Russia’s state-run Ria news agency explained that «denazification is inevitably also de-Ukrainisation» – seemingly tying the idea of erasing Ukraine to the stated goal of the invasion. He accused the Western defensive alliance, Nato, of trying to gain a foothold in Ukraine to bring its troops closer to Russia’s borders. Then, as the invasion began, he said the people there – many of whom are Russian speakers – needed protection from the Kyiv «regime». Putin had already seized Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula eight years earlier, after a revolution that ousted Ukraine’s pro-Russian president and replaced him with a more pro-Western government. Starmer also welcomed the new announcements from some of Ukraine’s partners to supply Kyiv with long-range missiles.
Ukraine country profile
US President Donald Trump spoke with European leaders during a videoconference call on Thursday, a White House official said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has joined leaders from 30 countries at the so-called “Coalition of the Willing” on Thursday, which is being led by French President Emmanuel Macron. No deal was reached at the summit itself, but the two leaders are expected to continue to speak in the coming ukrabet days and weeks. Could Ukraine have to surrender its crucial ‘fortress belt’ of cities that has held back Russian invaders for 11 years? Sky News looks at what a ‘land for peace’ deal could involve following the Trump-Putin summit.
- The American commander-in-chief also signalled his willingness to support what could become one of the most significant overseas missions since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
- But this year, it re-emerged under Mr Trump’s pressure to build a peace plan as a way of providing another deterrence effect against a renewed Russian invasion.
- No one from the American side is putting pressure on Ukraine regarding any territories,” he said following his meeting with Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump’s special envoy, in New York.
- She asserted that India has a crucial role to play in pressing Russia to end its war, according to a post on X, as she thanked Modi for his “continued engagement” with the Ukrainian president.
- Russia hits 14 Ukrainian regions, Kyiv says, with at least one person reported killed and 30 injured.
- At first, the mission – using Western fighter jet patrols and ground-based air defence systems – would aim to open Lviv and other Ukrainian airports in the West of the country.
A senior Russian official warned Moscow would go after British property and seize more Ukrainian land after the UK announced it had spent £1bn on weapons for Ukraine with money raised from frozen Russian assets. «That was further underlined by the indiscriminate attacks in Kyiv last week, causing significant damage to the British Council and EU delegation buildings,” he added, according to a statement by Downing Street. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said she spoke with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi as part of Europe’s ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The US president also emphasised that they must place economic pressure on China “for funding Russia’s war efforts”.
Trump administration is investing in US rare earths in a push to break China’s grip
The Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro river in southern Ukraine is destroyed, leading to widespread flooding and disruption. Maidan Revolution ousts pro-Kremlin government over stalled European Union association deal. Russia then seizes Crimean peninsula and launches insurgency to occupy parts of eastern Ukraine. His leadership during the war has won him widespread international praise, and he has been widely seen as a symbol of Ukrainian resistance. President Zelensky went on to rally Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion in 2022. Andriy Yermak, the head of the office of the president of Ukraine, said no pressure was being put on Ukraine by the US to make territory concessions.
- National media have adopted a united patriotic agenda following the Russian annexation of Crimea and the armed conflict in the east.
- Meanwhile, Dmitry Medvedev warns Russia could seize British assets in retaliation for the UK’s support of Ukraine.
- There is also a feeling among European officials that plans for security guarantees will never see the light of day because they’re not confident Putin is prepared to agree to a ceasefire in the first place.
- It was rejected as escalatory by Joe Biden at the time, a former US official said.
- Michael Clarke told Sky News that the summit «certainly won’t create peace, but it might create a ceasefire in place if Putin decides to be flexible».
- Differences between the warring nations mean this option is unlikely to be agreed upon by all sides.
Kyiv in mourning after strikes as allies discuss military support
Responding to reports of the prospect of a buffer zone, Mr Zelensky has said the Russians could retreat if they wanted to create more space between themselves and Ukrainian forces. Some European nations have floated the idea of a demilitarised buffer zone to separate Ukrainian and Russian forces once the fighting has ended. For example, Ukraine could continue to buy US systems, such as Patriot air-defence batteries or Himars rocket launchers, using funds provided by European allies. Kyiv’s forces would be re-armed and trained by European Nato allies, using existing and new mechanisms.
Putin remains untrusted
During a meeting of the coalition in Paris on Thursday, Zelensky said members “discussed in detail each country’s readiness to make a contribution to ensuring security” for Ukraine. Despite Zelensky expressing a willingness to talk, a ceasefire agreement is not currently on the table, and it remains unclear whether Putin will agree to a cessation of hostilities. The Russian leader said on Wednesday that in the absence of a deal, Russia will have to achieve its goals “by military means”. At the start of the 2022 invasion, Putin vowed to protect people in occupied areas of eastern Ukraine from eight years of Ukrainian «bullying and genocide, during the war in the east. In reality, the war began in 2014, when Putin seized Crimea and Russian proxies grabbed part of eastern Ukraine. Putin then ordered Russia’s full-scale invasion eight years later, after months of meticulous co-ordination and denials of any such plan.
Trump has announced sweeping new secondary tariffs on any country still trading with Russia if a ceasefire with Ukraine is not agreed by Friday, 8 August. These included Ukraine becoming a neutral state, dramatically reducing its military and abandoning its Nato aspirations. Russia wants direct talks to address the «root causes of the conflict», a phrase that harks back to Putin’s «maximalist» demands at the start of the war in March 2022. It is part of Ukraine’s constitution to join the European Union and Nato, but there was no real prospect of this when the full-scale war began. Before Russia’s 2022 invasion he demanded that Nato remove multinational deployments from the Central and Eastern European states that joined the Western alliance after 1997. Putin’s own re-election in 2024 is highly questionable, as Russia’s opposition leaders are either in exile or dead.
After a fifth visit to Moscow by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff on 6 August, the US president said a there was a «good chance» he could meet the Russian and Ukrainian leaders for talks in person. Russian troops made two attempts to storm the presidential compound soon after the invasion, according to Zelensky’s adviser, and Ukraine’s elected leader said they wanted him dead. Ukraine has been targeting Russia’s oil refining capacity, with the most recent strikes coming this weekend. This public showdown first erupted after the SBU arrested two anti-graft officials for suspected ties to Russia. Ukraine will also coordinate sanctions against Russia with the US, he says, which will take effect if Moscow continues to reject peace talks. Volodymyr Zelenskyy tells reporters at a news conference that European weapons production lines should be working at full capacity.
Russia rarely admits to military losses, but BBC analysis estimates that Russian deaths could range from 185,143 to 267,500. Ukraine’s president has spoken of 46,000 Ukrainian military deaths, but open source site ualosses.org suggests the number is more than 77,000. Ukraine has lost a big part of its economic wealth to Russian occupation and destruction in its industrial east. The war is taking its toll on Russia’s economy, with high interest rates and inflation and defence spending this year of at least 33% of the federal budget. Yanukovych had abandoned an EU deal under Putin’s pressure, prompting protests that ended when snipers shot dead dozens of demonstrators. Putin condemns him as a «disgrace to the Jewish people», but the US Holocaust Memorial Museum rejects his claims outright, saying he «misrepresented and misappropriated Holocaust history».