Ukraine war briefing: No ‘red lines’ when it comes to support for Ukraine, says French foreign minister

The French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, has told the BBC in an interview that western allies should not put any limits on support for Ukraine against Russia, and “not set and express red lines”. Barrot’s comments are significant, coming a few days after US and UK long-range missiles were used in that way for the first time. Barrot said that Ukraine could fire French long-range missiles into Russia “in the logics of self-defence”, but would not confirm if French weapons had already been used. “The principle has been set … our messages to President Zelenskyy have been well received,” he said. France has supplied Ukraine with the Scalp missile, which is identical to the British-supplied Storm Shadow that Ukraine has reportedly already used inside Russia.

Russia is “exceptionally aggressive and reckless in the cyber realm” and “no one should underestimate” the threat to Nato, a senior UK minister will warn in a speech on Monday. Pat McFadden, whose portfolio includes national security, will tell a Nato cybersecurity conference in London that Moscow “won’t think twice about targeting British businesses”, according to excerpts of his address released on Sunday by his ministry.

Ukraine has lost over 40% of the territory in Russia’s Kursk region that it rapidly seized in a surprise incursion in August as Russian forces have mounted waves of counter-assaults, a senior Ukrainian military source told Reuters. The source, who is on Ukraine’s general staff, said Russia had deployed about 59,000 troops to the Kursk region since Kyiv’s forces swept in and advanced swiftly, catching Moscow unprepared two and a half years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “At most, we controlled about 1,376 square kilometres (531 square miles), now of course this territory is smaller. The enemy is increasing its counterattacks,” the source said.

Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed a law that allows those who sign up to fight in Ukraine to write off unpaid debts worth almost $100,000. The legislation will allow those who sign a one-year contract to fight in Ukraine after 1 December to free themselves of existing bad debts. It also covers their spouses.

Putin has threatened to launch more strikes using an experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile as Ukraine decried the testing of the nuclear-capable weapon on its territory as an “international crime”. Speaking at a defence conference on Friday, Putin contested US claims that Russia possessed only a “handful” of the high-speed ballistic missiles, saying that the military had enough to continue to test them in “combat conditions” and would put them into serial production. “The tests [of the missile system] have passed successfully, and I congratulate you all on that,” Putin said, according to the Interfax news agency.

The US president-elect, Donald Trump, is considering making Richard Grenell, his former intelligence chief, a special envoy for the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to four sources familiar with the transition plans. Grenell, who served as Trump’s ambassador to Germany and was acting director of national intelligence during Trump’s 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 now no special envoy dedicated solely to resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Trump is considering creating the role, according to the four sources, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is making a diplomatic trip to Europe that includes a meeting of foreign ministers from the leading industrialised nations that will focus on the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. The state department said Blinken would participate in group of seven and bilateral meetings outside Rome on Monday and Tuesday. It comes as the Biden administration winds down amid concerns that Donald Trump’s team may substantially alter US foreign policy.

Russia has included the territories it occupies in Ukraine in its recent greenhouse gas inventory report to the United Nations, drawing protests from Ukrainian officials and activists at the Cop29 climate summit this week. The move by Moscow comes as Vladimir Putin eyes potential peace deal negotiations with Trump that could decide the fate of Russian-occupied territory, Reuters reported. “We see that Russia is using international platforms to legalise their actions, to legalise their occupation of our territory,” Ukraine’s deputy environment minister Olga Yukhymchuk told Reuters.

Russian drone and missile attacks have damaged 321 Ukrainian port infrastructure facilities since July 2023, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday. Twenty merchant ships belonging to other countries were damaged by Russian strikes, he added.

Putin signed into law a bill banning adoption of Russian children by citizens of countries where gender transitioning is legal. Since sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin leader has repeatedly characterised the west as “satanic” and accused it of trying to undermine Russia by exporting liberal ideologies.