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US president says he may offer Kyiv long-range Tomahawk missiles as Zelensky prepares for Washington talks
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Donald Trump has warned Russia that the war must end because it’s not making the country look good.
The US president said: “I had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin, but he just doesn’t want to end that war, and I think it’s making them look very bad.
“He could end it… he could end it quickly.”
Almost 60 people have been injured in a Russian strike on a hospital in Kharkiv as Kyiv called for access to long-range missiles.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he would discuss the possibility of receiving Tomahawk missiles from the US during a meeting with President Donald Trump on Friday.
Mr Zelensky said the main focus of his visit was air defence and long-range capabilities aimed at exerting pressure on Russia for the sake of peace”.
Mr Trump has warned Russian president Mr Putin he may supply Ukraine with the US-produced missiles if the Russian leader does not end the war.
Tomahawks have a range of 2,500km (1,550 miles) and could strike anywhere in European Russia.
The UK has delivered more than 85,000 military drones to Ukraine over the past six months, the defence secretary is to announce, amid a surge in Russian attack drone strikes.
John Healey will say that £600m has been put towards drones for Kyiv’s armed forces.
The drones – including tens of thousands of short-range first-person-view models – are being used for reconnaissance, precision strikes and to disrupt Russian operations behind the front lines.
He will tell the Ukraine Defence Contact Group in Brussels tomorrow that Western countries need to “ramp up drone production to outmatch (Vladimir) Putin’s escalation”.
Western officials said that in September, Russia launched around 5,500 one-way attack drones into Ukraine – a significant increase from 4,100 in August.
In October so far, more than 2,400 have already been launched, with attacks focused on Ukrainian gas storage and production facilities.
A group of non-profit groups in Georgia has condemned a series of amendments proposed by the government that would strengthen punishment for protesters and effectively ban some opposition figures from running for political office.
The ruling Georgian Dream party announced a slate of amendments on Monday to strip “persons associated with a political party violating constitutional principles” of the right to run as candidates in parliamentary elections and to bar them from holding higher office, among other restrictions.
The proposals come as Georgian Dream, in power since 2012, clamps down on opposition figures it accuses of trying to overthrow the government at large rallies earlier this month that culminated in clashes between police and demonstrators.
Relations with the West have soured under Georgian Dream, though the party rejects accusations that it is pro-Russian and says it wants to eventually join the EU while retaining what it calls Georgia’s traditional values.
The European Commission has proposed expanding an initiative for a “drone wall” on its eastern flank to protect the continent.
Sources told Reuters that the proposal for a broader “European Drone Defence Initiative” would be included in a “defence readiness roadmap” to be presented on Thursday at the European Commission.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suggested the idea after Russian drone incursions into Poland and Denmark last month.
Commission officials said the idea was to counter future incursions by building a network of sensors, electronic jamming systems and weapons, from the Baltic states to the Black Sea.
The United Nations (UN) has said that one of its humanitarian convoys was hit by Russian drones while delivering aid to a front-line area in southern Ukraine.
Matthias Schmale, the UN’s Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Ukraine, condemned the attack, saying that two World Food Programme trucks were hit and damaged by drones.
He said these strikes were a severe breach of international law and possible war crime.
US president Donald Trump says the continued war is not making Russia look good.
He said: “I had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin, but he just doesn’t want to end that war, and I think it’s making them look very bad.
“He could end it… he could end it quickly.”
He also praised Ukraine’s long efforts to fight back against Russia.
“And I have to tell you I give credit, because who would think that Ukraine could have fought Russia for four years, to essentially a standstill.”
Russia says it will be able to deploy around two million military reservists to fight in Ukraine if needed, under amendments to the law likely to be backed by parliament.
The amendment would allow reservists to be called up during peacetime, rather than only during martial law or when war has been declared.
Russia claims that its invasion of Ukraine is a “special military operation”, rather than a full-scale war.
But the amendment could allow Moscow to avoid another round of mobilisation, which would prove unpopular with the public.
Moldova’s pro-European ruling party will nominate financier Alexandru Munteanu to be the country’s new prime minister, the head of the party, Igor Grosu has said.
Munteanu, an economist who also founded an investment firm, has not previously held political office.
It comes after President Maia Sandu’s Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) clinched a majority in parliament following the 28 September election.
She will appoint a new government in coming weeks tasked with taking former Soviet republic Moldova further out of Russia’s orbit.
The Kremlin had been accused of interference by attempting sway the vote behind pro-Russia party led by former Moldovan president Igor Dodon.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has said it has opened a criminal case against exiled businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky and other prominent Kremlin critics.
The oil company boss who was once Russia’s richest man, served 10 years in a Siberian prison on fraud charges that he and many Western countries said were politically motivated, before being pardoned in 2013 and leaving Russia.
Since 2022 he has positioned himself as a leading figure among Russian exiles opposed to Putin. Shortly after the war’s outbreak, he was designated a “foreign agent” by Russia.
Khodorkovsky, who is now based in London, said the latest accusations were a “black mark” from the FSB.
“Without a doubt, such a decision increases the level of risk for those who decide for themselves that they are ready to be an alternative to Putin’s regime,” he said.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has warned Europe must be prepared for Russia to strike deep into the region, calling it irresponsible not to build defences such as a “drone wall” on its eastern flank.
In London to unveil an Iranian Shahed-136 drone downed in Ukraine, Mr Sikorski urged European nations to “stay the course” in their support of Ukraine, saying he hoped US President Donald Trump would make long-range Tomahawk missiles available to the country.
Mr Sikorski told Reuters Russia could “reach, unfortunately, deep into Europe”.
“We should be prepared to counter that, and so I think not to build anti-drone and drone capacity these days would be irresponsible,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has described as “nonsense” the idea that his country would potentially target a Nato member.
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