The US president claimed Modi had assured him of deal, but Indian officials insist no such conversation took place
India has cast doubt on claims by Donald Trump that its prime minister, Narendra Modi, had agreed to stop buying Russian oil.
On Wednesday, Trump claimed that Modi had assured him “today” that India would put an end to its purchase of Russian oil.
Continue reading...Ahmed al-Sharaa in effort to diversify alliances while Putin seeks to safeguard military interests in Syria
The Syrian president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, travelled to Moscow on Wednesday for talks with Vladimir Putin, marking their first meeting since the fall of the Kremlin ally Bashar al-Assad and his subsequent exile in Russia.
The talks underscored Moscow’s efforts to safeguard its military foothold in Syria and forge relations with the new rulers in Damascus, with both sides taking a pragmatic approach despite having been enemies only a year ago.
Continue reading...Two trains were hit in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, killing one and injuring about 30 others, officials say
Two Russian drones struck trains at a station in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, killing one person and injuring about 30 others, officials said on Saturday, with Ukraine’s foreign minister accusing Moscow of deliberately hitting passenger trains.
“A brutal Russian drone strike on the railway station in Shostka, Sumy region,” wrote the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Telegram, posting a video of a wrecked, burning passenger carriage and others with their windows blown out.
Continue reading...Sergiy Kyslytsya says Kremlin already at war with Europe and predicts that Vladimir Putin will ‘escalate escalating’
Europe needs to “get serious” about the existential threat posed to it by Russia, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister has said, warning that Vladimir Putin will “escalate escalating”.
In an interview with the Guardian, Sergiy Kyslytsya – Kyiv’s former ambassador to the UN – said the Kremlin was already at war with Europe. He said Russia’s recent drone incursions against several EU countries were well-calculated and an attempt to “move the red lines”.
Continue reading...Maj Gen Paul Tedman says Moscow trying to disrupt UK’s military activities on ‘weekly’ basis and closely monitoring space assets
Russia is attempting to jam UK military satellites on a regular basis, according to the head of the UK Space Command.
Speaking to the BBC, Maj Gen Paul Tedman said Russian forces were actively trying to disrupt UK-based military activities “weekly” and were closely monitoring the country’s space assets.
Continue reading...Vladimir Putin denounces seizing of the vessel as an act of ‘piracy’ and warned it could provoke confrontation
The captain of an oil tanker that authorities in France have detained off the country’s Atlantic coast and that President Emmanuel Macron has linked to Russia will go on trial in February over the crew’s alleged refusal to cooperate, a French prosecutor has said.
Macron has alleged that the tanker belongs to Russia’s “shadow fleet” of ageing tankers of uncertain ownership that are avoiding western sanctions over Moscow’s war in Ukraine. He also did not rule out that it could have been involved in drone flights over Denmark as it was sailing last week off the coast of the Nordic country.
Continue reading...During speech in Sochi, Russian president also strikes conciliatory note towards Donald Trump
Vladimir Putin has vowed to quickly retaliate against Europe’s “escalating militarisation”, while dismissing as “nonsense” western fears that Moscow plans to attack Nato.
During a wide-ranging speech in Sochi on Thursday, the Russian president said: “We are closely monitoring the escalating militarisation of Europe … We simply cannot ignore what is happening. We have no right to do so for reasons of our own security.”
Continue reading...Satellite images of damaged area show no sign of shelling that Moscow says prevents repair
Russia has been accused of deliberately sabotaging the last remaining power line into the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, after satellite imagery of the damaged area showed no sign of Ukrainian shelling that Moscow says is preventing a repair.
Outside power, normally used for cooling, has now been down for a record eight days, forcing the Russian operators of the plant in occupied Ukraine to rely on back-up diesel generators to avoid a meltdown of its six reactor cores.
Continue reading...Tanker, named on list of ‘shadow fleet’ vessels, may have been launchpad for drones that closed Denmark airports
French military personnel have boarded an oil tanker named on a list of Russia’s “shadow fleet” vessels and suspected of being a launchpad for mystery drone flights that forced the closure of airports in Denmark last week.
Stéphane Kellenberger, the public prosector in Brest, told Agence France-Presse that two crew members – who presented themselves as the ship’s captain and his first mate – had been taken into custody.
Continue reading...Island imported $1.3bn of crude oil product in first half of 2025 despite joining sanctions against Moscow, report finds
Taiwan has become the world’s biggest importer of Russian naphtha, a petroleum derivative used to make chemicals needed for the semiconductor industry, despite the fact that it has joined other sanctions against Russia and considers itself an ally of Ukraine.
In the first half of 2025, Taiwan imported $1.3bn worth of Russian naphtha, and average monthly imports reached a level nearly six times higher than the 2022 average, according to a report published on Wednesday. Compared to the first half of 2024, Taiwan’s naphtha imports this year increased by 44%.
Continue reading...Ukrainian president says Russian shelling is preventing work to restore links to grid and that one of the plant’s diesel generators has failed
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday said the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been off the grid for seven straight days, warning of the potential threat of a “critical” situation.
It is the longest outage at Zaporizhzhia since Russia invaded and seized the nuclear plant, Europe’s largest.
Continue reading...Man held in Poland on suspicion of causing explosions that damaged undersea pipelines between Russia and Germany
Germany is seeking to extradite a Ukrainian man arrested in Poland on suspicion of diving down to the Baltic sea bed to plant explosives in the 2022 Nord Stream gas pipeline attack.
The man, identified in Polish media reports as Volodymyr Z and by Germany as Vladimir Z, is described as a trained diver and is sought by investigators in Germany, who believe he was part of a group that sabotaged the pipeline, consisting of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines.
Continue reading...PAS leads with 46% of vote in ballot that will decide whether country steers closer to EU or Russia
Moldova’s ruling pro-European party is on course to retain its parliamentary majority after Sunday’s pivotal election, seen as a test of the president’s push to keep the country of 2.4 million on track for EU membership rather than drifting back towards Moscow.
With more than 90% of the ballots counted, Maia Sandu’s pro-western Action and Solidarity party (PAS) led with 46% of the vote, while a Moscow-leaning alliance of Soviet-nostalgic parties headed by former president Igor Dodon had 27%.
Continue reading...At least four people were killed in the overnight attacks on Kyiv and other regions as Poland takes preventive measure to secure airspace
Russian strikes involving “hundreds” of drones and missiles have killed at least four people, including a 12-year-old girl, and wounded at least 10 people in Ukraine on Sunday, as Poland scrambled fighter jets to secure its airspace.
An air raid alert was in place over the Kyiv region, with the local military administration saying Russia was attacking with drones and missiles.
Continue reading...Ukraine’s president says Kremlin checking Europe’s capacity to protect its skies following new drone sightings
Vladimir Putin will expand his war in Ukraine by attacking another European country, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has predicted, and accused Russia of recent drone incursions that he said were an attempt to test Nato’s defences.
Speaking in Kyiv after his meeting with Donald Trump at the UN in New York, the Ukrainian president said Russia was preparing for a bigger conflict. “Putin will not wait to finish his war in Ukraine. He will open up some other direction. Nobody knows where. He wants that,” he said.
Continue reading...Ministers aim to bolster defences after spate of airspace violations, amid rising momentum for €140bn loan to Ukraine
The EU has agreed to move forward with plans for a drone wall at the heart of its eastern defences as momentum grows for a €140bn loan to Ukraine based on Russian frozen assets.
After a meeting with ministers from 10 mostly central and eastern European member states plus Ukraine, the EU’s defence commissioner, Andrius Kubilius, said a drone wall to protect against incursions from the skies was an immediate priority and core element of the bloc’s eastern flank defences.
Continue reading...Russian efforts to delay the return of sanctions is expected to fail during vote on Friday
A final Russian attempt to defer the snapback of large-scale UN sanctions on Iran is expected to fail at the UN security council on Friday after European countries rejected last-minute Iranian offers to give UN weapons inspectors limited access to its bombed nuclear sites.
Russia will call for the reimposition of the sanctions to be deferred for six months to give more time for diplomacy, but European diplomats are confident that Russia will not get the nine votes it needs on the security council for the snapback to be deferred. The last time Russia put the same issue to a vote it received only four votes.
Continue reading...Police say the drones over Aalborg airport followed a similar pattern to the ones that had halted flights at Copenhagen airport a few days earlier
Denmark’s Aalborg airport was closed due to drones in its airspace, local police said early on Thursday, two days after the country’s main Copenhagen airport was shut over drone sightings that rattled European aviation.
Danish national police said the drones followed a similar pattern to the ones that had halted flights at Copenhagen airport for four hours a few days earlier. The country’s armed forces were also affected, as Aalborg airport is used as a military base, they added.
Continue reading...US president claims Russia is in ‘big economic trouble’ as he calls for Nato countries to stop imports of Russian oil
Donald Trump has said he believes Ukraine can regain all the land that it has lost since the 2022 Russian invasion in one of the strongest statements of support he has given Kyiv.
The US president delivered his upbeat assessment by claiming Russia was in big economic trouble in a post on Truth Social after meeting the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in New York.
Continue reading...Sudden boldness of Kremlin is new territory for Nato, which is enhancing air policing over eastern Europe with extra fighter jets
It is disturbingly easy to shut down a commercial airport, as last night’s events in Copenhagen show. Three large drones, Danish authorities said, flew close enough to the runway to force the airport to close for four hours in an incident that inevitably raises wider questions about the security of the skies above Nato countries at a time when Russia has already shown it is willing to test the integrity of alliance airspace.
Videos published by local media show what appears to be relatively large but unidentified craft with green lights near the Danish capital. The drones came in from multiple directions and left in a similar fashion, suggesting, Danish police said, they were operated by a “capable actor”, one with an understanding of how to pilot drones in such a way as to maximise nuisance and cause alarm.
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