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The Ukrainian army on Thursday was trying to quickly build up defensive lines near the border to prevent Russia from turning its Sudzha counter-invasion into a launchpad for advancing into north-eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian invasion of Kursk was intended to redirect Russian forces from inside Ukraine, while the land gained was supposed to be a potential bargaining chip for Ukraine to get back at least some of the 20% of its territory invaded by Russia.
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Ukraine said on Thursday it had ordered the mandatory evacuation of eight villages near the border with the Kursk region. The Sumy region’s military administration posted that “a decision was made to conduct a mandatory evacuation of the population from eight settlements” due to “the exacerbation of the operational situation in the region” and “constant shelling by Russia”.
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Russia has retaken control of about 70% of the territory Ukraine captured in the first weeks of its August incursion into Kursk, according to the Institute for the Study of War in Washington. Ukraine holds less than 200 square kilometres (77 square miles) in Kursk, down from 1,300 sq km at the peak of the incursion, according to the Russian military. To flee the Kursk region, Ukrainian soldiers reportedly must walk dozens of kilometres to get back into Ukraine while avoiding Russian forces.
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Canada on Thursday called on the G7 powers to back Ukraine against Russia’s “aggression” as Donald Trump’s conciliatory approach towards Moscow split the club of wealthy democracies. Canada, the current G7 president, is gathering foreign ministers for three days of talks in Charlevoix, Quebec.
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Britain said on Friday it would increase the overall amount it lends other countries to buy from British defence firms, in an effort to boost exports of missiles and aircraft and bolster its defence industry. The government will increase its credit agency UK Export Finance’s (UKEF) direct lending capacity for defence by £2bn ($2.6bn) to £10bn, the finance ministry said. The boost comes a few weeks after Britain pledged to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, saying it was necessary in light of global instability and the war in Ukraine.
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Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia supported in principle a US proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine, but sought a number of clarifications and conditions that appeared to rule out a quick end to the fighting. The Russian president’s heavily qualified support looked designed to signal goodwill to Washington, but he said many crucial details needed to be sorted out and any agreement must address what he considers the root causes of the conflict. “We agree with the proposals to cease hostilities,” Putin told reporters at the Kremlin after talks with Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president. “The idea itself is correct, and we certainly support it.”
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Trump said Steve Witkoff, his special envoy, was engaged in serious talks with the Russians in Moscow on the proposal that the US and Kyiv have agreed. “Now we’re going to see whether or not Russia is there, and if they’re not, it’ll be a very disappointing moment for the world,” Trump said.
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Trump said his administration has been discussing what land Ukraine would keep or lose under any settlement, as well as the future of a large power plant. He did not name it but was likely referring to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia power station, Europe’s largest nuclear plant.
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Zelenskyy said Putin was preparing to reject the ceasefire proposal but was afraid to tell Trump. “That’s why in Moscow they are imposing upon the idea of a ceasefire these conditions, so that nothing happens at all, or so that it cannot happen for as long as possible,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.
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Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Putin in a phone call the kingdom remained committed to facilitating dialogue and supporting a political resolution, the Saudi state news agency reported on Friday.
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The US is poised to resume shipments to Ukraine of long-range bombs known as Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bombs (GLSDB) after they were upgraded to better counter Russian jamming, two people familiar with the weapon told Reuters. The munitions will arrive amid reports that Ukraine’s supply of the similarly ranged Army Tactical Missile Systems (Atacms) has been depleted. The glide bombs were bought under Joe Biden’s presidency using the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.
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The destruction of a large Ukrainian dam in 2023 triggered a “toxic timebomb” of environmental harm, a study has found. Lakebed sediments holding 83,000 tonnes of heavy metals – which include lead, cadmium and nickel – were exposed when the Kakhovka dam was blown up one year into Russia’s invasion, researchers found.
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Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting has tried to win over the Greens to his ambitious but controversial plans to raise the country’s defence spending, promising to expand the scope of the plans and demanding of them: “What more do you actually want from us?” The outgoing parliament met on Thursday to debate the creation of a €500bn (£420bn) fund for infrastructure investment and radical changes in Germany’s borrowing limits in order to boost defence spending.
