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Andrzej Duda says country could host arms if Nato decides to deploy the weapons in the face of Russia reinforcing its armaments in Belarus and KaliningradEurope “cannot relax” its support for Ukraine following US lawmakers’ approval of a $61bn (€57bn, £49bn) aid package, Kyiv’s most vocal allies in the region have said.Baiba Braže, Latvia’s new foreign minister, warned against slackening the EU’s efforts to...

Ukrainian president urges Senate to ratify aid package so that country can strengthen frontline with RussiaUkraine’s president has said the vote by the US House of Representatives to pass a long-delayed $61bn (£49bn) military aid package demonstrated that his country would not be abandoned by the west in its effort to fight the Russian invasion.Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview with US television that...

Biden administration to rethink counter-terrorism strategy after breakdown of pact allowing US forces on soil to fight jihadistsThe US will withdraw more than 1,000 military personnel from Niger in a move that will force the Biden administration to rethink its counter-terrorism strategy and amounts to a strategic victory for Russia.The decision comes a month after the west African country’s ruling military junta revoked a...

Underwater infrastructure vulnerable to Russian threats, says V Adm Didier Maleterre, after suspected sabotage of gas pipelinesThe security of nearly 1 billion people across Europe and North America is under threat from Russian attempts to target the extensive vulnerabilities of underwater infrastructure including windfarms, pipelines and power cables, a Nato commander has warned.V Adm Didier Maleterre, the deputy commander of Nato’s Allied Maritime Command...

Kyiv running short of missile defence systems while US military aid dries up Ukraine’s air defences are being overwhelmed by concentrated waves of Russian bombing aimed at its power stations, acknowledged a senior presidential adviser after the destruction of an entire plant on Thursday.Mykhailo Podolyak said Moscow was adopting new tactics of attacking power stations with up to “10 or 12 missiles at a...

West African state turned to Russia to help in fight against insurgents throwing into doubt future of operations with USRussian military trainers have arrived to reinforce Niger’s air defenses as the west African country pulls away from close cooperation with the US in counterterrorism efforts, turning instead to Moscow for help as it fights Islamist insurgents.State television in the country broadcast footage of Russian...

National security spokesperson says US passed on warnings and dismissed Russian allegations Ukraine was involved as ‘nonsense’The US repeatedly alerted Russia that extremists were planning to attack large gatherings in Moscow ahead of last week’s concert hall attack that claimed more than 140 lives, the White House has said.The national security spokesperson, John Kirby, said on Thursday that US officials passed on warnings –...

Political pressure at home, splintering international support and prospect of Trump’s re-election make for existential threatsVolodymyr Zelenskiy has an unenviable task over the coming months. As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine enters its third year, the Ukrainian president has a very difficult balancing act to manage.Ukrainian society is exhausted by the war and international support is splintering, leading to a critical shortage of ammunition...

State media reports that chief of the general staff, Valery Gerasimov, was in Ukraine to discuss Moscow’s next steps in the warRussia launched 19 attack drones at Ukraine overnight and six missiles, with the Ukrainian air defence systems destroying 13 of the drones and one missile, Ukraine’s air force said on Wednesday, reports Reuters.Some of the drones that were not destroyed did not reach...

South Carolina lawmaker is one of more than 12,000 individuals on list kept by Russia’s state financial monitoring agencyThe Republican senator Lindsey Graham, a key ally of Donald Trump, has been added to a list of “terrorists and extremists” kept by Russia’s state financial monitoring agency.Tass, the state-run news agency, first reported the move by Rosfinmonitoring, which allows authorities to freeze Russian bank accounts,...

Joe Biden declines to give details but says sanctions will coincide with second anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine The US will announce a major package of sanctions against Russia on Friday prompted by the death of political opposition leader Alexei Navalny but also devised as retaliation for the two-year war Vladimir Putin initiated against Ukraine, Joe Biden said on Tuesday.The US president...

Ksenia Khavana faces up to 20 years in prison for treason amid Kremlin crackdownThe White House has said it is seeking information after Russia announced it had arrested a dual US-Russian citizen on treason charges, accusing her of collecting funds for Ukrainian organisations and openly opposing the Russian war in Ukraine.A Russian legal NGO said the woman, named by Russian media as Ksenia Khavana,...

White House prepared to send weapons that could strike inside Crimea if Congress approves $60bn aid packageJoe Biden’s White House is prepared to send long-range tactical missiles to Ukraine if Congress approves a new funding package, according to a US media report on Monday.Citing two unnamed officials, NBC News said that the administration was willing to send a variant of the missiles – known...

US president says ‘I hope to God’ death of anti-Putin critic spurs lawmakers to approve critical $60bn aid package for UkraineAlexei Navalny death: live updatesThe apparent death of Russian anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny has brought new urgency to the need for Congress to approve tens of billions of dollars of aid for Ukraine, Joe Biden said on Friday.The US president put the blame for...

Jens Stoltenberg believes Congress will finally vote for package but meanwhile Russian forces are advancing near AvdiivkaThe US failure to vote through a fresh military aid package for Ukraine is already having an impact on the battlefield, Nato’s secretary general has warned at the end of a defence ministers’ meeting.Jens Stoltenberg said he still believed Congress would eventually approve the stalled $60bn (£50bn) package,...

Wide-eyed former Fox host tagged along as Russian president steered the conversation through Russian history and justifications for war“Are we having a talkshow or a serious conversation?” Vladimir Putin asked Tucker Carlson at the start of their interview on Thursday.By the end of the two-hour conversation, the answer was clear: neither. Continue reading...

Russian president’s rambling, two-hour talk with commentator is his first interview with western media since the Ukraine invasionTucker Carlson and Vladimir Putin were in the spotlight on Thursday night, as the divisive, Trump-supporting rightwing commentator interviewed the reclusive Russian autocrat.The rambling, two-hour interview, filmed in Moscow, was Putin’s first with a western media outlet since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Continue reading...

Former Fox host was spotted in the Russian capital, where he says he was to interview Putin about Ukraine war for X/Twitter showThe far-right pundit and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson confirmed on Tuesday he was in Moscow to interview Vladimir Putin, and said he would air his conversation with Russia’s president to counter what he described as pro-Ukraine “fawning pep sessions” by...

Oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev had accused Sotheby’s of conspiring with dealer over pieces including Salvator Mundi, which later became the most expensive art sold at auctionA US federal jury has ruled in favour of Sotheby’s at a trial in which the Russian billionaire oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev accused the auction house of defrauding him out of tens of millions of dollars in art sales.Rybolovlev had accused...

If the deal collapses, it could leave congressional leaders with no clear path to approving tens of billions of dollars for UkraineHere are some of the latest images coming through from Ukraine:The Biden administration has announced the approval of a $23bn deal to sell F-16 warplanes to Turkey, after Ankara ratified Sweden’s Nato membership, the state department said. Continue reading...

Missiles could be placed at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk in case of potential war between Nato and RussiaThe US is planning to station nuclear weapons in the UK for the first time in 15 years amid a growing threat from Russia, according to a report. Warheads three times as strong as the Hiroshima bomb would be located at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk under the...

Outlook had appeared grim following reports McConnell was walking away, but now lawmakers say text could be released in coming daysCongressional negotiators said a border deal was within reach on Thursday, despite efforts by Donald Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill to derail the talks.With the fate of US aid for Ukraine hanging in the balance, the outlook for border compromise had appeared...