlement of Novodmytrivka, which Russia says it has now captured.
Russian forces have also reportedly made gains still farther north of Novodmytrivka, near Kupiansk, a rail hub and logistics centre, in Kharkiv region.
How Putin’s nuclear threat could actually play out – and how Nato can respond
By Cahal Milmo and David Parsley
The latest changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine – in effect significantly widening Moscow’s grounds for nuclear retaliation – brought with them the latest in a succession of nuclear threats from the Kremlin after Washington signalled this weekend that it was ready to let Kyiv use a conventional missile system – ATACMS – to hit targets on Russian territory.
Asked by journalists whether Russia would now view the use of Western conventional missiles by Ukraine against its territory as meeting its criteria for considering the use of nuclear weapons, the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Yes, that is what is being discussed.”
The result is that Moscow’s penchant for what one analyst describes as “nuclear bullying” is once more to the fore, and this time with an unusually sharp focus after the very scenario which it said could lead it to consider atomic weapon use – a strike on Russian soil by Kyiv using Western armaments – appeared to come to fruition.
i has therefore walked through what exactly Russia’s updated policy means, how likely it is that Vladimir Putin actually acts on his threats, what the response would be and how it would affect the UK.
Click here for more.
How the UK and countries across Europe are preparing for threat of nuclear war
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to update the country’s nuclear doctrine has sparked renewed interest in preparations for nuclear war across Europe.
Putin’s changes state that any aggression against Russia by a non-nuclear state that is carried out with the participation or support of a nuclear state will be considered a joint attack.
This is critical because Putin has said Western countries would be engaged in conflict directly with Russia if they allowed Ukraine to fire deep inside Russian territory with weapons supplied to Kyiv.
The timing of the announcement is significant as it follows a decision by US President Joe Biden to allow Ukraine to fire American long-range missiles deep into Russian territory. The UK’s Storm Shadow missiles have also been reportedly fired into Russia for the first time.
So far, the West has treated these changes as sabre-rattling by Putin and downplayed the threat. But despite the official position, preparations for nuclear disasters have been ramped up.
Here’s how some European countries are preparing for the threat of nuclear war.