The Kremlin has again ruled out accepting NATO troops in Ukraine to end the war. On the frontline, Ukraine admits Russia has entered a key region but denies losing two villages. Watch our latest Michael Clarke Q&A in full below.
Wednesday 27 August 2025 18:30, UK
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Thanks for following our live updates today. We’ll be back tomorrow with more from the war in Ukraine.
Until then, here’s a rundown of the key lines from today:
And remember, if you missed it earlier, you can now watch our Ukraine Q&A with military analyst Professor Michael Clarke in full below.
Donald Trump punished India with an extra 25% tariff for buying discounted Russian oil, with those new levies coming into force today.
The American government justified its action as a national security concern that is fuelling the war in Ukraine.
Here, Sky’s India reporter Neville Lazarus explains what impact the tariffs will have.
By Siobhan Robbins, Europe correspondent
The NATO chief has told Sky News he’s still hopeful a bilateral meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy will happen.
Speaking to me at the opening of Europe’s largest ammunition factory in western Germany, Mark Rutte said Zelenskyy had proven he was committed to the meeting but now it was up to Putin to “play ball” and live up to what he said to Donald Trump in Alaska.
Rutte had joined a delegation of European politicians at a visit to Rheinmetall’s new ammunition factory in Lower Saxony.
The plant, which is the size of five football pitches, will eventually produce 350,000 shells a year.
The 155mm rounds will initially be used to replenish the German military and boost Ukraine’s stock.
“Do you trust President Putin to stick to any deal he agrees?” I asked Rutte.
He said that’s why they needed to keep working on security guarantees and rearming Europe and Ukraine.
In terms of what those security guarantees would involve, he said talks were ongoing because the military implication of any decisions meant it was a complex process.
“It can’t be solved in nine days,” the NATO chief explained, reiterating that the US would be involved.
Standing alongside him was Boris Pistorius, the German defence minister, who I pressed on what Germany would be offering in terms of security guarantees for Ukraine.
“One rule I learned early on in negotiations is never put anything off or on the table before you start,” he said.
He said Germany was considering every contribution it might be able to make in terms of security guarantees but the details would not be made public at the moment.
He said that as Ukraine’s biggest supporter outside the United States, Germany’s role would become even more important in the coming years and that no one would question their commitment to Kyiv.
Russian President Vladimir Putin chaired a government meeting today focusing on matters away from the war in Ukraine.
According to the Kremlin, key report topics included a report from the education minister on the upcoming school year, another on the performance of the energy grid during the summer months and an update on industrial production.
In his daily news briefing earlier this morning, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was taking a negative view on European proposals for security guarantees in Ukraine (see 11.02 post for more).
Lithuania is reportedly urging the European Union to find a way to bypass Hungary’s veto in Ukraine’s EU accession talks.
Citing a letter it had reviewed – sent to EU capitals last week – Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT said Vilnius was urging its neighbours to take “decisive steps” that will make Ukraine’s accession bid “tangible and irreversible”.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose government is widely seen as the most Kremlin-friendly in the European bloc, has repeatedly obstructed Ukraine’s EU path.
Lithuania reportedly proposes launching technical-level accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova without Hungary, provided the other 26 member states agree.
Formal approval could follow later, should Budapest change its stance or leadership, the outlet wrote.
Earlier this month, Volodymyr Zelebskyy reportedly lobbied Donald Trump to confront Orban over his veto.
Formal EU accession negotiations can only begin with the unanimous consent of all 27 member states.
If you missed it earlier, you can now watch our Ukraine Q&A with military analyst Professor Michael Clarke in full.
He answered your questions on a number of subjects, including:
Watch the full Q&A below.
NATO chief Mark Rutte is joining Germany’s vice chancellor and defence minister to speak at a ceremony inaugurating a new artillery ammunition plant in northern Germany.
This year, Mark Rutte’s government announced plans to double military spend over the coming five years to €649bn (£59bn).
We’ve got a live feed of the plant’s unveiling, which you can watch at the top of this page.
Drones have become the most used and most important weapon in the war between Russia and Ukraine, with both sides developing new ways to deploy them and defend against them.
The images below show Russians in the Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine putting up nets around a nursery to protect it from drones.
Ukraine says it only attacks military targets inside Russia and infrastructure supporting Moscow’s war effort and revenue streams.
Russia’s move towards withdrawing from a torture prevention treaty is effectively “an admission of guilt” and an attempt to evade accountability, Ukraine’s foreign ministry has said.
According to a Russian government website, the government announced plans on Monday to quit the Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which was signed by Moscow in 1996.
Moscow’s decision would need to be approved by Vladimir Putin and passed by a vote in parliament before it comes into force, the website said.
Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of war crimes and torturing civilians and prisoners of war since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Russia denies the allegations.
“This step is effectively an admission of guilt – of systematic torture and an attempt to evade responsibility for gross human rights violations,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Our security and defence analyst Michael Clarke has been back answering your questions on the war in Ukraine this week.
He was asked about reports that Russia’s military has crossed into the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region and is trying to establish a foothold there.
Ukrainian battlefield analysts assessed yesterday that Russia now occupies two villages just inside the region, Zaporizke and Novohryhorivka, though Ukraine’s army denied this.
While two villages are “neither here, nor there” in territorial terms, Michael Clarke says it is vital Ukraine snuffs this threat out.
“There’s a military logic in that, because it will stretch the Ukrainians,” he says of Russia’s reported incursion there.
“Ukrainians can’t allow this to persist. So, they need to deploy forces to stop that getting any worse… they don’t want it to become a foothold, which can be a base, which can then be used for reinforcement.
“And politically, if the Russians do stay there and do build it up, then it will become a strategic advantage.”
Clarke says if he were leading Ukraine’s army, he would “sacrifice elsewhere to make sure this doesn’t happen”.
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